May 29, 2006
FEW PLACES REVEAL THE MANY LAYERS OF EUROPEAN HISTORY LIKE THE DANUBE WATERFRONT OF BUDAPEST. This week Romkje and I, along with other evangelical leaders, visited the Hungarian capital for a cluster of meetings relating to the spreading networks and partnerships across the continent. Budapest, one of our favourite cities, is split by the Danube […]
May 22, 2006
AMONG THE PILE OF MAIL AND MAGAZINES AWAITING US ON OUR RETURN FROM DOWN UNDER, ONE HEADLINE IN PARTICULAR CAUGHT MY ATTENTION. Readers of Elsevier, a leading Dutch secular weekly magazine not known for its piety. were admonished to “Read the Bible! About the great importance of the Holy Scriptures”. I quickly turned to the […]
May 15, 2006
SIXTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES ARE RARE EVENTS WORTH CELEBRATING. The main reason for our down-under sojourn has been the commemoration of my parents’ marriage on May 10th, 1946, just months after my father returned to New Zealand from military service in the Middle East and Italy during World War Two. The celebration, held in Auckland last […]
May 8, 2006
IN EUROPE MAY THE EIGHTH IS STILL IN ITS DYING MOMENTS AS DAWN BREAKS IN NEW ZEALAND; THE FLAG OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, BLUE WITH A CIRCLE OF YELLOW STARS, IS HOISTED OVER THE AUCKLAND HARBOUR BRIDGE-TO MARK EUROPE DAY, MAY THE NINTH. On our last week of a Pacific furlough, we are intrigued by […]
May 1, 2006
ST GEORGE, SUBJECT OF OUR LAST WEEKLY WORD, KEPT POPPING UP ALL WEEK HERE DOWN UNDER IN AUSTRALIA. – despite being about as far away as you can get from the birthplace of the real George, Turkey. Streets and suburbs are named after him here. The coat-of-arms of Perth City is-you guessed-based on the familiar […]
April 24, 2006
YESTERDAY, APRIL 23RD, WAS ST GEORGE’S DAY. BUT YOU KNEW THAT, DIDN’T YOU? That’s his cross on the English flag, red on a white background. St George’s Cross is the backbone of the Union Jack, which in turn embellishes the flags of many British Commonwealth countries including Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. So who was […]
April 17, 2006
I MISSED GOOD FRIDAY THIS EASTER. We left for the airport in Samoa late on Thursday evening to catch our flight to New Zealand, and a few hours later arrived in Auckland – early on Saturday morning, En route we had crossed the International Dateline and lost a whole day: Good Friday! But celebrating Resurrection […]
April 10, 2006
IN HIS NEW BOOK, POPE BENEDICT XVI WRITES: ‘EUROPE IS INFECTED BY A STRANGE LACK OF DESIRE FOR THE FUTURE.’ I first heard of this book from a Dutchman studying in Australia. He wrote to ask how to obtain an English copy of my book, Living as people of hope. His chosen study assignment was […]
April 3, 2006
WINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID: “WHEN ONE GENERATION NO LONGER ESTEEMS ITS OWN HERITAGE AND FAILS TO PASS THE TORCH TO ITS CHILDREN, IT IS SAYING IN ESSENCE THAT THE VERY FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND EXPERIENCES THAT MAKE THE SOCIETY WHAT IT IS ARE NO LONGER VALID‚Ķ” Churchill continued: “What is required when this happens and the […]
March 20, 2006
WHERE DO WE BEGIN TO BUILD THE RELATIONAL SOCIETY – A SOCIETY BASED ON LOVE FOR GOD AND NEIGHBOUR? We have suggested that the global uproar over the Mohammed cartoons pits Moslems, demanding one set of rights, against secular liberalists defending another; while Christians watch rather nonplussed from the sidelines. Neither the Muslim nor the […]
March 13, 2006
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM BONO’S ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST IN WASHINGTON D.C. LAST MONTH: “One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God. For me, at least, it got in […]
March 5, 2006
THE RECENT CARTOON RIOTS STIR IN ME FEELINGS OF AMBIVILENCE. On the one hand, we have to agree with much the secular liberalists like Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali say in defence of the open society and freedom of expression. After all, these concepts are closely linked with religious liberty and freedom of conscience. Such […]
