Vol. VII. No. 33
*****
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
*****
HOLY WEEK ISSUE, 2012
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
Canadian Anglican Google Groups:
http://tinyurl.com/7o899yg
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telusplanet.net
New "Quicklinks" are now included
with many items. Otherwise, scroll
down to find your selection in the
body of the blog, as in the past.
*****
Dear friends:
A blessed Holy Week to you all!
This week, I introduce a book by
a popular writer whose work
continues to reflect high quality.
Lauren Winner writes:
"Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis"
It is in many ways a continuation of
her faith journey recorded over more
than a decade and several previous
volumes.
http://tinyurl.com/833ynv5
___
Colleague Contributions:
Michael Stogre (Espanola, ON) -
Michael is a Jesuit priest and
medical doctor who works among
the Oji-Cree of Northern Ontario.
Lance Woodruff (Bangkok, Thailand)
Lance is a writer and communicator
who has lived many years in Asia
and interprets current democratic
developments in Thailand for us.
http://tinyurl.com/79rash8
Brian Rude (San Salvador, El Salvador)
Brian is a Lutheran missionary pastor
who writes with many years of experience
living and working in Central America.
Jim Taylor (Okanagan, BC)
Jim is a regular contributor to
Colleagues List. We welcome him.
http://tinyurl.com/72ogn8q
http://tinyurl.com/3m3alz8
___
Net Notes:
"The Righteous Mind" - here is a book
about a psychology frequently noted
in religious groups, but not limited
to them (New York Times)
http://tinyurl.com/89cbzoo
"'Hunger Games' a Winner" - the popular
movie has been well attended during its
first week in cinemas around the world.
(Wall Street Journal)
http://tinyurl.com/7gmq7sx
"Toronto Thanks John Stott" - the famous
evangelical pastor and scholar who died
some months ago was honored in Canada
(Anglican Journal)
http://tinyurl.com/877geg6
"One Psalm, Two Causes and Meanings" -
different people take different direction
from a common biblical text
(Religious News Service)
http://tinyurl.com/7xayku6
"Why Lapsed Catholics Left the Church"
- a New Jersey Catholic diocese did an
extensive survey of those no longer
attending mass (Religious News Service)
http://tinyurl.com/ccf8m32
"Christians Questioned the War of 1812"
- the witness of historic peace churches
in Canada (Anabaptists and others) is
noted during the anniversary of a famous
war in North America (Christianweek.org)
http://tinyurl.com/8x7jcee
"Lutheran Pastor Gets Jail Term in Vietnam"
- Vietnam is still a difficult place for
Christians to work (Uca News)
http://tinyurl.com/7hpachz
"Pope Prays for Freedom and Renewal in Cuba"
- here are several articles reflecting on
the pope's visit to Cuba this past week
(Associated Press, The Guardian UK, BBC)
http://tinyurl.com/85u8m
http://tinyurl.com/7asvc99
http://tinyurl.com/6wn9vgl
http://tinyurl.com/7682hbn
"Dalai Lama Awarded the 2012 Templeton Prize"
- the famous Tibetan monk and global emissary
for peace is awarded a prestigious honor
(ENI, Anglican Journal)
http://tinyurl.com/7kcwndv
"Mandela Digital Archives - A Virtual Treasure
Trove" - big news this week for historians
and others was announced from South Africa
(The Guardian, UK)
http://tinyurl.com/73bdd5m
___
Global Faith Potpourri:
Thirteen faith stories appear this week courtesy
of Ecumenical News International, Geneva.
___
Wisdom of the Week:
Francis de Sales, Marilynne Robinson,
Richard Rohr and Eboo Patel share their
insights with us.
___
On This Day:
The New York Times reports on stories as they
were unfolding:
MLK Jr. led 25,000 marchers to Montgomery, AL
protesting denial of black voting rights (1965)
http://tinyurl.com/7y6fcxy
Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier and first
secretary of the Communist Party (1956)
http://tinyurl.com/782klb5
America's worst commercial nuclear accident
occurs inside reactor at Three Mile Island
(1979)
http://tinyurl.com/76keky6
___
Closing Thought:
Meister Eckhart writes of the way that
all of life is inter-related.
May these days provide spiritual strength
and refreshment to all of you!
