I’ve run through more than a half dozen openings and a similar number of themes for this piece, the first I’ve written for Reformed Journal, despite my many years working behind the scenes for this and its predecessor, Perspectives.

It’s not that I haven’t written pieces for other publications, beginning decades ago for the Holland Sentinel for which I produced a steady stream of feature articles and reviews of everything from movies to dance recitals. There were also the many essays I produced throughout my academic years. All of these were infused with my voice, albeit grounded in factual information (remember when that was important?).

But along the way my writing shifted to the more corporate as I took on a succession of positions in communication offices for various non-profits agencies. My writing — and there was a lot of it, especially the decade I served the World Communion of Reformed Churches — reflected the views of the organization, as should be the case. 

When I began thinking about this this piece I was hit by two opposing issues: on the one hand, I had so many ideas: Germans’ enthusiasm for ringing in the new year with fireworks, tribal commitments to sports teams half a world away (come on you Gunners), the idiocy of AI’s “development,” how the ecumenical movement is no longer moving, alternative year-end “best of” lists, the sheer state of things, etc. 

While on the other hand, I couldn’t locate my own voice. Like underutilized muscles, it had deteriorated over the decades as it was subsumed by professional necessities. It’s not as if I don’t have opinions — buy me a beer and I’ll rattle off some thoughts on whatever subject is at hand. But to craft these thoughts into a coherent, meaningful piece is something else. 

I’ll be the first to admit that this is not a great time to lose one’s voice, especially given the sheer state of things, but I didn’t realize it was actually gone until I was asked to put fingers to keyboard. 

This is something I’ll have to remedy. And, thankfully, the virtual pages of the Reformed Journal are a great place to both exercise this muscle and be inspired by others. 

As Steve Mathonnet-VanderWell showed in yesterday’s post — “The Best of Reformed Journal, 2025” — the Journal presents a wide-ranging array of excellent articles on diverse topics. I’ve been blessed to work with and personally know many of these authors, and am surrounded by a gifted group of researchers and writers in my current position as director of the Van Raalte Institute. 

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, but in the coming year I do plan on exercising my voice, both improving it and using it. I hope I’ll be able to share some of the results with you here (and elsewhere).

Headed photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash