Nearing the end of the calendar year, we are often given to think both of first things (like God’s first taking flesh as our Saviour, Jesus Christ, celebrated at Christmas) and last things (the next coming of our Lord into the world, to make all things new – a theme that features throughout the November lections and also, to an extent, in Advent). Moreover, from All Saints (Nov 1) and All Souls (Nov 2) up…
In the forty days before Easter, we remember when Jesus, just after his baptism, was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, to fast and to pray, but also to be subjected to temptation by the devil. Jesus resisted the devil’s beguiling offers, parrying each with robust and apt responses from Scripture. Jesus passed the test. In the original Greek, the word πειρασμός can be translated as ‘temptation’, but also as ‘test’ or ‘trial’,…
This months Chaplain’s Letter is written by the Reverend Sam van Leer, Honorary Associate Chaplain for the congregation of Grace Church Groningen Last Sunday after worship, I had a chat with one of our members of Grace Church about his hobby: rowing. He loves it not just because it keeps him physically fit, but because of the spiritual replenishment it gives him. It provides him active but quiet time to meditate and reflect on life and its meaning.…
This months Chaplain’s Letter is written by the Rev Sam van Leer, Groningen Chaplain Church seasons seem to fly past us in the course of the year. Most of our annual festivals connect with key points in Christ’s life — his birth (Christmas), the Visit of the Magi (Epiphany), Jesus’ presentation in the Temple (Candlemas), his baptism, his temptation in the wilderness (Lent), and of course his final entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), the Last…
The chaplaincy article is written by the Rev Sam van Leer, Groningen chaplain. 2017 is a momentous year. Lots of referenda and elections have taken place and will do, and community, political and international relations seem under particular strain in these uncertain times. So the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in late January this year has had special poignancy, not least too because this year is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s effective launching…
This month’s chaplaincy article is by Sam van Leer, Groningen Chaplain One the special, unexpected delights of ministering in Groningen, a university city whose population is therefore comparatively young, is that we of Grace Church have experienced many weddings in the last year. In fact, since the summer of 2015, we have had a total of 6 member-couples getting married (4 in greater Groningen, one in England and one in Romania), and there are more…
Walking in Prayer Grace Church Groningen also answered the call of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, with their ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ (see thykingdom.co.uk) initiative, to devote the week before Pentecost to prayer. All church communities pray every week, but in this week we were invited to pray in special ways and places for the renewal of the God’s Church and her witness to the world, all in preparation for the Feast of His Spirit.…
GraceTALKs: 1st Sundays in Groningen Since we haven’t the resources to meet for worship more than twice monthly (2nd & 4th Sundays), but we very much still want to grow as a community, Grace Church launched a special 1st Sunday of the month activity in another local venue. It’s called a GraceTALK, and it features an interesting guest speaker and a bring-and-share meal each time. Since the series began last September, we’ve had talks by…
A highlight for us on
10 January (Baptism of Christ) was the baptism of a young asylum seeker who had had a vision of the light of Christ one day, and felt compelled to walk into a local church.