*****
LENTEN REFLECTION ISSUE
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
"Quicklinks" are included with many items
at the beginning of this issue. To get a more
complete picture, however, scroll down to
find your special selection in the body of
the blog.
Note that not all items here have links.
*****
Dear Friends:
I am mailing Colleagues List a day earlier
than usual because of needed preparation
for a silent Lenten retreat and other family
responsibilities this week-end.
A word of thanks to colleague John Griffith
who will be leading a group of more than
25 retreatants from St. David's on Sunday
at Mt. St. Francis Retreat Center, Cochrane,
west of Calgary.
--
My Special Item this week is a repeat notice
of a book I introduced here five years ago
but would like to suggest as Lenten reading.
It is entitled - "In Bed With the Word" by
Daniel Coleman. I hope you will consider it.
http://tinyurl.com/lf5bf6j
--
Colleague Contributions - this week
are from friends in many places.
Brian Rude (San Salvador, El Salvador)
Please scroll down for his reflection.
Philip Jenkins (University Park PA)
A new book on World War I
http://tinyurl.com/ny373ov
Martin Marty (Chicago, IL)
Shares his thoughts on the
new movie "Son of God"
http://tinyurl.com/m56tmlj
Ron Rolheiser (San Antonio, TX)
Treats the matter of sexual energy
with sensitivity and insight
http://tinyurl.com/k38ycd3
Jim Taylor (Okanagan, BC)
Deals well with the current
moral issue of euthenasia
http://tinyurl.com/yl374wj
--
Net Notes - as usual, provide awareness
of a great variety of stories from around
the world -
"Ashes to Life - 2014" - a meditation for
Lent provided by UCA News (Asia)
http://tinyurl.com/lk3bdss
"Global Religious Reports Oddly Silent" -
with much happening around the world
that has religious implications, there
seems to be a strange lack of comment
(Sightings) http://tinyurl.com/kdxf8y3
"North Korea Deports Aussie Missionary" -
the reclusive state that severely punishes
religious activity by its own people has
released a foreigner who apologized
(Huffington News Religion)
http://tinyurl.com/n42cx5e
"Presbyterian College Seeks Church Renewal" -
an interesting story about how a mainline
Canadian church school is refocusing on mission
(Christian Week Online) http://tinyurl.com/levvq3u
"Uganda Anglicans May Break from Communion"
- two articles from Africa on the subject of
the persecution of gays; while a Catholic
bishop says - "Gays are not Criminals"
(Christian Post) http://tinyurl.com/levvq3u
http://tinyurl.com/mkvcr75
"Shocking Video on the Vatican Financial Scandal"
- we have known about this big problem, but
apparently it is even worse than we imagined
(Seattle Times) http://tinyurl.com/lz9hd59
"WCC Head Calls for Peace, Dialogue in the Ukraine"
- this has been a difficult week for the Ukraine
and the whole world fears what may happen next.
An international Christian organization speaks out
(Christian Post) http://tinyurl.com/mpf35tp
"Korean Megachurch Pastor Embezzlement Conviction"
- here are two stories from Asia, speaking about
megachurch phenomena similar to North America
(Christianity Today, Reuters News Religion)
http://tinyurl.com/qxyqy5h
http://tinyurl.com/kebwlwq
"German Bishop Says Church Sex Teaching Must Change"
- a leading German Catholic prelate speaks bluntly
about how the church is failing the faithful there
(National Catholic Reporter) http://tinyurl.com/mpue7rv
"Hutterite Woman's Organization Helps Ethiopian HIV Kids"
- many think of Hutterites as socially isolated but this story
belies that view (Christian Week Online)
http://tinyurl.com/malazpz
--
Wisdom of the Week -
Anne Lamott, M. Basil Pennington, Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Ingrid Washinawatok and Corazon Aquino provide their
insights for us. Please scroll down.
--
On This Day -
From the archives of the New York Times
March 2nd - 7th
"Churchill Delivers 'Iron Curtain' Speech"
http://tinyurl.com/bzc5eoj
--
Closing Thought - Henri Nouwen
is a favorite author of your's truly.
Please scroll down to read him.
(end)
Update on my Church and University Teaching
I share current information and links
St. David's Book Study Archive offers a listing
of more than thirty-five books studied on
Monday nights at the church over fifteen years.
--
A blessed Lenten journey to all of you.
Wayne
***********
SPECIAL ITEM
Suggested reading for Lent -
IN BED WITH THE WORD
Reading, Spirituality and Cultural Politics
by Daniel Colemen
University of Alberta Press, 2009
142 pages. $19.95 CAD. Paperback.
