A bit of personal news

and the first of four (somewhat devotional) blog posts for the Reformed Journal

Here’s some news I’ve held off sharing until I signed the contract and bought the airline ticket (the residency permit is still pending):

Beginning August 21, I will be the interim pastor at the American Protestant Church in The Hague—yes, The Netherlands. And yes, the home of the International Criminal Court which, I’ve noticed, is what most Americans think about when they hear “The Hague.” (Just so you know, there are other interesting places in The Hague, including a cool beach, some museums, and lots of embassies.)

My work will allow APCH, as it’s known, a few months to search for a new, more permanent pastor. I’m hoping to be back in the U.S. by late spring 2023. If you’re planning a trip to Europe in the coming year, please stop and say hi. Sunday worship is at 10:00 (Western European Time). More details about the church here.

And now, the blog post.

Beginning today and for the rest of the Sundays in June, I am blogging for the Reformed Journal. Sunday blogs, say the editors, are “more devotional” in nature than the weekday variety. Not sure what that means.

What follows is my first post.

Last week I wrote something about Pentecost for the Reformed Journal, my first-ever Sunday contribution, and I thought it was touching and clever. Just now I threw it out.

I’m still thinking about how I could use it somewhere — because it was that good — but the truth is, it wouldn’t be fitting right now, or maybe ever, especially after all that’s happened (and with all that’s about to happen in the coming weeks in the Reformed family of denominations).

Reformed Journal bloggers, I’ve noticed, have been doing some of this lately, tossing a perfectly good essay because something in the world happened, leaving what had been written now sounding a bit off, no longer what would be of interest to readers…read more

Photo: Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring” can be found, of course, in The Hague.