Wayne
********************************
St. David's and ACTS Ministry Announce:
OUR SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS TOUR FOR 2013
TURKEY AND THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH
April 22nd - May 8th, 2013
Tour sale begins with deposit starting June, 2012
Full payment due, January, 2013
More details such as costs to be made available
in the Sunday worship guide and the St. David's
Spiritual Travelers Discussion List Group as they
become available.
To join the list discussion contact:
Deb. Charnusaki - debcharnuski@hotmail.com
Your tour hosts:
Marlene and Wayne Holst
waholst@telusplanet.net (or)
marleneaholst@gmail.com
403-286-7416
*****
MARY JO LEDDY WEEKEND AT ST.DAVID'S
September 21st-23rd, 2012
Watch for new information as it
becomes available.
*****
SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS
Contact us at: asdm@sduc.ca (or)admin@sduc.ca
St. David's Web Address - http://sduc.ca/
Listen to audio recordings of Sunday services -
http://sduc.ca/St_Davids_United_Church/Audio.html
*****
STUDY ARCHIVES
An accumulation of thirty-five books studied
since 2000 can quickly be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/6oxmyj4
This collection of study resources represents
more than a decade of Monday Night Studies at
St. David's, plus extra courses too!
You are welcome to use our course outlines,
class notes and resource pages in your personal
and group reflections.
******************************************
SPECIAL ITEM
Book Notice:
STILL: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis
by Lauren Winner
HarperCollins Canada, 2012
244 pages, $28.00 CAD
ISBN #978-0-06-176811-8
Publisher's Promo:
In the critically acclaimed memoir "Girl
Meets God," Lauren F. Winner chronicled her
sojourn from Judaism to Christianity. Now,
in "Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis,"
Winner describes how experiences of loss and
failure unexpectedly slam her into a wall of
doubt and spiritual despair: “My belief has
faltered, my sense of God’s closeness has
grown strained, my efforts at living in
accord with what I take to be the call of
the gospel have come undone.”
Witty, relatable, and fiercely honest,
Winner lays bare her experience of what
she calls the "middle" of the spiritual
life. In elegant and spare prose, she
explores why — in the midst of the
overwhelming anxiety, loneliness, and
boredom of her deepest questioning about
where (or if) God is — the Christian story
still explains who she is better than any
other story she’s ever known. Still is an
absorbing meditation combining literary
grace with spiritual wisdom. It is sure
to resonate with anyone looking to sustain
a spiritual life in the midst of real life.
---
Author's Words:
In an interview with Publishers Weekly late
last year, Winner said this: "I really will
feel that I've failed if (my new book) reads
like a book about me. I hope that I've
used the first-person narration to open up
complicated questions about the middle of
the spiritual journey. I hope people find
companionship; I hope the narrator of the
book, the "me" character, is passing on things
she's received in her life. I hope that people
find wisdom and insight that seems applicable
to where they are. We all have moments when
the ground shifts, and those moments are
worth paying attention to, both as an
individual and in the spiritual community.
---
Referring back to her early twenties when
she first became a Christian and was swept
into the first flush of the Christian life,
Winner shares her current confusions over a
time now past through the words of a literary
character named Buddy Crawford:
"I thought I was saved. That's what was
advertised. I would accept you (Jesus) as
my personal savior; and there you were. And
you know, I felt it too. I felt saved and
everything... But I find out all the time
(now) that I've got to keep getting saved.
Am I saved? Am I not saved? What do I do
now?... are you talking to me? Are you not
talking to me? Am I good? Am I a sinner?
Still a sinner?...
This is a book, (says Winner,) about what
happens when you come to your Buddy Crawford
moment, and then what happens after that.
I thought that (early road of faith) would
carry me forever. I didn't anticipate, some
years in, it would carry me to a blank wall.
The enthusiasms of my conversion have worn
off... my efforts at living in accord with
what I take to be the call of the gospel
have come undone...
This is a book about entering the middle,
about being in the middle of the spiritual
life.
I was carried to the middle of my spiritual
life by two particular events. My mother
died, and I got married, and the marriage
was an unhappy one... I found myself to be
a person thinking about divorce...
Faith, after all, is supposed to sustain
you through hard times - and I'm sure for
many people faith does just that. But it
wasn't so for me.
The events that brought me to the middle
of my spiritual life were dramatic, they
were interruptions, they were grief.
