From the inside of the building I could see him lying still as death next to the glass door he had flown into. I picked him up gently. Holding him in the palm of my hand I could hardly feel the weight of this incredibly delicate male ruby-throated hummingbird. He glowed an iridescent green. I […]
The Song of Zion “A Psalter–Psalm Devotional of Praise to Our Sovereign Covenant God” May 15 Read I Samuel 21:10-15; Psalm 56:1, 2 The heading of this Psalm directs our attention to the time when David fled from his enemy Saul to Gath. In Gath he quickly realized that they were dangerous enemies of his […]
In the northern part of the Dutch province of Drenthe, you can still find this well-preserved State Reformed Church of the city of Zuidlaren. An outspoken farmers’ congregation, “Suudloarders” as they call themselves in the local dialect, are reliable, independent, and always at work. This church was built in 1300. Over the years there were […]
Editor’s Notes—The year 1953 was a trying one for the PRC and its members. The cost of schism is high. Rev. Hanko paid with his own health. The stress of dealing with a divided consistory and congregation took its toll. His son remembers that after consistory meetings, his father sat up late at night, munching […]
Oh how precious is my Bible It inspires day by day It’s my lamp in earthly darkness Shining all along my way. By its precepts I am guided In the way that I should go Strength it gives my weary footsteps When my gait is languished, slow. Drooping hearts can smile more sweetly In the […]
“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” Such had become of the sale of indulgences. It was a scandal. Martin Luther set out to do something about them. A year ago Luther had warned the people of Wittenberg about indulgences in a sermon on the eve of All […]
“And the eyes of them both were opened…” The term “Enlightenment” was used by many of the ‘thinkers’ and writers from the beginning of the 18th century up to the French Revolution in 1789 to describe what they considered to be a time of truth emerging from hundreds of years of darkness and mass ignorance. […]
You see here a church in the Dutch hamlet Houtigehage, which is part of the village Luchtenveld, in the frontier-area of the provinces Friesland and Groningen, well-known by tourists because of the moors there. During the summer months, flowering tracts of heath all around are a beautiful sight. But on Sundays more and more curious […]