Friday, June 24, 2016

Colleagues List, June 26th, 2016

Vol. XI.  No. 44

*****


GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE


Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telus.net

Colleagues List Web Site:

http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com


Dear Colleagues:

Enhancing your reading experience is very
important to me.

I am attempting to refine and reduce the
length, but not the content and quality,
of each issue.

Please let me know how I'm doing.

--

This is the final edition of Volume XI
of Colleagues List. As a bi-weekly, it
is longer than usual.

During the past year, I have sent you
44 issues, and my average for the past
11 years is 46 (a total of 513) editions. 

Many thanks to so many of you for faithful 
readership and contribution to this blog.
I am encouraged to continue this ministry.

--

My Special Item this week is indeed special.
I introduce a new book by colleague Reg.
Bibby of Lethbridge, AB and his associate,
Canadian pollster, Angus Reid. 

The book is entitled "Canada's Catholics" 
and I hope you like it.

Scroll down, past this letter to read about it.

Thanks to Jim Taylor, Ron Rolheiser and
Martin Marty for contributing your columns.

Twelve "Net Notes" appealed to me during 
the past two weeks. I share them with you,
below.

Nine contributions appear as "Wisdom of
the Week."

The New York Times provides three historic
news items from the archives.

I end this letter with a closing thought.

If you are interested, we start to build our
fall adult spiritual development program
at St. David's, Calgary and I invite you to
participate with us, directly or indirectly.
For that, scroll to the end of the blog.

The next issue of Colleagues List will be
Volume XII, No. 1. It appears, July 10th
and we continue our summer bi-weekly
schedule.

Good wishes,

Wayne

*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

CANADA'S CATHOLICS
Vitality and Hope in a New Era
by Reginald Bibby and Angus Reid

Novalis, Toronto, June, 2016
192 pages. $19.95 CAD
ISBN #978-2896-88261-8.

Publisher's Promo:

An essential guide to the Canadian Catholic 
Church from award-winning sociologist 
Reginald Bibby and well-known pollster 
Angus Reid.

The Catholic Church in Canada experienced
seismic shifts in the 20th century.

Once a stronghold of national and provincial 
culture and life, the Church underwent a 
dramatic transformation, with decreased 
participation and a loss of social prominence 
However, according to Bibby and Reid, there’s 
evidence that we ought not despair Rather, the 
Church is in a period of major transformation, 
and there is hope. 

Drawing from a new cross-country survey 
of 3,000 Canadians, Bibby and Reid offer an 
insightful look into what lay Catholics believe 
and what draws women and men to the life 
of the Church.

--

Reg. Bibby Wiki Bio: http://tinyurl.com/j8svkru
Angus Reid Institute: http://angusreid.org/

--

Note: Bibby is Protestant by background, and
Reid is Roman Catholic. Their research synergy
greatly enhances the quality of this book.

Authors' Words:

(Partway through our collaboration since 2014,
Reg came up with an idea that would help us 
make this book possible - to extend the overall
sample of a Canadian survey on attitudes to
religion in this country - to include 1,000 Catholics.)

This allowed us to generate largely unprecedented
data on beliefs, attitudes, and practices of Catholics
across the country, including, of course - Quebec.
Comprehensive national survey data on Catholics
has been sparse, which is somewhat surprising,
given the historical place of the (Catholic) Church
in Canada, especially during the country's
formative years...

Media reports in recent decades, for example,
have offered at best a confusing picture of the
status of Catholicism in Canada... (some of the 
perspectives tend to portray a Church in decline,
while others suggest a Church that is healthy,
vigorous and confident.)

Faced with this cacophony of mixed signals, and
contradictory reports (Reg and Angus) decided to
go straight to Catholics to get a more direct
reading that would help provide insight into
current trends and future directions.

Contrary to dominant views among social
scientists that religion has been experiencing
a declining role in contemporary societies, we
have found precisely the opposite to be the
case in Canada when it comes to Catholics.
Indeed, globalization and immigration have
been bringing to our shores millions of people
whose identities are firmly fixed by religious
beliefs and practices.

