Day 6

Prayer:

Psalm 32:1-5

1   Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
         whose sin is covered.
2   Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity,
         and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3   While I kept silence, my body wasted away
         through my groaning all day long.
4   For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
         my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5   Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
         and I did not hide my iniquity;
    I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
         and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

Devotion:

Romans 5:15-19

“15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.16And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification.17If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. 19For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

Journal:

Sunday morning! What a wonderful way to mark the middle of our time here in the Netherlands. We started off by going to church with the Via Nova church plant congregation. It was a nice contemporary service that included many people’s voices and a sermon from the associate pastor. Hymns, secular songs and contemporary worship music was the majority of the service and it offered something for everyone. After the service we had a coffee and tea with Stefan Paas who was the organizing pastor of this congregation some 10 years ago. The church has grown into a traditional church plant but it was not initially set up that way. Paas started gathering folks for conversations in the community and having prayer and study groups. This led to the group wanting to go further together and eventually began meeting in an old church. When the church became too expensive for their small congregation they then moved to a community space that they are housed in now. The building is a community partnership complex that has apartments, places for organizations to gather and a business incubator. The church only occupies a theatre stage on Sunday mornings and rents an office in the upstairs for other meetings throughout the week. The congregation is growing and it includes young urban professionals with growing families. Initially the target of the mission was an upper-middle class neighborhood but they extended out to many other neighborhoods within a 10 minute bike ride. Since the project ended up being more of a traditional model, it is a good representation for the need for traditional church models in today’s church planting world.

We then spent some time in the city before meeting at the Oudekerk (Old Church) in the Redlight District for evening prayers. This was an ecumenical service that included a beautiful choir that sung some Psalms and other prayers and songs. While it was an amazing experience it had been raining the whole time we were walking around the city and the church did not seem to be heated. So we were all really cold. It was a great experience though and was nothing that a little schnitzel couldn’t fix.

(Oudekerk)