This book is not a manual for "getting
through" the middle - I don't think the
middle is something to be gotten through,
and I don't have instructions in any event.
Rather, this book is about the time when
the things you thought you knew about the
spiritual life turn out not to suffice for
the life you are actually living.
This book wants to know about that time,
and then about the new ways you find, the
new glory road that might not be a glory
road after all but just an ordinary gravel
byway, studded with the occasional bluet,
the occasional mica chip.
(The book is divided into three sections -
hitting the wall, wrestling with a God who
isn't there, and then, a moment of feeling
God's presence in places you had not known
to look before.)
I am less certain now than I was ten
years ago, fifteen years ago; but I sense
this place is certain; it is sure.
Once upon a time I thought I had arrived.
Now I have arrived at a middle. If life is
long, I am still at the beginning of the
middle.
Ths book represents a few miles of the
climb. I share it in the hope that you
might find it good company for your own
climbing.
---
My Thoughts:
Some years ago, I wrote a review of Lauren Winner's
book "Real Sex" in which she described her passage
from an earlier life she now believed lacked sexual
discretion to one honoring pre-marital chastity. She
had come to a simple but difficult truth - God had
created sex exclusively for marriage.
She had begun writing the book before her recent
marriage and completed it after the wedding and
admitted her marital experience was decidedly
limited.
I admired the writer's intensity and engagement
with her topic and was saddened to read, in her
new book "Still" that that marriage had ended in
divorce.
If you are interested, read my review (2005)
which was written for National Catholic Reporter
and appears on the author's personal website:
http://tinyurl.com/72edhc9
Winner always writes honestly and articulately
about her immediate set of circumstances -
whenever that is happening.
With "Still" we are participating in the
spiritual development of a genuinely good and
intelligent person who is not afraid to call
it as she sees it now, and who has had to
change her mind about strongly held earlier
views.
Life has a way of doing that.
Winner has been through some tough times and is
no longer "young and passionate." She is growing
into middle age, but is still passionate.
I would encourage Ms. Winner to "continue writing
as she has been writing" for more than a decade.
http://tinyurl.com/87jaag4
---
So what is "Still" really all about?
I think it is a book about next steps in the
spiritual journey after one's first stage of
living the spiritual life is no longer possible.
Some give up at this point. Winner is no quitter.
Yet, she has come to realize that passion can
carry her only so far. Then a great depth of
spiritual maturity must begin to take over.
She is not one to ruminate endlessly on
"the mistakes of her youth" but neither
is she denying or avoiding them.
Experience seems to be teaching her that
maturity is built on taking one's mistakes
seriously and moving on with lessons learned.
---
When I was at the beginning of my career,
I recall hearing many criticisms about my
impetuosity and immaturity.
I reflected long and hard about this, and
decided that I could only be as mature as
I was at that point. I would continue to
be immature yet assertive. I would try to
benefit from my mistakes and move ahead.
I see the same qualities in Lauren Winner.
I sense a soul mate here and am glad for
the appearance of her latest book because
it helps to clarify and refine my own life.
Hopefully I will be able to continue reading
of her spiritual development in many more
books and for many more years to come.
---
Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/833ynv5
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
MICHAEL STROGRE
Espanola, ON
The Espanola Monitor,
Easter, 2012
"My Place of Resurrection"
The early Celtic Christians had a wonderful
saying that reflects their Easter faith.
Their goal and vocation in life was to "wander
this earth seeking their place of resurrection."
This evocative idea is reflected in the lives of
some famous Irish saints including St. Patrick.
Most Irish saints seemed to know when their hour
of death was near. So when Patrick's time came
he wanted to be buried in Armagh, his episcopal
centre. His guardian spirit from the time of his
teenage captivity pointed him in another
direction and ordered him to “return to
the place from which you came."
Another holy man, Brendan the navigator, traveled
far and wide around the British isles and into
the western seas to bring the “Good News” where
none had gone before. legend has it that he even
reached the shores of the new world. Be that as
it may, when his time came, he recieved communion
and said “God is calling me to the eternal kingdom.
My body must be taken to Clonfert, for angels will
be in attendance... and there is my place of
resurrection.
A third witness to this spirituality is a little
known Irish woman known as Canair or Canerra. She
lived a solitary life as a hermit near Bantry bay.