Surprisingly, the Catholic Church in Canada has
been benefiting enormously from developments
in the postmodern world that experts had
predicted would be its nemesis.

Independent of the immigration factor, we also
see a Catholic community that remains deeply 
rooted in an identity that is Catholic... Catholic
culture, along with beliefs, practices and the
vital role of faith in life's key events - birth,
marriage and death - serve to unite the 13
million Canadians who define themselves as
Catholic. Our research points to considerable
vitality and fertile ground for creating vibrant
Christian communities in the new millennium...

The spirit of the research project and this book
has been a full-fledged partnership... an uplifting
and enjoyable relationship.

Our hope is that Catholics and others will find
the material to be of value. 

- Angus and Reg in the Introduction

--

My Thoughts:

Taken together, Bibby and Reid have been polling 
Canadians for three quarters of a century. That
means they have developed a rather refined sense
of the communities out of which we live our lives,
and what occupies our thoughts. What a formidable
combination on an increasingly complex topic! 

It is surprising that the subject they address in
this book - Canada's Catholics - has received so
little attention over the years. Here, they set
about to rectify that deficiency.

Since Roman Catholics make up a third of the
Canadian population - by far he largest single
religious grouping in the country - this subject
is of considerable importance as far as faith
studies go. Their work benefits not only 
Catholics, but the rest of us as well.

The strong presence of Catholics in Canada,
(in terms of the total population, including the
large French-speaking Catholic population of
Quebec) is a very big factor distinguishing
this country from the United States.

Protestants were the principle founders of America.
while Catholics were the formative constituency of
Canada. Subsequent immigration has changed the
population mix of both nations, but that important
distinction remains.  When Canadians and Americans 
assess each other, this key reality may be forgotten.

I would suggest that the book under consideration
should not only serve Canadians, but those wishing
to gain a better understanding of Canada from an
international perspective. Indeed, the book is written
with a globalized point of view. We are a nation of
immigrants - no doubt our First Nations people as
well - and we are now, more than ever, a global
community and not simply a people with European
ancestry. This is reflected in our church life today.

In a true sense, the Catholic Church is positioned,
like few others, to benefit significantly from our
global society, multi-cultural in-migration, and
the resulting Canadian population.

Stated simply, many Catholics from around the
globe are helping to build the new Canada and
the new church of which we are all part.

As this occurs, I am so grateful that Canada 
today is a far different place,  faith-wise,
that it used to be. In a world where narrow
nativism constantly raises its ugly head, we 
Canadian shave been celebrating globalized 
religious and cultural diversity  for almost 
fifty years. 

What benefits some of us benefits us all.

When Canada's heart goes out to Muslim 
refugees and when "Canada's Catholics" 
celebrate the revitalization of a Christian 
tradition other than my own - I take great 
pride in my country. I am part of it - even 
as I must also be mindful that this blessed 
tolerant state could easily be lost without 
our vigilance.

I rejoice that
all non-Catholic Canadians - 
Protestants and non-Christian people of 
faith - are part of a great development.

Speaking more to this volume - I have read,
reviewed or introduced most of Reg Bibby's
books over the past 30 years (see a selected
list of them by clicking his Wiki bio, above).
I am not as familiar with Angus Reid's work, 
even though he has been a household name.

To have a Catholic and a Protestant join
forces to create this important study is
indeed fortuitous. My sense is that one
tends to complement the other. Where
one has lacked background, the other is
there to fill the gap.

In an ever-increasing and effective way,
Canadians are able to articulate their
evolving identity as a people. This book
is one more building block making that
possible.

For these and many other good reasons,
I encourage you to secure and read this
book and to make it part of the way you 
understand Canada and religion in this 
country.

---

Bibby Web Page:
http://tinyurl.com/jnszknw

Contact Reg:
pcbooks@reginald.bibby.com

Buy the book:
Amazon.ca
http://tinyurl.com/gt53vvg

Chapters.ca
http://tinyurl.com/zes4q9w

***

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
June 5th, 2016

"A Uniquely Canadian Church Has a Birthday"
  http://tinyurl.com/z7qv4ve

June 22nd 2016

"Live Longer, Join a Church"
  http://tinyurl.com/gq3snbo

--

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site
June 20th, 2016

"Of Guns and Pacifism"
  http://tinyurl.com/jzsav3m

--

Martin Marty,
Chicago. Il.

