Category: Featured
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Wilderness Windows
Read More: Wilderness WindowsI like to imagine what it was like then — my neighbourhood, or ravine-riven Toronto, or the Sarnia savannah. It would be nice, just once, to hike through old woods from the lake shore to the escarpment or High Park to Forest Hill, or along the beach from Centennial to Bright’s Grove, and see nothing…
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Nikolaikirche
Read More: NikolaikircheNicholai Church in Leipzig was the beating heart of East Germany’s Monday demonstrations that led to the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 some 36 years ago
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The Battery
Read More: The BatteryMy son said bluntly, Can’t you do that yourself? (a teensy-weensy bit belligerent, second generation trademark.)
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On Cats and Dogs
Read More: On Cats and DogsAlmost every Canadian family has a dog or a cat. A quarter of supermarkets is used to display food for those pets. There is a very wide choice of all kinds of brands, because like humans, pets are very picky.
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Arnhem, Bach, Bible, church, Easter, family, God, Groningen, Hommes, marriage, organ, school, ship, Wedderveer, Winschoten
World War II
Read More: World War IIOn the eightieth anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands, Harry van der Laan looks back with the eyes of a child.
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Vennekerk 2023
Read More: Vennekerk 2023This is the story of our van der Laan reunion worship service, the summer of 2023, in the now abandoned Vennekerk, the church where my parents came of age.
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A Good Friday
Read More: A Good FridayGood Friday morning. I climbed the spiraling, creaking stairs to the organ loft, young and inexperienced, I needed to practice for the evening service.
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Another Good Friday
Read More: Another Good FridayHerman de Jong’s prose story of “A Good Friday” has been with me for as long as he’s been gone — twenty-one years now. I wish I had known it before then, just as I wish I could have talked to him about it.
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Reflections of a Grocer
Read More: Reflections of a GrocerShe is small and sturdy. He, tall and lean. Looking at him, you’d know that they are over-65s. They’ve been shopping here for years.
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Burdens
Read More: BurdensThis story, by Herman de Jong, about a social visit and the troubles it deals with is full of humour and grace.