Sermons

All three of today's readings are about strength and new courage. Strength to continue, strength to make a new beginning, especially if a long period of setback, of failure or uncertainty has preceded. And finding the strength to help others. How do you do that as a human being? And how does this work as [...]

Some years ago, Revd. Sam van Leer, who is now our Area Dean, shared a video clip with a funny cartoon about St. Patrick. Two Irish brothers ask St. Patrick to explain the Trinity to them in simple terms, because they don’t understand difficult theological language, or so they say. So St. Patrick tries several [...]

It was in the middle of January 2016 and the ecumenical service in the RC Bavo Basilica was over. Two people were rushing into the vestry when I was just about to leave. One of them commented on the organ intro and called it dreadful and unsuitable. The other, an altar server at the Bavo, just [...]

No, I am not going to do it. I am not going to ask you if you are prepared for Christmas. Why not? Well, many people would instantly feel the stress coming up of all the things they still have to do, or should I say, all the things we have imposed on ourselves, whether it is [...]

“I just called to say I love you”, “you are the sunshine of my life”, “ebony and ivory”, “don’t you worry ‘bout a thing”. Do you know who wrote these songs? Yes, it was of course Stevie Wonder! This American song writer and record producer was blind from infancy, probably due to an excess of oxygen [...]

The human heart is a great mystery, don’t you think so? Without it we could not be inspired to make great works of arts and heavenly music, and to love with every fibre of our being, to care for others, temporarily forgetting our own needs. But the same heart can also distrust, and hate, and [...]

An old man lived on his own, deep in the mountains of Colorado. When he died, some relatives came from the city to collect his valuables. Upon arriving, all they saw was an old shack. Inside it was just some old junk, like an old cooking pot, some mining equipment, a cracked table and a [...]

A picture says more than a thousand words. It is much quicker to communicate than spoken or printed text, and for a large group of people who are visually oriented, it is easier to remember. That’s why today’s shops and media are full of images, photographs, logo’s, posters and videos. In the time of Jesus all [...]

The parable of the true vine is a rich one. Whenever I read it, I find new meaning in it. But what is the main message here? And how is it more than just another sermon about love? Could this parable help us to improve our lives in real and practical terms? Absolutely! And it is not [...]

Social psychologist Alison Ledgerwood is interested in how people think and how they can think better. One day she asked herself the question, how is it that when I return home from a day’s work, my mood is largely determined by what went wrong during that day, and not by its successes? She found that once our [...]