Sightings,
June 13th, 2016

"Heresy and Popes"
  http://tinyurl.com/z7fh9cl

June 20th, 2016

"Hate is Mobile"
  http://tinyurl.com/jx35ujn

***

NET NOTES

TRUMP'S MORMON PROBLEM
Republican Loyalists Face Dilemma

New York Times
June 13th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/zsw3nah

--

GO SLOW ON ASSISTED DYING
A Lesson from the Past

Globe and Mail
June 13th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/jlw6nxu

--

THE GOSPEL AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
Making our Worship Terms Relevant 

Christian Century
June 9th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/h4rre9y

--

EASTERN ORTHODOX PATRIARCHS
MEET IN CRETE
Focus is on the Integrity of Creation

Oblate USA Website
June 17th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/jg6jxpe

"Crete Gathering Reflects
  Classic Orthodox Divisions"

BBC News
June 19th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/zyek842

"Will this Orthodox Council 
       be Ecumenically Relevant?"

Sightings,
June 16th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/h7m4647

--

A BRIGHTER FUTURE
FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
Five Ways Education Can Help

CBC.ca News
June 23rd, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/z42fubj

--

ONE WINNER, FOUR LOSERS
WITH BREXIT REFERENDUM

Vox (via Sojourners)
June 24th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/zkuja6s

--

ARCTIC ANGLICANS SAY NO
TO SAME SEX MARRIAGE
Desire Church Unity, However

Anglican Journal
June 22nd, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/jes96sr

--

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS REPUDIATE
THE CONFEDERATE FLAG
Seek Racial Unity After Ferguson, Charleston

Christianity Today
June 14th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/h956axk

--

SCIENTISTS ENTER PURPORTED
TOMB OF CHRIST IN JERUSALEM
Making New, Critical Assessment

The National Post
June 21st, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/h4l3e26

--


GREECE AND TURKEY SPAR OVER 
RAMADAN PRAYERS IN HAGIA SOPHIA

Religion News Service
June 14th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/jrexoql

--

RABBI MICHAEL LERNER SPEAKS AT 
MUHAMMAD ALI LOUISVILLE MEMORIAL
He Shares Profound Spiritual Association

Youtube
June 10th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/hxa9fc4

--

HARVARD ACADEMIC NOW ADMITS THAT
GOSPEL OF JESUS' WIFE LIKELY A FRAUD
Karen King Had Proposed Otherwise in 2012

Religion News Service
June 20th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/hoj2c4l

"The Unbelievable Tale of Jesus' Wife"
  The Atlantic Online
  July, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/z47gzw4

***

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

From Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

I have so much to do that I shall 
spend the first three hours in prayer. 


- Martin Luther

--

You may not control all the events that happen 
to you, but you can decide not to be reduced 
by them. 

- Maya Angelou

--

Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door 
of resentment and the handcuffs of hate.It is 
a power that breaks the chains of bitterness 
and the shackles of selfishness. 


- Corrie Ten Boom

--

Sometimes you say to yourself: the fire in me 
is going out. But you were not the one who lit 
that fire. Your faith does not create God, and 
your doubts cannot banish Him to nothingness. 

- Brother Roger of Taizé

--

I've had enough of someone else's propaganda. 
I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, 
no matter who it's for or against. I'm a human being 
first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever 
and whatever benefits humanity as a whole. 

- Malcolm X

--

Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing 
compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams 
is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed 
and in sight of all. People will give their lives if 
only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, 
with all looking on and applauding as if on the 
stage. But active love is labor and fortitude.

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

--

If I am soft to myself and slide comfortably 
into self-pity and self-sympathy, 

if I do not by the grace of God practice fortitude, 
then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I myself 
dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve round 
myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely 
have “a heart at leisure from itself,” then I know 
nothing of Calvary love.…That which I know not, 
teach Thou me, O Lord, my God.

