8 posts tagged “amsterdam”
This is the drawing from Hugh MacLeod that we chose as a key 'Christmas image' this year:
Great news that a group of Christian artists and media professionals in Amsterdam - some of them from Crossroads - have begun to meet to talk about a 'shared space' for creativity in the city. Calling themselves 'Pekel' (Salted), the group want to work towards a Chrtistian 'broedplaats' - literally a breeding ground for creative projects and ideas. Amsterdam City is looking to be known as a creative capital on a world scale, and there is a possibility of redundant industrial and commercial space being made available to collaborative groups.
The dream of 'Pekel' is that such a group could be formed from amongst the city's churches, providing a working environment for artists and craftspeople, as well as space to meet; collaborate; exhibit; talk; eat; work and pray.... The space would not 'belong' to any one church or group, but would be be a hub for creative professionals from many different churches.
Most of the information available so far is in Dutch only, but there are plenty of English-speakers involved, and the group will be to some extent both meta-national and multi-lingual. More informastion can be found on myspace here and you can request information by e-mail here. There will be an information evening on Monday evening December 10th in the 'Living Room' - the basement of the Dwaze Zaken (Foolish Things) Cafe, address here.
Crossroads regular Kees van der Bent took a really great set of photographs at our baptism services on October 14th. They can be viewed at http://www.feastures.com/xrds . There were baptisms in both our services (hence two different shirts for pastor-man) with six people being baptised in all. They represented five different nationalities including mainland Chinese, and their six stories were truly remarkable. Worship was lead by the amazing Crossroads choir who get better every time we hear them. 31 voices from a whole range of nations, every one of them with a story to tell about the work of God in our world. The service was a metanational feast! Thank you, Kees, for the pictures - and thank you to each of those baptised for so passionately sharing your stories with us.
Here is the translation of the Dutch text from the flier for the 'Rock ,n Roll Stops Traffik' event -
October 28th, 17h00 to 23h00
Human trafficking
is one of the worlds fastest growing illegal industries, devastating the lives of men, women and children who are taken by deception or coercion from their homes for exploitation. Every day, people worldwide are bought and sold against their will and forced to work.
Stop The Traffik
is a campaign that gives itself to making an end to these horrible practices.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Stops Traffik
is a fun way to contribute to a better world. Besides great artists, there will also be much information available about how you can make a difference.
Chocolate is addictive (enslaving)
Rock ‘n’ Roll Stops Traffik is part of a larger campaign concerning slavery in the cocoa-industry. Pretty much all the chocolate we eat in Holland is (at least partially) harvested by means of forced labor in countries like Cote d'Ivoire. The solutions to this atrocity are within reach, but the Cocoa-Industry refuses to aptly tackle the problem.
Do it yourself!
Do you want to know how you can get involved? Go to www.stopthetraffik.nl
All profit goes to the fight against trafficking
Slavery doesn’t belong to this generation! You can do something about it!
I was in Amsterdam this afternoon - right by the Olympic Stadium where I took some pictures earlier this week - and I saw that the Citroen dealership have launched a new marketing drive. It's all about freedom, and they have tried to catch attention by draping their building in freedom banners. I guess it works to grab attention, because here I am blogging it.
But does it make you as mad as it makes me? Here we are in a world in which the police in Burma will shoot into a crowd of monks; in which the desperate millions of Darfur are still waiting for their freedom - and we are being asked to equate these noble campaigns with the 'freedom' of buying a new car. And closer to home, we're about to pull together maybe 1,000 people to launch Stop the Traffik in the Netherlands [ 'Rock and Roll Stops Traffik - tickets from www.ticketmaster.nl ] to think and act for the real freedom of people who are real slaves in the real world. Has the virtual world of marketing gone that mad? And how must it feel for the human beings who have to hang these banners, and give their sweat and energy to this drive for sales. Does anyone actually believe that human freedom is about a new car?
Daniel Bedingfield will play an acoustic set to headline the 'Rock and roll Stops Traffik' event at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on October 28th. He will be joined by a massive line-up of bands and DJ's in an event sure to put Stop the Traffik on the map in the Netherlands.
Details of the event at www.stopthetraffik.nl
The Amsterdam Olympic stadium was built for the 1928 games, and even at 80 years old it still carries a certain style. The slim tower made to house the Olympic flame, the low-line redbrick walls and the sculpted reliefs of Greco-Dutch 'ideal' sportsmen combine to give the building a timeless atmosphere, like an Ivy League college plucked out of time and place and dropped into modern Amsterdam. In a city in which space is very hard to find, this ancient arena still appeals.
With all the hype already generated for Bejiing in 2008 and London in 2012 it is remarkable to think that this facility last housed the games eight decades ago. Yet here is still is, with its five coloured rings and its tower of flame, still proclaiming the Olympic spirit.
Just two weeks ago the stadium hosted around 25,000 believers from all over the Netherlands, come to mark 100 years of the Dutch Pentecostal movement. Another 'flame' passed hand-to-hand a century ago; another spirit still proclaimed today; another movement that has massively impacted the world, and brings tribes and nations together in shared celebration.
History is marked and measured by such moments. What will the Christian legacy of the Netherlands be in another hundred years?
