24 | Lent

We are half-way through the season of Lent. Honestly speaking, Lent arrived before I knew what happened. The oliebollenkraam (wintery donut place) was still hot when carnaval sounded the start of the Lent season.   Ash Wednesday passed before I knew and there it was: Lent! I quickly went into conclave to decide how to fast this year, and came up with a semi decision to watch a little less TV :). It led me to the question: why do we celebrate Lent? Where did those 40 days come from and where do they go? read more »

Something to think about, by NT Wright...

Today at Meeting Point I read from a brilliant quote of Tom Wright's. Here it is again, as I know it takes more time than we had this morning to really get all of what he's saying. A link to the entire article is below...

Because God is love, he sent his own Son to die for us, and his own Spirit to live in us. Because God is righteous, he declares in the present time that all who believe in the risen Lord Jesus are in the right, that their sins are forgiven. To anxious individuals, to a troubled world, to a divided Church, and to muddled evangelicalism, the biblical doctrine of justification declares: God is God; trust in him; be glad and rejoice in him; and do not be afraid. God is God: therefore relax. read more »

We need to be reminded

A while ago my husband Harmen and I (and some lovely friends) went away for the weekend, to a nice house in the woods. The morning after we arrived, I woke up early – crazy how that always happens when you can finally allow yourself to sleep in! – and sat outside. All I could hear was the wind blowing through the trees, the birds chirping, and... silence. I remember sitting there wondering whether birds are always this loud, or whether I can usually just not hear them over the sound of crazy city life. Maybe it was a bit of both.

Living in a busy city, living our busy lives, always going from one thing to the next, it sometimes seems so hard to find a moment of silence.  We need to be reminded: designated ‘silence areas’ on the train, in nature, reminders to keep our phones off in the theatre... And to be honest, I believe silence is highly underestimated in our every day Christian life also. read more »

Community life at the Vineyard

Community life is important to us at Vineyard Amsterdam. A few weeks ago, I taught on What Happens When God Shows Up, out of Acts 6:1-7. The short version of the message is that when God is moving, His community (the local church) begins to grow! And we are seeing growth at Vineyard... which is the reason we're now hiring for a PT Ministry Coordinator. But we also saw in Acts 6 that growth can bring challenges... because the more people come together, whether it's in families, schools, clubs or churches... the more our differences become obvious. The more our ideal of 'perfect community' becomes frustrated by the reality of doing life with folks who are really 'other' than we are. read more »

Why are we doing a Sermon Series on the Holy Spirit?

Just saying the words: “the Holy Spirit”, one can feel slightly strange. In our culture, most people believe no longer either in Holiness or in the Spiritual… we might as well be talking about the tooth fairy or Zwarte Piet. So why are we doing a sermon series at Meeting Point on the Holy Spirit?

For just the above reason. The Spirit of God, we belive as Christians, is the presence of Christ made available to us. It is the universal presence of the Creator God, living along side of us, inside of us, connecting our hearts, minds, spirits and lives to the Father and the Son.  It is the Spirit of God who heals, not us. And we can do nothing without Him. Jesus relied on the power of the Holy Spirit for His ministry. The disciples of Jesus relied on the power of the Holy Spirit for their lives and mission. And, today, we must also reply upon the Holy Spirit, for we can do nothing without Him.