- Amy Carmichael

--

Eternity is a very radical thought...
and thus a matter of inwardness. 

Whenever the reality of the eternal
is affirmed, the present becomes 
something entirely different from
what it was apart from it. This is 
precisely why human beings fear
it (under the guise of fearing death). 
You often hear about particular
governments that fear the restless 
elements of society. I prefer to say
that the entire age is a tyrant that 
lives in fear of the one restless
element: the thought of eternity. 
It does not dare to think it. Why? 
Because it crumbles under – and 
avoids like anything – the weight
of inwardness.

- Søren Kierkegaard

***

ON THIS DAY

From the archives of the New York Times -

"Hitler Gains Stunning Victory Over France in WWII"
  http://tinyurl.com/5uy55h2

"Muhammad Ali Convicted in Houston for Refusing Draft"
  http://tinyurl.com/zo2ms5w

"UN Declaration of Human Rights is Adopted"
  http://tinyurl.com/83wo9bn

***

CLOSING THOUGHT - Maya Angelou

You may not control all the events that happen 
to you, but you can decide not to be reduced 
by them. 

(end)

*****

For Those Interested:

Beginning Our Program Planning Season -
Autumn 2016 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry at St. David's 
United Church, Calgary

FALL 2016 MONDAY NIGHT STUDY

This series begins in September

Theme: "Rediscovering the Bible for Today"

Book: "Reclaiming the Bible 
             for a Non-Religious World"
             by Bishop John Spong

http://tinyurl.com/jfanqdp


A  ten-week introduction to the entire Bible
with help to engage it meaningfully, now.

Ten Monday evenings, 7-9PM
In the St. David's TM Room
September 19th - November 28th, 2016
Excluding Monday of Thanksgiving Weekend

Books and Registration/Hospitality - $60.00
Books only - $20.00

Total book sets made available for sale: 35.
All sale books have now been secured.

Now beginning eighteen years
of Monday Night Studies
Our thirty-fifth series of
(usually) ten week sessions!

Course design: TBA in September

Check our complete archives
for all 48 book studies since 2000:
http://tinyurl.com/q3bw6dh

***

THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY

Theme: TBA in September, 2016
Group Decides Theme at First Meeting

Ten sessions 10-11 AM
Gathering at 9:30 AM
In the St. David's TM Room
September 15th - November 24th.

No charge.

Study resource -

The DK Complete Bible Handbook
http://tinyurl.com/odxlv7q

(copy available in our church library)

***

NEW SEASON,
NEW ST.DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVEL PROJECT

The Planning Cycle for a 2017 Tour Continues.

The Travel Destination has been selected
with Rostad Tours. It is a seventeen-day trip
which will take place in October of next year.

Location, cost and itinerary will be made 
available summer 2016. Promotion will begin 
in September. Follow these notices for 
weekly updates.

*****

Friday, June 17, 2016

Colleagues List, June 19th, 2016 (Short Issue)

Vol. XI.  No. 43

*****


GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE


Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telus.net

Colleagues List Web Site:

http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com


Dear Colleagues:

Enhancing your reading experience is very
important to me. I am currently involved in
up-grading the layout and presentation of
Colleagues List, so please bear with me.

I am attempting to reduce the length, but
not the content and quality, of each issue.

Please let me know how I'm doing.

Wayne

***

I am adding this issue to my normal
bi-weekly Colleagues List mailings
this season, because it is current.

My June Anglican Journal Column:
"Look at the Birds in the Sky"
  http://tinyurl.com/hjcbxqe

***

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

But ask the animals, and they will teach you; 
the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 
ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; 
and the fish of the sea will declare to you. 
Who among all these does not know that the hand 
  of the Lord has done this? 
In [God's] hand is the life of every living thing and 
  the breath of every human being. 

- Job 12:7-10

When all of God’s creation flourishes, 
human beings flourish, too. 

- Karen Swallow Prior

***


Friday, June 10, 2016

Colleagues List, June 12th, 2016

Vol. XI.  No. 42

*****


GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE


Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telus.net

Colleagues List Web Site:

http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com


Dear Colleagues:

Enhancing your reading experience is very
important to me. I am currently involved in
up-grading the layout and presentation of
Colleagues List, so please bear with me.

