December 4, 2017
Advent signalled a new beginning for the human race. There were signs (the Bethlehem star, for example) and wonders (Mary’s conception) and those who were watching and waiting recognised the moment (like Simeon and Anna in the temple). Yet no-one really understood what God was up to. That would take another thirty-three years to unfold. […]
November 27, 2017
Moving house for the first time in nearly four decades can be a profoundly nostalgic exercise. Old letters resurface from your pre-marriage life, or around your wedding time and the birth of your children, forcing you to admit a lot of life has been lived and a lot of time has gone by. Old boxes […]
November 20, 2017
On a trip to the Arctic Circle in Finland last week, where I was invited to speak at the northernmost university in the European Union, the University of Lapland, I came across a candid response to the #metoo campaign by a young Finnish woman named Sofia. Thanks to social media, the campaign has become a […]
November 13, 2017
Europeans from north and south, east and west, need to time to listen to each other to become aware of differences and to overcome misunderstandings. My wife and I have just returned from such a time of dialogue and mutual listening in Vienna, a three-day gathering of 120 representatives of Christian movements, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant […]
November 6, 2017
Younger women in particular are stepping up to leadership roles in churches and ministries in central and eastern Europe despite traditional attitudes still widely prevalent. At this year’s Hope For Europe Women in Leadership biennial conference, held a few days ago in Belgrade, Serbia, over eighty women from more than twenty European nations heard reports […]
October 30, 2017
While millions this week will be celebrating Halloween globally, millions of Protestant believers around the world will also be celebrating the start of the Reformation exactly 500 years ago tomorrow. Is that just coincidence? Actually, no. The city parades and festivals of the dead being enacted out on the world stage this week are related […]
October 23, 2017
The Reformation, triggered 500 years ago next week by Martin Luther’s publication of objections to practices of his own Roman Catholic Church, is being commemorated in surprising places. In Budapest, capital of a predominantly Catholic Hungary, 95 square-shaped concrete tablets representing Luther’s 95 Theses have been laid in Calvin Square, each featuring a pair of […]
October 16, 2017
Something was puzzling the delegation of Ukrainian denominational leaders and politicians I met with last week in Strasbourg to consider the impact of 500 years of the Reformation. They were visiting the city as their president, Petro Poroshenko, was addressing the Council of Europe and unveiling a bronze monument to the ‘Heavenly Hundred’ who were […]
October 9, 2017
A very divided Spain is facing a serious constitutional crisis which could lead to the end of that nation as we know it. From a distance, it can be hard to know which side to support: the struggle of the ‘underdog’ Catalonia to free itself from ‘oppressive’ control from Madrid, or a ‘legitimate national parliamentary […]
October 2, 2017
Rowan Williams, the former Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking in The Netherlands on Monday warned about the failure of mass democracy, as the German election results signalled the return of neo-nazis to the Bundestag for the first time since World War Two. “I don’t believe we are on the verge of a resurgent fascism,” I […]
September 25, 2017
The Dutch have a saying that ‘God made the earth but the Dutch made Holland’. And not without reason. Their bold engineering projects have pushed back the sea to create space for farms, houses and cities. Yet The Netherlands is not the single-handed creation of the Dutch. Centuries of interaction with peoples far and near […]
September 18, 2017
Germany is expected to choose Angela Merkel for a fourth term of office as chancellor at the polls this weekend. The unknown factor is who will be her coalition partner(s): the Greens, the Liberals or the Socialists. To prepare for the elections, a church near Hamburg invited Romkje and myself this past weekend to talk […]
