December 29, 2014
These days between Christmas and New Year offer time to reflect on reading material which influenced my thinking over the past twelve months, books both old and new. The oldest of course is the Bible itself, which continues to amaze me as the life-source of so much we take for granted in our western world. […]
December 22, 2014
The Peace on Earth declared by the angelic choir two thousand years ago still seems to be a long way off as we approach yet another Christmas Day. As does Isaiah’s promise of the Son’s government and peace of which there would be no end. Peace in the Middle East seems especially elusive. And we […]
December 15, 2014
Twenty-five years ago, a revolution was bursting upon the world. An obsolete and inhumane Communist system began to crumble under the weight of its own lies. A generation has now grown into adulthood too young to remember the tense buildup to the euphoric scenes surrounding the breaching of the Berlin Wall, or the equally dramatic […]
December 8, 2014
Early last Wednesday morning, several hundred politicians, civil servants, diplomats, businessmen and women, church leaders, and activists sat together at table in the European Parliament building in Brussels for the annual European Prayer Breakfast. One of some 130 similar gatherings around the world, the Prayer Breakfast is a meeting place focused around Jesus and his […]
December 1, 2014
Despite initially strong opposition to his visit to the European Parliament, Pope Francis received repeated rounds of applause on his visit to Strasbourg last week even as he urged his listeners to ‘return to the firm conviction of the founders of the European Union’, a vision revolving around the sacredness of the human person, not […]
November 22, 2014
The Dutch have been getting their knickers in a twist these days about the skin colour of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), Sinterklaas’s helper. But perhaps the commotion is all about the wrong person. For the earliest icons of Sint Nicolas or Sinterklaas, the origin of Santa Claus, suggest that he was the black man. Maybe […]
November 17, 2014
Dr William Yoder, a missionary based in Minsk whom I recently met in England, sent out this commentary on the Ukrainian crisis last week, offering perspectives at odds with much western media coverage. Whether or not we agree with this view, we should recall the prayer of St Francis: ‘Grant that I may not so […]
November 10, 2014
The events of 25 years ago in Berlin commemorated with sound and spectacle this weekend came suddenly and unexpectedly. Yet a revolution of the human spirit had been underway for at least decade which led to the triumph of the ‘soft powers’ of love, truth and justice over tyranny. Recently I was invited to guest […]
November 3, 2014
If Europeans studied their history, they would count their blessings, realise they were freer and better off than at any other time of history and would therefore not despair and complain. Delivering the annual Europe Lecture in The Hague last week, the 76-year old former president of Latvia, Dr. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, drew these conclusions speaking […]
October 27, 2014
A Copernican revolution in thinking was needed to establish healthy foundations for European society. Dr Michael Schluter challenged church and organisational leaders from across the continent to embrace Relational Thinking last week at the annual General Assembly of the European Evangelical Alliance in Northampton, north of London. Founder of the Jubilee Centre in Cambridge, Dr […]
October 20, 2014
The decor on the platform depicted the grey concrete of the Berlin wall. Graffiti slogans spoke on behalf of ‘democracy’: ‘I miss how loved I was 25 years ago’; ‘I feel I have let you down’… The setting was Zofin Palace on an island in the Vlata River flowing through picturesque Prague. The occasion was […]
October 13, 2014
Great things are done when men and mountains meet; this is not done by jostling in the street. –William Blake With this quote from the English mystic poet, we were welcomed this weekend to a ‘salon meeting’ in Mountain House in Caux, high above Montreux, with a breathtaking view of Lake Leman and the French […]