I am attempting to reduce the length, but
not the content and quality, of each issue.

Please let me know how I'm doing.

---

This is the first of bi-weekly Colleagues
List appearances through August.

This issue begins with an article colleague
Doug Koop wrote on medical aid in dying
from a spiritual perspective - which is
now very much part of his ministry in
Winnipeg. His article appeared recently
in the Free Press. Thanks, Doug.

My special item this week is a book notice
entitled: "A Light to the Nations - The
Indian Perspective on the Ecumenical
Movement in the Twentieth Century"
and was suggested to me some months
ago by colleague Mathew Zachariah.
Thanks, Mathew.

Jim Taylor and Ron Rolhesier share
their recent web-columns with us.

Net Notes - contains eleven links to
stories that got my attention these
past two weeks.

Seven wise sayings form my current
Wisdom of the Week selections.

Seven history-making news items
come to us via the New York Times.

Closing Thought - is by Langston Hughes.

--

Much of this week's issue was created
while Marlene and I visited family in
Northern Alberta. Soon, a piece I wrote
on birds we encountered there in all their
glory, should appear on these pages.

Have a good week!

Wayne

*****

COLLEAGUE COMMENT

Doug Koop,
Winnipeg, MB

May 30th, 2016

Hi Wayne:

The Winnipeg Free Press published an 
article of mine last Thursday, discussing 
medical aid in dying from a spiritual care 
perspective and it's now available on my 
friend John Longhurst's blog site. 

Feel free to use in your Colleague's List 
if it meets your criteria.

Cheers, Doug

"Time to Face the Facts of Death"
  Winnipeg Free Press
  May 28th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/jjuxxp6

***

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS
The Indian Presence in the
Ecumenical Movement in the
Twentieth Century,
Edited by Jesudas M. Athyal

World Council of Churches, 2016
Paperback. 244 pages. $32.00 CAD
ISBN #978-2-8254-1670-9.

Publisher's Promo:

Long needed, this volume discusses some
of the most important people, movements
and institutions of Indian origin that were
trend-setters and even decisive in the
ecumenical movement.

Profiles of the lives and especially the work
of key leaders from the Indian subcontinent,
from V. S. Azariah at the 1910 Edinburgh
gathering to Ninan Koshy's leadership of
the Commission on International Affairs,
offer insight not just to the Indian contexts
that informed them but also the new
dynamics at work in the global movement.

As the ecumenical movement enters its
second century, it is plain that the role of
Indian thinkers and church persons has
been instrumental in decentering and
decolonizing ecumenism, enabling the
movement to confront and address its
Western and colonialist roots.

As Athyal observes in his substantive and
truly informative introductory essay, it is a
story that touches all aspects of the rapidly
changing shape of world Christianity.

--

Editor's Bio:

Jesudas M. Athyal is Visiting Researcher at 
Boston University School of Theology, Boston, 
USA. He was earlier Associate Professor of 
Social Analysis and Dalit Theology at Gurukul 
Lutheran Theological College, Chennai. India

--

Introductory Words:

It would be a great mistake to think that this
book, which is about leaders in the church in
India, is only for Indian Christians. Anyone
who cares about the mission and unity of the
church will find much to reflect on in these
engaging studies.

In many respects, the ten individuals profiled
in this book are very different. Some are
Protestant, others Orthodox; some have written
prolifically, others very little... and yet readers
will likely be struck by the commonalities that
emerge from these very individual lives.

(They were all engaged locally, but they also
had a global vision. They were all committed
to the reformation of the Indian church as
well as to Indian society.)

Readers will see an integration of themes -
unity and mission, social justice and evangelism,
spirituality and social action, education and
worship... Interfaith relations is not, for them,
an alternative to a passionate commitment to
Christ, bur an authentic expression of it...

Ecumenism in South Asia was a protest,
initiated by Indian Christians, against 
the imported pattern of denominational
fragmentation and missionary paternalism...

