Our Daughter Lydia in front of the Rijksmuseum Paleis Het Loo
Presently Dr. Jason Van Vliet and I are cohosting a tour group of forty people through the Netherlands and Germany. Here is a brief summary of the first half of our trip.
Pulpit of the Grote Kerk of Dordrecht
Our flights to Amsterdam on Thursday evening, July 11, went well. My traveling companion was a retired Emergency Room Physician who had worked at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo for twenty-five years. He was an excellent conversationalist; I ended up speaking with him for three hours. He is a staunch Episcopalian who has been seriously involved with mountain climbing for thirty years. At age 69 he was on his way to Switzerland to take on some of the most challenging mountains in the Alps. When he told me that he agreed with almost everything Obama said and did—just after he had read the Wall Street Journal—and then asked me what I thought about him, we ended up talking about abortion and Obamacare but then got into theology. We didn’t agree on much, but he asked me at the end of the conversation if he could purchase the best book I had ever written. “I’m a voracious reader,” he said, ” so I would like to read your very best book.”
Sixteen of our tour group were on the overnight overseas flight together. We connected with fourteen more tour group members, plus our Witte tour guide, Peter Roolvink, in the Amsterdam airport, and were on our way by 9:15 on Friday morning. Our first stop was Zaanse Schans, a museum village comprised of restored buildings that have been brought from various parts of the Zaan Rover region. We especially enjoyed going inside a few historic windmills; most fascinating was watching how peanut oil was made with the aid of a windmill. We also witnessed the making of Dutch wooden shoes by a variety of machines operated by just one workman.
Village of Volendam
From there we went to the quaint and beautiful fishing village, Volendam, where we had lunch and spent a few hours enjoying its beauty. Once an important port on the old Zuiderzee, this little city is now known for its picturesque streets, quaint shops, and the traditional costumes worn by some of the townspeople. By the end of the day we checked in at Hotel Dordrecht, where we met seven more tour members, including my cohost, Dr. Jason VanVliet, professor at the Canadian Reformed Theological School in Hamilton, Ontario. After a delicious dinner, we all introduced ourselves to each other, and Dr. van Vliet address us with some gripping remarks about Lord’s Day 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism.
On Saturday morning, we took a guided walking tour in Dordrecht, splitting into two groups of twenty people each. Our guide, Tom, described himself as an agnostic humanist, who believes in man rather than God. Though that proved to be disappointing, he was very knowledgable about the attractive, historic city of Dordrecht, which was already an important city by 1220 A.D. By 1299, Dordrecht had become a major city, strategic in terms of its surrounding rivers and transportation which was central to trade and commence thought the Netherlands. Everything that came by boat through Dordrecht’s surrounding rivers had to be checked and taxed. In 1431, a major flood destroyed much of Dordrecht, which had now become an island. By the 1550s most citizens in Dordrecht had embraced the Reformed faith, and in 1572 Roman Catholics were officially forbidden from worshiping openly in the city.
Grote Kerk of Dordrecht
We saw the Groothoofdspoort, the main gate of the once-fortified city of Dordrecht, as well as some of the elegant streets and houses of the old town, and of course,the immense Grote Kerk. We heard about the church’s history, including the famous National Synod of Dordrecht which met in 1618 to 1619, and the pivotal role it played in the development of Reformed doctrine. At this famous synod the Heidelberg Catechism was officially adopted as a doctrinal standard of the Reformed Church.
Leaving Dordrecht, we traveled north and east to the Rijksmuseum Paleis Het Loo. A royal residence for nearly three hundred years, Het Loo was given to the nation by Queen Juliana in 1969. It is especially well known for its beautifully maintained gardens. Of particular interest was the “House of Religion and Orange” exhibit, which is part of a series of exhibitions offered in commemoration of the Heidelberg Catechism’s 450th anniversary. What I found most fascinating there was an old volume of the Heidelberg Catechism set to music.
Dutch Organist, Harm Hoeve
We then continued on to the Grote Kerk in Hasselt, where we were treated to a concert with the renowned Dutch organist, Harm Hoeve. We also got to hear the church’s carillon, and climbed the 200+ steps to the top of the tower.
Sunday morning we returned to the Grote Kerk in Hasselt for a Dutch church service led by the church’s new minister, Rev. Westenbout. He preached on 1 Corinthians 13:1–3, stressing that no matter what we speak, think, or do, if we don’t have love, it all amounts to nothing. That afternoon, I preached in the Christelijke Gerformed Kerk in Genemuiden (where Rev. Arnold Huisjgen serves as pastor) to 250 people on “The Only Way to Live and Die” from Philippians 1:21. Rev. Bartel Elshout served as my able and faithful translator. We were grateful that Mary’s cousin Janie and her daughter Linda drove two hours to attend church with us in Genemuiden, and afterwards spent several hours in fellowship with us.
Monday dawned clear and cool. We drove through Rouveen and Staphorst, beautiful, tidy, farm villages, in which some residents still wear the traditional costumes. The homes have the living quarters in the front, parents first, then married children, then an attached barn for the animals. The villages shut down on the Lord’s Day; the residents are only allowed to ride their bikes to church. Our driver told us to look for a heart plaque on the front door, indicating the parents are making it known they have a daughter eligible for marriage, and that a suitor could drop off a letter expressing his interest, and even have the freedom to come in and meet the girl. Our driver also pointed out that today the heart plaques are basically used as keyhole covers by some.
Site of the First Protestant Church in the Province of Groningen
Vesting Bourtange, a beautiful sixteenth-century Dutch fortress, was our next stop. The fortress was built on one of the only roads near the German border, in the middle of a swamp. It won every one of its two battles! The fortress is also home to the first Protestant church in Groningen, which William of Orange ordered to be built. Onsite also was a pro-Protestant, anti-Catholic exhibition on the Heidelberg Catechism.
We then headed for Groningen, the capital of the Netherlands’s northernmost province, also called Groningen. Mary and Lydia went shopping for a few hours, while I happily caught up on this letter and did some editing on a book on the Holy Spirit.
It may not be Biblical but I must say that I envy you your trip brother. I’ve always wished that I could see the Netherlands and visit the places where my grandparents came from. Perhaps one day in the Providence of God.