Death… and Resurrection!
The Christian faith is all about death... and resurrection! That memorable take-away from Philip Jenkins’ excellent book on Europe, God’s Continent, continues to stir my hope for this part of…
Understanding the times
Questions bombard us from all sides. Where and when will the next Islamist terror attack be? What will Putin do next? What effect will the Greek elections have on the…
Lest we forget
This month we entered a four-year season of remembrance and commemoration. Through a barrage of television documentaries and newspaper articles, we will be reminded of the battles of World War…
Human Rights: secular or Biblical?
Christians have often suspected human rights to be the product of humanistic Enlightenment thinkers devising ways to sideline the Church and religion in the public square. With abortion, euthanasia and…
Default religion
The world watched on as Holland mourned this past week. Four days in a row, the same somber ceremony was performed at Eindhoven Airport, as coffin after coffin was respectfully…
In search of belonging
The loss of solidarity signalled by last week’s European election outcomes has prompted much concern and uncertainty concerning Europe’s future. Roy Searle of the Northumbria Community wrote in his blog…
Why Geneva?
Last week, Russian, American, Ukrainian and European Union officials met in Geneva to seek a resolution for the Ukrainian crisis. To everyone’s surprise, a consensus was reached which gave hope…
Beware the ‘selfie-culture’
The news is not so reassuring this week. Russian troops along the Ukrainian border threaten invasion. Extreme rightists in France make great gains in municipal elections. And the latest UN…
The Peace and Truce of God
The sun was setting on the little French town of Toulouges, near where the Pyrénées meet the Mediterranean coast, when my Dutch host jumped up and exclaimed, ‘Let me show…
Make summer dreams come true!
Okay, so you’d love to be with us here in New Zealand right now enjoying the southern hemisphere summer. Well, if it’s any comfort, we are experiencing the tail-end of…