The ecumenical movement was, and is,
extensively shaped by Indians from the
Indian sub-continent... I was continually
inspired by what God has done in the lives
of leaders from another part of the church,
even as I was helped in new ways about
my commitment to unity and mission in
my own setting.

- Michael Kinnamon

--

My Thoughts:

My first encounter with South-Asian
Christians from India and Sri Lanka
occurred fifty years ago when I was
a fellow student with a number of them
at the Graduate School of Ecumenical
Studies, University of Geneva, Bossey,
Switzerland.

Half a century ago I began to realize
some of the unique characteristics
of these Christians who came from
social, political and spiritual contexts
that differed considerably from my own.

I had been programed to think of such
people as some of the brightest and best
from our "missions" in foreign lands.
Frequently, however, their responses
to issues reflected a maturity and depth
- borne of innate experience much older 
and nuanced than we in the "First World" -
had ever imagined.

A book like this one confirms in many
ways what my initial impressions told me.

The first chapter outlines in a very
comprehensive way the Indian presence
in the ecumenical movement during the
twentieth century. The subsequent chapters
focus on the lives of ten Indian Christians
who contributed significantly to the
ecumenical process. Some are better
known beyond India than others.

A select bibliography and notes makes it
possible to read more deeply  in areas of 
personal interest.

An over-riding experience to be gained
from this study is that new models and
ways of thinking about mission and unity
are available to us from insightful and
devoted Christians who have much good
to share about their faith from real life
experience. These testimonials help to
convince me of the principle that the
better we come to terms with our own
particular circumstances - wherever that
may be - the more universally applicable 
our vision can become.

I am grateful that this book was
recommended to me by a friend 
who is a Canadian of Indian heritage.
The more I come to know him, the
better I feel I can understand many 
of those who contributed to this book.

Perhaps you might discover the same.

Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/zquh3zj

***

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
June 1st, 2016

"The Internalized Ethics of Selfies"
  http://tinyurl.com/he9qcvm

A Collection of Books by Jim Taylor
http://tinyurl.com/zh8abdm

--

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio,TX

Personal Web Site
June 6th, 2016

"Sensitivity and Suffering"
  http://tinyurl.com/jcpmwd8

***

NET NOTES

WHAT MADE ALI THE GREATEST?
A Sportsman and Humanitarian

The Washington Post
June 5th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/gvpfcww

--

JESUS AND THE END OF THE WORLD
Reading the Book of Revelation
as Redemption, not Destruction

Christian Week
June 2nd, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/hobdn38

--

ELIZABETH II - DEFENDER OF FAITH
At Ninety, The Queen Remains a Believer

The Tablet
June 9th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/h2hgnvp

--

DR. MAYA ANGELOU ON WRITING AND LIFE
A Series of Video Reflections by the Author

Englewood Review of Books
May 27th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/jn49lrs

--

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS DOWN, ASSEMBLIES UP
American Church Statistical Update for 2015

Religion News Service
June 7th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/zut4ofb

--

PAPAL INFALLIBILITY -
WE NEED ANOTHER TERM
Continuing Long-Standing 
Views of Hans Kung

Sightings
June 2nd, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/hjgznoe

--

EVANGELICALS MUST NOT BEAR
THE MARK OF TRUMP
"Take a Stand for Justice"

The Washington Post
June 2nd, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/j9glnhq

--

MENNONITES COMING APART
OVER SEXUALITY ISSUES
Traditional Churches of Peace

Religion News Service
June 9th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/gm8cnzx

--

LEADERSHIP - 
WHAT ONLY THE WHOLE CHURCH CAN DO
Reflections by Stanley Hauerwas (video)

Alban Leadership Archives
December 21st, 2009

http://tinyurl.com/h875bjw

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VIETNAMESE-CANADIAN PRIEST
NAMED CATHOLIC BISHOP IN CANADA
Arrived as a Boat Person

UCA News
June 3rd, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/zoja6wm

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GERMANY RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
AND TURKEY IS FURIOUS

Vox  World
June 2nd, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/jfrzq7j

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WISDOM OF THE WEEK

From Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. 
The conditions are always impossible. 

