Thankful for Holland

 HS #124 2025.11.13

 

 Thankful for Holland

 

Several weeks ago, I saw a movie with testimony of a former Holland resident who said that as a teenager, she found Holland boring and somewhat ethnically snooty (Ain’t Dutch, ain’t much.)

Given that teenage years are often ones of discontent, and given that I’m presently 67, the age statistically found to be the happiest (perhaps the best balance of health and freedom), I still found the comment almost laughable. 

 

Granted, Holland is proud of its history. Our annual Tulip Time and the Van Raalte statue in Centennial Park remind Hollanders of our proud heritage. On the other hand, I recently sent Hope College President Matthew Scogin an email suggesting that Hope consider changing its mascot from the Flying Dutch(men). The Flying Dutchman was a legendary ghost ship – kind of cool, but perhaps it has outlived its usefulness to inspire. My own choice would be HOpe College HOney Badgers. Essentially a Wolverine’s little cousin, honey badgers are not only super smart and ferocious fighters, but are also rather handsome. Check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c36UNSoJenI    and 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHGNsZVE5Ik. You’ll be impressed!

 

Be that as it may, Holland as a whole seems to embrace good living for all of its residents. My list below is available to all – and many are free or inexpensive. 

 

Our nearby beaches are obvious, but it’s easy to forget to take advantage of hometown riches. If you haven’t done so recently, take a trip to Oval Beach (Saugatuck), Saugatuck State Park (includes beautiful fall color hike and the Felt Mansion), Laketown Beach (dune to climb), Holland State Park, and Grand Haven State Park. I still get “thankyous” from former Hope students who I introduced to those parks during their college years. For something even closer, walk down the lakeside sidewalk of Kollen Park as the sun sets. I am often there and am surprised more don’t take advantage of it. 

 

Kayaking is available at Pigeon River a few miles north of Holland, or New Richmond Park on the Kalamazoo River just a few miles south of town. I’ve seen osprey and blue heron lately. The Black River is a quick paddle with sounds of Holland all around. The Nature Discovery Center (with its Bird of Prey exhibition and best-I’ve-ever-seen taxidermy) provides a fun afternoon’s outing. 

 

For indoor recreation, the Holland Aquatic Center is one of the best in the country – including weights, cardio, indoor track, and exhilarating water slide. Pickleball courts (both indoor and outdoor) abound. Outdoor are all free and enough indoor that competition keeps the prices low. I just now returned from Holland Charter Township Community Center – one more first-class facility available at a decent price – and free for Silver Sneakers. For those over 55, Evergreen Commons provides all sorts of recreation and activities. 

 

And we have more coming – a multi-season ice rink and mountain bike course. 

 

What about the arts? In the last twenty years, Hope College has built an “arts corridor” along Columbia Avenue including music, theatre, dance, and painting/sculpture. Many of the events are free admission, and the Miller Auditorium provides a space second-to-none. Local churches (Free@3 at First Reformed Holland, Second Series at Second Reformed of Zeeland)  offer monthly programs by area artists in a beautiful space. 

 

And the food! It’s easy to forget, when walking along 8^th Street, that Holland’s population is only 35 thousand. Many such Midwest towns of this size are excited just to have an Apple Bees. A dozen years ago, offered a faculty position at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota (also home of St. Olaf College), I was surprised on my visit to find relatively few good options for dining. I decided to stay in Holland. Even compared to other such college towns, Holland has it good. And we have a new Indian restaurant! 

 

Then there’s our location. We are a short hop from Saugatuck and Grand Haven, two interesting places. Grand Rapids offers the only professional ballet in the state (fantastic!), the Grand Rapids Men and Boys Choir (rarely found out of England), DeVos Hall with many first-class shows, and Meijer Gardens for art of all kinds. Chicago is a three-hour train ride away. 

 

AND! – have you thought of this! Holland is positioned at the far western edge of the Eastern time zone. So we get long summer evenings in which to enjoy all of these opportunities. 

 

So, raise your glass in thankfulness to Holland. If it’s empty, head down to the Farmers Market. At this writing, the Honey Crisp apples are still available.  

 

 

 

The Risk of Belief (Published in Ottawa News Network)

 ONN #2 2025.10.30

 

The Risk of Belief

 

Dear West Michigan friends – 

 

Before my column proper, a quick introduction. Ten years ago, Sarah Leach invited me to write columns for the Holland Sentinel. I have enjoyed it greatly. For the previous dozen years, I had been known as “the mathematician with Elvis – the calculus corgi.” That changed, to “I read your column.” As you all likely know, a couple years ago, Sarah was removed from the HS and subsequently began the Ottawa News Network. Wanting to continue my readership, I submitted my columns to both. Recently, the HS explained that they can only take columns exclusive to them.  So, I’ll continue my monthly columns with the HS, and will write occasional (perhaps more personal) columns for ONN, including this one and a recent one, “Why Must the Beautiful Die.”  You can find ALL my columns at timothypennings.blogspot.com. 