But when her death day was approaching she had a
vision. In it all of Ireland’s churches were lit
up like towers of fire. One in particular stood
out. It rose from Scattery island where Senan,
another hermit lived. At first he was reluctant to
receive her on this island refuge. She persisted
and won him over such that he exclaimed “Yes,
Canair, a place of resurrection will be given
you here on the brink of the waves.”
So whether they were wandering evangelists or
stationary hermits they all sought to be, and
to end, where God had called them. Jesus was
their example. He set his face for Jerusalem
and death on a cross. But Jerusalem was also
his place of resurrection. Jesus rose on this
good earth, and so will we. The earth too and
all of creation will share in the liberation
of the children of God. (Rom. 8: 21.) Heaven
is not far away or later. It begins now with
the graced life bestowed on us as sheer gift.
It begins with Easter and ends in “the New
Jerusalem.” (Rev. 21:2)
___
LANCE WOODRUFF
Bangkok, Thailand
National Catholic Reporter
March 20th, 2012
"Thailand on Edge of
Democratic Change"
http://tinyurl.com/79rash8
___
BRIAN RUDE
San Salvador, El Salvador
SAN ROMERO DAY in EL SALVADOR
March 24th, 2012
Between legislative/municipal elections
held on March 11, and the commemoration
of San Romero's martyrdom today, both of
which are deeply passionate events in El
Salvador, another intense drama has been
unfolding in this never-a-dull-moment
nation--especially in the media and in
the prisons (gang sector), in their
perpetual codependent relationship.
Not all that is being stated or claimed
can be true. Reported details are often
contradictory. Conflicting interpretations
abound. The role of the government - as
a whole and through individual players -
in all of this is the area of greatest
uncertainty and of most debate. The role
of the Roman Catholic Church and its
representatives is also a subject of
diverse speculation.
The first indicator was a sharp drop in
the homicide rate in El Salvador, starting
with election weekend--from 14 daily, to 1,
or even 0, reportedly, on a couple recent
days, about 5 overall. At first people
attributed this to the over-riding
distraction of the elections themselves.
A variation on this theme was that the
public security forces (police and military)
were out in full force because of the
elections, therefore putting a brake on the
"normal" rate of crime--and, officially,
that this was due to the recent great
improvement in police work. There was
related news about a transferral of
numerous inmates among different prisons,
mostly gang-sector prisons, conducted
before the elections to avoid complications.
A few days later, a digital newspaper
revealed the identity of some of those
inmates--mostly gang leaders - and the
nature of their transferral - allegedly
a result of negotiations between security
authorities and gang leaders, a version
which government authorities categorically
denied. Some days later, the chaplain to
the military revealed that he had initiated
this whole process, some months ago,
responding to the requests of family
members to pass on petitions to the
respective authorities regarding
humanitarian - health and legal -
concerns of their incarcerated family
members. Apparently, the inmates
involved were interested in pursuing
a violence-reduction agreement with the
rival gang, which led in turn to the sharp
drop in homicide rates. Considering how
one priest was demonized a couple years ago
by all sectors of society for having passed
on a similar such message from gang members,
this Roman Catholic chaplain was careful to
distance himself from any role of negotiator
or mediator, merely having passed on petitions.
The range of reactions covers the spectrum.
This process is viewed with great cynicism
by some, by others with great optimism, or
at least a "wait and see" attitude. It is
judged as being from saintly to sinister,
from sacrosanct to subversive. To this point,
it has raised more questions than it has
provided answers, especially the question
as to how long-lasting this trend might be.
In any event, it is a compelling - not to
mention delicate - theme, from whatever angle.
Other perspectives:
http://tinyurl.com/6pvrvd5
http://tinyurl.com/7l8r78s
*****
JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
March 21st, 2012
"The Loneliness of
the Non-Conformist"
http://tinyurl.com/72ogn8q
---
A Palm Sunday Reflection
Wednesday March 28, 2012
"Whitewater Rafting into Jerusalem"
http://tinyurl.com/3m3alz8
*****
NET NOTES
THE RIGHTEOUS MIND
Why Don't They Think Like Me?
