St. Andrew's Church, Brussels

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St. Andrew's Church, Brussels

St. Andrew’s Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian church in Brussels, Belgium offering reformed worship in English.

08/09/2026

Thought for Tuesday 8th September
Mark 7:5
“So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?’”
Obviously Jesus knew full well that this was no innocent question. Confusing their own rituals and beliefs with the Mosaic Law was deliberate: their aim was to trap Jesus into saying that he or his disciples didn’t follow the Law.
Reflection: We each have traditions that are more than traditions. They are markers of what has been accepted as right and wrong and thereby serve to lend us a sense of stability. (David Lose)

07/09/2026

Thought for Monday 7th September
Mark 7:3
“The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders...”
“All the Jews” is better translated “all the Judaeans” - that is the literal Greek, and we know that not all Jews followed this ritual. Moses had nothing to say about ordinary people washing their hands before eating bread: his focus was on priests and their altar sacrifices, where ritual purity was the aim and holiness was the lesson.
Reflection: What do you think are the benefits of rituals and ceremonies?

06/09/2026

Online service at 11am today on Facebook and our website:
http://www.churchofscotland.be/
Thought for Sunday 6th September
Mark 7:1
“The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus...”
Mention of “Jerusalem” in Mark’s Gospel should alert us to the theme of conflict which he reports between the Pharisees and Jesus. It also points towards the dramatic end-point of Jesus’ ministry. The Greek verb translated “gathered” is the origin of our word “synagogue.”
Reflection: Give thanks for Christian traditions and those who uphold them - and for those who dare to challenge them and modify them when necessary.

05/09/2026

Thought for Saturday 5th September
Song of Solomon 2:13
“The fig-tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”
It is striking that the couple are in an equal relationship, very different from norms of the time. In 5:7 and 8:8-9 we hear voices that disapprove of the woman’s openness. Here, mention of fruit and vines suggest a natural sexuality: their fragrance prompts the man to urge his beloved to leave with him.
Reflection: Poems like this draw us away from the cynical, hard-nosed modern world in which we live daily, into a place of innocence. Song reminds us that human relationships can be loving, beautiful and free - and even pointers towards God himself.

04/09/2026

Thought for Friday 4th September
Song of Solomon 2:11-12
“See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.”
The natural world is not just the setting for their love; it is also an echo of their feelings. Many years later Paul Verlaine would write: Il pleure dans mon coeur / Comme il pleut sur la ville (I am crying in my heart / As it is raining on the town).
Reflection: Pray for the many harmful ways in which we in the “developed” world have separated ourselves from nature, thus breaking a God-given link.

03/09/2026

Thought for Thursday 3rd September
Song of Solomon 2:10
“My beloved spoke and said to me, ‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.”
If we look for a rational story, we are disappointed: it’s unclear whether they are married or engaged, or why she spends so much time looking for him and - in this verse - where they plan to go. But the verses evoke the passion and excitement of an eloping couple.
Reflection: Greek ideas later relegated sensuality to a far lower place, but Song celebrates feelings and emotions above all else. They too are God-given.

02/09/2026

Thought for Wednesday 2nd September
Song of Solomon 2:9
“My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.”
The world of Song is idealised, a bit like Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream”; and there are elements of dream in the poem. Perhaps there is also an echo of the Garden of Eden, an oasis from the brokenness of the world. The key is that man and woman are in complete harmony with creation: the woman sees her beloved like a gazelle or young stag.
Reflection: Perhaps the author of Song - maybe Solomon - was seeking to remind us that our sin-free origins in Adam and Eve could be detected in the innocent charm of young love.

01/09/2026

Song of Solomon 2:8
“Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.”
By around 300AD, the open sensuality of this book embarrassed scholars and church leaders so much that they spoke of it as an allegory of the love of God for Israel or that of Jesus for the Church. Nowadays most scholars see it as a moving love poem, recounting the trials and hurts that two young people experience. Song of Solomon and Esther are the only two Bible books with no mention of God.
Reflection: Give thanks for the wonderful blessing of love between human beings - and for that of Christ for his Church, his bride.

31/08/2026

Thought for Monday 31st August
John 6:51
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Now the conversation echoes his words to the woman at the well: ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.” (John 4:13) There, the woman was asking if Jesus were greater than Jacob; here, John seems to present him as greater than Moses.
Reflection: “...where we expect God to come in might, God comes in weakness; where we look for God to come in power, God comes in vulnerability; and when we seek God in justice and righteousness... we find God... in forgiveness and mercy.” (David Lose)
Poverty and crime are linked; and so are injustice and violence.
Reflection: What burden has been lifted from you, by Christ? And whose burden do you help to carry?

30/08/2026

Online Service back today! New format and service will go live around mid-afternoon.
Thought for Sunday 30th August
John 6:48-49
“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.”
Manna by this time had become more than just a means of survival for God’s people in the wilderness; it was a symbol for the very presence and gifts of God - an unworldly blessing of God’s grace. Jesus is saying that this fabulous manna is as nothing compared to the eternal blessing of the Bread of Life - Jesus himself.
Reflection: When we next have communion, reflect on Jesus’ profound words.

Adresse

Chaussee De Vleurgat 181
Brussels
1050

Heures d'ouverture

09:00 - 17:00

Téléphone

+3226490219

Site Web

http://www.churchofscotland.be/

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