- Doris Lessing

--

Whether something is old-fashioned or not doesn't 
resolve the question of whether it's true or not. I can 
see the temptation of simply thinking, 'Well, there's 
a cultural mainstream which flows neatly in one 
direction. You just align with it.' 

And that really won't do. 

- Archbishop Rowan Williams

--

Perhaps the moral ambiguity of money is most 
plainly evidenced in the popular belief that money 
itself has value and that the worth of other things 
or of men is somehow measured in monetary terms, 
rather than the other way around.

- William Stringfellow

--

Be gentle-minded, for those of a gentle
mind shall possess the earth. Be patient
and have a loving heart. Be guileless.

Be quiet and good, trembling in all things
at the words you have heard. You shall not
exalt yourself or allow your heart to be bold
and presumptuous.

Your heart shall not cling to the high and
mighty, but turn to the good and humble
folk. Accept as good whatever happens to
you or affects you, knowing that nothing
happens without God.

- The Didache

--

Faith is what you have in the absence of
knowledge…and that absence doesn’t
bother me because I have got, over the
years, a sense of the immense sweep of
creation, of the evolutionary process in
everything, of how incomprehensible God
must necessarily be to be the God of
heaven and earth.

You can’t fit the Almighty into your
intellectual categories. If you want
your faith, you have to work for it.

It is a gift, but for very few is it a gift
given without any demand for time
devoted to its cultivation.…


Even in the life of a Christian, faith rises
and falls like the tides of an invisible sea.
It’s there, even when he can’t see it or
feel it, if he wants it to be there.

- Flannery O’Connor

--

The church is never true to itself when it is
living for itself, for if it is chiefly concerned
with saving its own life, it will lose it.


The nature of the church is such that it
must always be engaged in finding new
ways by which to transcend itself.

Its main responsibility is always outside
its own walls in the redemption of common
life. That is why we call it a redemptive
society. There are many kinds of religion,

but redemptive religion, from the Christian
point of view, is always that in which we
are spent on those areas of existence that
are located beyond ourselves and our own
borders.

- Elton Trueblood

--

I was invited to visit a friend who was 
very sick...When I came to him, he said 
to me, “Henri, here I am lying in this bed, 
and I don’t even know how to think about 
being sick. My whole way of thinking about 
myself is in terms of action, in terms of 
doing things for people. My life is valuable 
because I’ve been able to do many things 
for many people. 

And suddenly, here I am, passive, and I 
can’t do anything anymore.” As we talked 
I realized that he and many others were 
constantly thinking, “How much can I still 
do?” Somehow this man had learned to 
think about himself as a man who was 
worth only what he was doing. And so 
when he got sick, his hope seemed to 
rest on the idea that he might get better 
and return to what he had been doing. 
If the spirit of thisman was dependent 
on how much he would still be able to do, 
what did I have to say to him?

- Henri J. M. Nouwen

***

ON THIS DAY

From the archives of the New York Times"

"Vatican City Comes into Existence as a State"
  http://tinyurl.com/mxxlttr

"Allies Launch D-Day Invasion of Normandy"
  http://tinyurl.com/k8vw3

"RFK Shot and Mortally Wounded in LA"
  http://tinyurl.com/nwzs76e

"Chinese Troops Crush Pro-Democracy
  Demonstrators in Tiananmen Square"
  http://tinyurl.com/6ez8r32

"Helen Keller Dies in Westport CT"
  http://tinyurl.com/kfrzxa6

"Elizabeth II Crowned Queen in Westminster"
   http://tinyurl.com/qhjvye

"Six Day War Ends Between Israel and Syria"
  http://tinyurl.com/kf3fxqh

--

CLOSING THOUGHT - Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.


(end)

*****

For Those Interested:

Beginning a New Program Year - 2016-17
Adult Spiritual Development/ACTS Ministry 
at St. David's United  Church, Calgary

NEW SEASON,
NEW SPIRITUAL TRAVEL PROJECT

The Planning Cycle Begins With a Question:

"Where Would You Like to Travel Next?"

Beginning our process to find a destination
for a trip somewhere in the world in 2017.

Travel Destination to be determined in June
and promotion will begin in September.

*****