Reviewed in the
New York Times Review of Books
March 25th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/89cbzoo
*****
'HUNGER GAMES'
TRIUMPHS AT BOX OFFICE
Wall Street Journal
March 25th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/7gmq7sx
*****
TORONTO GIVES THANKS
FOR LIFE OF JOHN STOTT
Anglican Journal
April 26th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/877geg6
*****
ONE PSALM, TWO CAUSES,
TWO MEANINGS
Religious News Service
March 28th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/7xayku6
*****
LAPSED CATHOLICS EXPLAIN
WHY THEY NO LONGER ATTEND
Religious News Service
March 27th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/ccf8m32
*****
CHRISTIANS QUESTIONED
WAR RESPONSE IN 1812
Historic Peace Churches
in Canada Recall Their History
Christianweek.org
March 23rd, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/8x7jcee
*****
LUTHERAN PASTOR GETS
JAIL TERM IN VIETNAM
Challenged Government Policy
Uca News
March 28th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/7hpachz
*****
POPE PRAYS FOR FREEDOM
AND RENEWAL IN CUBA
Associated Press
March 27th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/85u8m
---
Fidel Meets Benedict
The Guardian, UK
March 28th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/7asvc99
---
Pope Criticizes USA Embargo
BBC News
March 28th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/6wn9vgl
---
Castro, Pope Talk Past Each Other
Associated Press Analysis
March 29th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/7682hbn
*****
DALAI LAMA WINS
TEMPLETON PRIZE
29 March 2012
Dalai Lama awarded
2012 Templeton Prize
New York (ENI news) - The Dalai Lama,
already a Nobel Peace Prize laureate,
is the recipient of the 2012 Templeton
Prize, often called the most prestigious
award in religion. The announcement,
made on 29 March by the John Templeton
Foundation, based in West Conshohocken,
Pennsylvania, cited the Tibetan leader's
"incomparable global voice for universal
ethics, nonviolence, and harmony among
world religions."
(expanded ENI version)
Anglican Journal
March 29th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/7kcwndv
*****
MANDELA DIGITAL ARCHIVES
VIRTUAL TREASURE TROVE
Online Heroic Resources
The Guardian, UK
March 28th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/73bdd5m
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
26 March 2012
Cuban ecumenical community says
farewell to 'el Maestro'
Matanzas, Cuba (ENI news) - The Cuban
ecumenical community paid final tribute
on 23 March to Prof. Francisco René
Castellanos Morente, who died two days
earlier at the age of 97. Professor
emeritus at the Evangelical Theological
Seminary in Matanzas, Castellanos served
four decades there and taught, among
other subjects, psychology, Greek, Hebrew,
Latin, Biblical exegesis and folk dance,
according to a report from the Latin
America and Caribbean Communication
Agency (ALC).
_____
Anglican Covenant defeated in majority
of Church of England dioceses
(ENI news) - A majority of dioceses in
theChurch of England have voted down the
proposed Anglican Covenant, a set of
principles intended to bind the Anglican
Communion provinces despite theological
differences and cultural disputes. The
six diocesan synods meeting and voting
on the covenant this past weekend brought
the current figures to 23 against and 15
in favor, out of a total of 44 dioceses
throughout the Church of England, Episcopal
News Service (ENS) reports. The Covenant
first was proposed in 2004 as a way that
the communion and its 38 autonomous
provinces might maintain unity despite
differences, especially relating to
biblical interpretation and human
sexuality issues.
_____
27 March 2012
Ugandan church leaders
recall encounters with Kony
(ENI news) - Although the Internet video
"Kony 2012" is bringing world attention
to an infamous Ugandan warlord, calling
for his arrest this year, it doesn't
mention much about the church leaders who
continue to work for peace in Northern
Uganda and central Africa and recently
recalled their encounters with Joseph
Kony. Armed with Bibles, walking sticks
and rosaries, the leaders said they
ventured three times between 2003 and
2005 into the Garamba forest in the
Democratic Republic of Congo to meet
Kony. "I had gone there with a lot of
fear," recalled retired Anglican Bishop
Nelson Onono-Onweng of the northern
Uganda diocese in an interview with
ENI news.
_____
Church leaders see hope
amid suffering in Manila's slums
Manila, Philippines (ENI news) They braved
the foul stench of garbage and had to wear
borrowed rubber boots to avoid stepping on
muddy pathways in one of Manila's dumps
where poor slum dwellers live off from
recovered plastics and metals. "No children
deserve to live in this difficult situation,
but somehow I see hope amid their suffering
as they showed us they can cope and still
smile despite all," said the Rev. Charles
Buck of the United Church of Christ in
Hawaii. Buck was among 226 participants
of a 22 to 27 March meeting of the World
Council of Churches Commission on World
Mission and Evangelism (WCC-CWME), which
examined mission and evangelism in a
changing global landscape.
