June 18, 2012
This coming Wednesday night, at nine minutes past eleven, our planet will begin to tilt in the opposite direction, moving the northern hemisphere away from the sun. For us in Europe, this is the summer solstice. Down under, it is the winter solstice. In Scandinavia and the Baltics, this event has been celebrated traditionally since […]
June 11, 2012
Modern economics has become a zombie, a body detached from the soul which gave it life, argues Tomas Sedlácek, former economic advisor to Vaclav Havel. A zombie works efficiently, he explains, but without compassion, tenderness or understanding. The result is a hard, inhuman and eventually self-devouring and devastating system. Dr Sedlácek was speaking last week […]
June 4, 2012
Last weekend in Zwolle, a short drive from my home in Holland, an ambitious programme was presented in several historic church buildings across the inner city to explore the relevance of the Modern Devotion movement of the 15th century for our postmodern times. Zwolle’s most famous son is Thomas a Kempis, collator of The Imitation […]
May 28, 2012
Sorry, no Weekly Word this week – we’re celebrating my wife’s 65th birthday at her ‘I’m not going to retire’ party in Italy with family and close friends from Oceania, Africa, Asia, America and across Europe. But since one picture is worth a thousand words, here are some photos that speak volumes about the richness […]
May 21, 2012
As I sit on the deck of the Next Wave, the 42 metre training and evangelism ketch operated by YWAM Marine Reach, I think about the significant role boats played in the Bible. The Ark, which became the vessel for humankind’s salvation; the ship of Tarsus Jonah tried to flee on; the fishing boats Jesus […]
May 14, 2012
No, the game is not over–yet! There is still hope for Europe, participants at the State of Europe Forum in Copenhagen heard last week. But warnings of serious consequences if radical change is not effected were sounded by several speakers. Tunne Kelam, a leading dissident of the Soviet era in Estonia and a europarliamentarian since […]
May 7, 2012
Political earthquakes shook Europe this weekend with elections results that promise to overturn the status quo. The people in France and in Greece have called for change. The people in northern Germany have also signalled that change is on the way. So what now? I don’t envy anyone taking office in these times. As for […]
April 30, 2012
Let me confess that I am not a great royalist–despite the fact that I have often joked about the three queens in my life. As a New Zealander, there’s Elizabeth. As a Dutchman, there’s Beatrix. As a husband, there’s Romkje, sometimes nicknamed ‘the Queen’ by family and friends. Royalism is not in my genes. One […]
April 23, 2012
One of the iconic films from my youth was a Stanley Kramer comedy called it’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world. The title came to mind as I prepared to share at an urban missions conference in Montreal about the challenges and opportunities of living in a post-Christian society. For today, the western world over, […]
April 16, 2012
The bombs rained down on Dresden on the night of February 15, 1945. At Stalin’s request, Allied bombers wreaked vengeance on the German people, killing over 20,000 civilians (at conservative estimates) as well as refugees and Allied prisoners of war in a horrific firestorm that laid waste the inner city. The magnificent ‘Florence of the […]
April 9, 2012
Straddling the German-Austrian border at 1800 metres high above Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s infamous Eagle’s Nest remains a sober reminder of a madman’s disastrous attempt at world domination. This Easter weekend, the Kehlsteinhaus, as it is known in the German-speaking world, was covered with fresh snow but clearly visible from the Berchtesgaden Congresshall where Romkje and I […]
April 2, 2012
Once upon a time, in a city called Copenhagen, there lived a story teller named Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75). His many tales, including The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, The Ice Maiden and The Philosopher’s Stone have been enjoyed by young and old worldwide for over 150 […]
