SintJanskerk Gouda

This church was huge. It’s the longest church in the Netherlands, they say; 123 metres long. We were there during the week, and as we walked around, listening to the organist’s music, I tried to imagine all the benches filled with people worshipping. The sound and sight would have been amazing. 

The grandeur, the richness, the intricate work of the stained glass windows... I can’t put it into words very well, but it felt like the Christians who built this over 100s of years lived a greater devotion to God than I see in my time. 

Which was a bit of a lonely thought. 

As we left, we saw photographs from 1939 of the stained glass windows being taken down and stored in wooden cases in a sort of underground shed at a farm. There they made it safely through the war.

“Take a picture for cousin Peter,” said Kevin. “Wouldn’t he love to hammer on that organ.”

Walking Gouda

The weather is beautifully mild, and so we have hit the ground running, planning day excursions for the first three days of our first week in the Netherlands. Here we are in Gouda, getting ready to walk to SintJanskerk.

In our first meeting with Oom Adri, he said he thought Esther was “ondeugend;” (mischievous). Maybe she was making this face then.


This is a church we walked by; it was too beautiful to forget. “Everyone Welcome,” said the sign on the front.

Delft

We were so happy to find a good, reformed English service to attend on Sunday in Delft. Last Sunday, we went to a Church of Scotland (Scots International Church) in Rotterdam and were dismayed to find it very like the United Church in Canada.

We had to walk a little to find 'De Genestekerk' where the services were held; the location had been changed, and there was no parking nearby. 

Behind me in the picture above, you can see the leaning tower of the Old Church of Delft. At the top, the tower leans 2 metres to the left.

 

To find the Genestekerk, we went into a dark covered alley filled with bicycles, came out into a mossy bricked courtyard, and went in some big, green-painted doors. We were glad to be able to follow someone else in.
I'm putting this here hoping it will help a fellow traveller or two who are looking for a good Christian church to worship with as they stay in the Netherlands.