_____
Report says church giving
in U.S. on the rebound
Washington, D.C. (ENI news) - The
recession and a sluggish recovery have
made for a lighter collection plate in
recent years, but a new study shows that
giving to U.S. congregations bounced back
in 2011 as the economy improved. According
to the fourth annual "State of the Plate"
survey released on 27 March, 51 percent of
U.S. churches last year saw an increase in
giving, up from 43 percent in 2010 and 36
percent in 2009, Religion News Service
reports. The national survey, sponsored by
MAXIMUM Generosity, Christianity Today and
the Evangelical Council for Financial
Accountability (ECFA), asked more than
1,360 congregations of different sizes
to report on their donations and budgets.
*****
28 March 2012
Religious leaders praise
Senegal's peaceful elections
(ENI news) - Religious leaders are
hailing Senegal's presidential run-off
election as a good example for democracy
in Africa. After a peaceful vote on 25
March, President Abdoulaye Wade conceded
defeat to opposition candidate Macky Sall.
It had widely been feared that Wade, who
is 85 and has been president for 12 years,
would cling to power. "What he (Wade) has
done is rare and extraordinary and deserves
public affirmation given the fact that the
majority of African leaders continue the
unsupportable habit of disregarding
constitutional order," said the Rev.
Ishmael Noko, president of the
Interfaith Action for Peace in
Africa (IAFPA).
_____
Edmond Perret, former head of
global Reformed church movement, dies
Geneva (ENI news) - The former general
secretary of the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches (WARC), the Rev.
Edmond Perret, died on 24 March, aged
87, in Geneva. "The Reformed family of
churches worldwide has lost a brilliant
mind, a loving leader and a pastor
committed to societal transformation,"
said General Secretary Setri Nyomi of
the World Communion of Reformed Churches
(WCRC) in a statement on 28 March,
according to a WCRC news release.
Perret served as General Secretary o
f WARC from 1970 to 1989. In 2010,
WARC merged with the Reformed
Ecumenical Council to become the
WCRC.
_____
In Myanmar, army's attacks
on Christians continue
(ENInews) - Myanmar armed forces are
continuing to harass the nation's
Christian minority, according to faith
groups and human rights organizations.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)
reported that in one incident, troops
ransacked a Baptist church, burning
Bibles, destroying church property,
and stealing. "These incidents
illustrate that there is still a
very long way to go in Burma's reform
process," said Benedict Rogers, East
Asia team leader for CSW. "We call
upon President Thein Sein and all
reform-minded officials in the
Burmese government to take action
to end the military's abuses, and
to protect human rights, including
religious freedom."
_____
In Cameroon, Muslims and Christians
support electoral reform
Yaounde, Cameroon (ENI news) - Religious
leaders in Cameroon usually don't get
involved in electoral politics. But in
early March, a group of Muslim and
Christian leaders went to see the
president of the elections governing
body, saying they were fed up with
previous balloting that included vote-
buying, multiple voting and outright
manipulation of vote totals. "It is
our duty as servants of Allah to ensure
that truth, transparency and justice
reigns in our country, and this begins
with elections in which every ballot
counts," Modibo Bouba Bello, vice
president of the Islamic Council,
said. Bello joined the Rev. Sebastian
Wongo Behong, secretary general of the
Cameroon Episcopal Conference and the
Rev. Robert Ngoyek, president of the
Council of Protestant Churches, at
the meeting on 1 March with Samuel
Fonkam Azu'u, president of Elections
Cameroon, or ELECAM.
*****
29 March 2012
Faith and labor leaders honor
farm workers at Washington, D.C. event
Washington (ENI news) - Members of the
faith community joined with leaders of
the farm worker movement on 26 March to
kick off a series of events leading up
to the second national Cesar Chavez Day
on 31 March, according to a National
Council of Churches (NCC) press release.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
honored the contributions of laborers
by inducting martyred farm workers and
faith leaders into the agency's Labor
Hall of Honor. Solis dedicated the
department's auditorium in honor of
Cesar E. Chavez.
