September and October are the months when we celebrate Harvest Sunday across the chaplaincy. For example you’ll see from photos from All Saints Harvest last month. I always find it striking the range of images that are used in the hymns sung at Harvest . Sometimes the words are very close to agricultural ideas – such as ‘We plough the fields and scatter.” But other well loved hymns, merges these farming images with other biblical…

“They overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” At this stage in Trinity season, we are being encouraged to lift our hearts and minds to the contemplation of God – that is, to a loving beholding of God. So it is most appropriate that we celebrate this Feast of St. Michael and All Angels on 29 September. Why?…

The following article was written by David Phillips for the Zwolle ecumenical magazine Gaandeweg (april/mei/juni 2018 edition) on the subject above, which was the theme of this edition. They asked for 350-400 words. The Dutch translation, which follows, is what appears in the magazine.   Through the Word, God created heaven and earth. But we cannot see heaven until God opens our eyes by steps. The created order itself can begin to open our eyes to…

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 month’s Chaplain’s Letter was written by the Rev. Grant Growe, Amersfoort Chaplain   ”Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” (Luke 4:1-2a). In Church History, Lent may have followed Epiphany, just as Jesus time in the wilderness followed immediately after his baptism. But soon this period of Lent became attached to Easter.…

  At our last Student Movie night in Utrecht we saw the 2017 movie adaptation of The Shack, a book written by William P Young, a bestseller since first published in 2007. The movie has received poor reviews, but the consensus from our discussion afterwards was that it was definitely worth seeing, and probably led to the some of the most engaging discussions of any movie we’ve seen as a group. The story is about a…

Pilgrimage to Wittenberg On the 16 to 18 of November, eight pilgrims from Holy Trinity Utrecht made our way in two cars to Wittenberg Germany as part of the commemoration of the 500th year since the historic nailing of the 95 theses of Luther to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. The Pilgrimage was organized by Heikki Rusama, a Finnish Lutheran who, with his family, has been attending Holy Trinity over the past couple years…

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 Grant Crowe, Amersfoort Chaplain Antioch Summer is coming to an end. We approach a new level of activity in our congregations’ lives, with home groups starting anew or once more, Harvest, All Saints, All Souls & Remembrance Services all approach fast, and quickly our planning picks up speed for our Advent season and Christmas celebrations. Summer to Christmas all in a few seconds! David last month,…