News Blog

We need to be reminded

Published on 2 August 2012 | Spiritual Disciplines | Suzanne Struiksma

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 »

Making Room for God

Published on 8 February 2012 | Spiritual Disciplines | Eric

There are loads of people who have written brilliant things about the significance of prayer. I won’t add anything profound to them; what I have to say is rather simple… Prayer is simply making room for God. Making room for God to speak, to act, to be known. When we never learn to pray, or when we forget to pray, our soul begins to shrink, like our lungs when the oxygen is sucked from the room. Teresa of Avila wrote, “Souls without prayer are like bodies, palsied and lame, having hands and feet they cannot use.” Without prayer, we are limited, small, working like a machine. With prayer, we become large, full, a heart alive. read more »

Practicing silence

Published on 21 July 2011 | Spiritual Disciplines | Julia Pickerill

This past Sunday, Huub continued our sermon series called A New Way of Living by talking about rest, quietness, and the idea of sabbath. As we closed our service with 5 minutes of silence, I reflected on how good it is to follow the Lord into times of quietness, reflection, stillness, and silence. I also reflected on how long just 5 minutes of quiet seems in a room full of people who are working hard at doing nothing! read more »