_____
Orthodox primates stress need for
peace and stability in Middle East
(ENI news) - A Synaxis of the Primates
of Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Middle
East met in Cyprus on 27 March to discuss
the situation of Christians in the region
and to agree on common approaches to
solidarity and strengthening the support
of Christian communities, according to a
World Council of Churches press release.
The invitation for the gathering was
extended by Archbishop Chrysostomos II
of Cyprus, said the release. He was
joined by Patriarch Theodoros II of
Alexandria and All Africa, Patriarch
Ignatius IV of Antioch and All the
East, and Patriarch Theophilos III
of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
*****
30 March 2012
Scottish churches combat
soaring metal theft
(ENI news) - The Church of Scotland is
making a high-tech move to protect its
1,600 churches and buildings from metal
theft, a newly-popular crime that is
estimated to cost the British economy
about 700 million pounds a year. As
commodity prices soar, thieves are
taking lightning rods, lead drain pipes,
bronze statues, iron gates, metal from
roofs and even church bells. The church's
insurer is distributing kits with a
product called SmartWater that can be
painted or sprayed onto metal. Each
church's batch of SmartWater contains
a unique chemical mixture that, when dry,
can be analyzed with ultra-violet light
to identify the original location of the
metal, according to Kevin Roberts, Chief
Executive of the Edinburgh-based Church
of Scotland Insurance Company (COSIC).
_____
German Catholics and Protestants
create online worship listings
Berlin (ENI news) - As Palm Sunday
and Holy Week get closer, Catholics
and Protestants are cooperating on
a new website that allows German
Christians to find their nearest
church service, anywhere in the
country, any day of the year. "The
dates of worship services -- including
rosary devotions, children's worship,
Taize prayer, Eucharist and Passion
services -- can be accessed with a
mouse click by Internet users," the
Catholic Bishops Conference and the
Council of the Protestant Church in
Germany, who are backing the project,
said in a statement. Church communities
across the country and of all
denominations are being encouraged
to log in and add details of their
services to the database, which
provides maps and photos and can be
accessed from smartphones by
worshippers on the move.
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online
March 26th, 2012
"Have patience with all things, but chiefly
have patience with yourself. Do not lose
courage in considering your imperfections
but instantly set about remedying them –
every day begin the new task."
- Francis de Sales
---
March 27th, 2012
"The moon looks wonderful in this warm evening
light, just as a candle flame looks beautiful
in the light of morning. Light within light...
It seems to me to be a metaphor for the human
soul, the singular light within that great
general light of existence."
- Marilynne Robinson, from "Gilead"
---
March 28th, 2012
"It’s a gift to joyfully recognize and accept our
own smallness and ordinariness. Then you are free
with nothing to live up to, nothing to prove, and
nothing to protect. Such freedom is my best
description of Christian maturity, because once
you know that your 'I' is great and one with God,
you can ironically be quite content with a small
and ordinary 'I.' No grandstanding is necessary.
Any question of your own importance or dignity
has already been resolved once and for all and
forever."
- Richard Rohr
---
March 29th, 2012
"Everywhere I go — from villages outside Kandy,
Sri Lanka, to community centers in Amman, Jordan,
to offices at the State Department in Washington,
D.C. — I find people with a similar story. When
thousands of people discover that their story is
also someone else's story, they have the chance
to write a new story together."
- Eboo Patel
*****
ON THIS DAY
Provided from the archives
of the New York Times
On March 25, 1965 - the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state
capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the
denial of voting rights to blacks.
http://tinyurl.com/7y6fcxy
___
On March 27, 1958 - Nikita Khrushchev became
Soviet premier in addition to first secretary
of the Communist Party.
http://tinyurl.com/782klb5
___
On March 28, 1979 - America's worst commercial
nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit Two
reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near
Middletown, Pa.
http://tinyurl.com/76keky6
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
Relation is the essence
of everything that exists.
- Meister Eckhart
Contemporary physics is arriving more and more
at this awareness that Eckhart and other great
mystics have sensed over the centuries. Things
are not just things. There is no thing in and
of itself, separately defined. The essence of
thingness is not thingness - it is relationship.
The insides of an atom, the moving parts, only
function in relationship to each other.
Further, galaxies and clusters of galaxies
reveal the same truth; their existence depends
on the relationship of their parts more than
the parts themselves.
- Matthew Fox from "Christian Mystics"
(end)
Friday, March 30, 2012
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