 

This column, a bit different, is correspondence with my friend, author/Hope Professor David Myers when he alerted me to the recent essay, “Fully Maga-fied Christianity” by Peter Wehner in The Atlantic. 

 

Dave wrote to me: “Tim, you might enjoy this - actually, it’s the last sentence that I liked best.” 

 

The last few sentences were: 

 

“This world is broken but beautiful, a gift from God, and the good in this world is worth fighting for. One lifeon this Earth is all we get, and, in the words of the pastor and theologian Frederick Buechner, “at the very least we are fools if we do not live it as fully and bravely and beautifully as we can.” God is far moreresplendent than the theologies and doctrines about God that we humans construct. And, as the writer Rachel Held Evans put it, “faith is always a risk. No matter what we believe, there’s always the chance we might be wrong. But the story of Jesus is just the story I’m willing to risk being wrong about.”

 

 

I replied: 

 

Dave – 

 

This evening in choir (GR Choir of Men and Boys), we had a guest - a former teacher and presently a minister with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. After choir, I approached him with a direct question which led to a 75-minute conversation on the street of GR (a policeman actually pulled up - perhaps wondering what was going on). Thankfully, he was self-assured enough (with good reason - he was obviously well educated and thoughtful) to take my question in stride: How old is the earth?

 

His answer: Somewhere less than 10,000 years. 

 

My reply: A Presbyterian - under the umbrella of Calvin - acknowledges all truth as being God's domain and, so I would think, you would find it difficult to accept an understanding of the Bible that is in direct opposition with all the various disciplines of science which point to the age of the earth and universe in the billions of years. I explained that the ratio of 4.5 billion years vs 10,000 years is like walking in a forest of 200-year-old trees and thinking they had been planted that morning. 

 

However, he thought that in time, scientists will come to recognize that our present scientific understanding is entirely wrong. That, in fact, the world is best/only explained as being one in which there were numerous acts by God unexplained by science except as being a miracle.  He REALLY BELIEVED IT - - that is what struck me. He reminded me of Johnny Depp's character, Ichabod Crane, in “Sleepy Hollow” when he first encounters the headless horseman, and the next scene shows him in a fetal position in a corner of a room with all the people who had told him that the headless horseman existed. He exclaimed, "You don't understand! There really IS a headless horseman!” Crane assumed the people’s belief was insincere, whereas he really KNEW it to be true.  

 

Similarly, this young pastor wasn't making his claim out of obligation - he really believed it, all because of his devotion to read and understand the Bible as (he claims) it has historically been understood by the church.  For my part (I was very candid), I was aghast that such a thoughtful, educated person would live his life without appreciating the true age (and hence grandeur) of the universe in which we live. That he would go into museums and read articles and books apparently shaking his head that, "Nope - all of this is totally wrong. All of these tens of thousands of scientists - geologists, physicists, cosmologists who have researched for decades - have all come to the wrong conclusion about the world we live in.”  To me, that's a real tragedy. It does violence to truth itself. Hence my passion about it. 

 

Case two: Just now I heard a BBC article about hundreds of glaciers disappearing each year in Switzerland. On TV this evening a story about how African farmers are finding ways to change their practices in light of global climate change – either change or starve. Another recent story: The coral reef off Florida is dying before our eyes because of warming sea water.  A constant stream of such evidence and yet some are convinced that it's not happening. 

 

How can (why do) people allow themselves to go through life believing a lie? 

 

So how do these examples of living in deliberate ignorance compare with willingly risking being wrong about the story of Jesus?

 

Most importantly, beliefs of a purely spiritual nature don't affect one's view of physical reality and so don't hinder the advancement of human knowledge. 

 

Secondly, as you have documented and eloquently expressed, religious beliefs can lead to a “spirituality which helps makes sense of the universe, gives meaning to life, opens us to the transcendent, connects us in supportive communities, provides a mandate for morality and selflessness, offers hope in the face of adversity and death, and nurtures purpose, love, joy, and hope.”   

 

You and I both live richer lives because of the community, inspiration and opportunities for service that our church offers. However, personally, while I understand those who would “take a risk” with their religious beliefs, I think the best life is one focused unflinchingly on truth - on truth as one honestly comes to understand it.  Is there a personal God? I don’t know. But if there is, I will let God lead the dance and I will respond in kind in the hope that a personal and good God, a God worth knowing and worshipping, values that sort of life and commitment.