Kindle $9.99 CAD. ISBN #0-88864-507-4
This notice first appeared in
Colleagues List, May 2nd, 2009
Publisher's Promo:
While reading is a deeply personal activity,
paradoxically, it is also fundamentally social
and outward-looking. Daniel Coleman, a
lifelong reader and professor of literature,
combines story with meditation to reveal
this paradox and illustrate why, more than
ever, we need this special brand of "quiet
time" in our lives. In Bed with the Word
sparks with every conceivable enticement
for those who worry about living in a culture
of distraction and who long to reconnect
with something deeper.
--
Author's Words:
This book has benefited from the responses
and interest I received from three post-
secondary institutions. Early versions of
its chapters were the basis of a lecture
series I presented at the Canadian Mennonite
University and the University of Winnipeg
in 2005. I am thankful... for the invitation
to present a reading from this material for
the McMaster Ecumenical Chaplaincy in
Hamilton, ON. (2004) and when I served
as Visiting Chair in Religion at Camption
College, University of Regina (2008)...
In the very basic structure of reading,
in the initial situation when a reader enters
a page, we have the core of an impulse
that is fundamental and helpful to
spiritual life and cultural politics.
In the very existence of (a) vulnerable
longing (for intimacy with the word)
there is the potential for everything:
for growth, for learning, for love, for
self-knowledge and other-knowledge,
and especially for learning to listen
to the voice of the Other.
- from the Acknowledgements and the
Introduction "Reading and Longing."
--
My Thoughts:
This is an intriguing volume of spiritual reflection
from Daniel Coleman who has taught Canadian &
Diasporic literature for many years at McMaster
University in Hamilton, ON. Coleman did under-
graduate, graduate and doctoral degree work
at Regina and the University of Alberta, Edmonton.
The son of missionary parents, he grew up in Africa
and continues to be strongly influenced in his spiritual
writing by his evangelical Protestant background.
It is most unusual that a secular university press
would consider releasing In Bed with the Word.
But the University of Alberta Press, in its wisdom,
has seen this book for what it is -- a high quality
contribution to literature. Coleman is influenced
by colleague Ron Rolheiser who readers of this
letter hear from regularly. He is also a reader of
the work of Karen Armstrong and several other
modern writers from the field of faith. Coleman
blends a solid grasp of biblical and theological
literature with a strong sense of what appeals
to serious modern readers."
--
Buy the book from University of Alberta Press -
http://tinyurl.com/lf5bf6j
Buy the book through Amazon.ca -
http://tinyurl.com/mwk9spk
Buy the book from University of Alberta Press -
http://tinyurl.com/lf5bf6j
Buy the book through Amazon.ca -
http://tinyurl.com/mwk9spk
Kindle edition: http://tinyurl.com/mwlvj5q
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
BRIAN RUDE
San Salvador, El Salvador
Meditating on Ash Wednesday:
PHILIP JENKINS
University Park, PA
Waco, TX
A GREAT AND HOLY WAR
How WWI Became a Religious Crusade
HarperCollins Canada
http://tinyurl.com/ny373ov
--
MARTIN MARTY
Chicago, IL
"Sightings"
March 3rd, 2014
"'Son of God' - on Film"
http://tinyurl.com/m56tmlj
--
RON ROLHEISER
San Antonio, TX
Personal Weblog
March 2nd, 2014
"The Human Struggle with Sexual Energy"
Introduction to his new book "Sacred Fire"
http://tinyurl.com/k38ycd3
--
JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
March 2nd, 2014
"Euthanasia"
http://tinyurl.com/yl374wj
*****
NET NOTES
ASHES TO LIFE - LENT 2014
UCAN Spirituality
Ash Wednesday, March 5th
http://tinyurl.com/lk3bdss
--
GLOBAL RELIGIOUS REPORTS
ARE ODDLY SILENT NOW
A Failure to Make Connections
Sightings
March 6th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/kdxf8y3
--
NORTH KOREA DEPORTS
AUSTRALIAN MISSIONARY
He Apologizes for
Distribution of Religious Tracts
Huffington Post Religion
March 3rd, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/n42cx5e
--
PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE
SEEKS CHURCH RENEWAL
Montreal School Counters Trends
Christian Week.Org
March 4th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/levvq3u
--
UGANDA ANGLICANS MAY
BREAK FROM COMMUNION
Anti-Gay Issue Prompts Threat
Christian Post
March 4th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/levvq3u
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
BRIAN RUDE
San Salvador, El Salvador
Meditating on Ash Wednesday:
1)
hiking the rebel mountain trails with
a well-aged ex-combatant,
sweltering
in the afternoon heat, only my sweat-
soaked torso, and
refreshing traces of
breeze and shade, keeping me from
turning into
ashes myself;
2) digging in the ashes of a "Vietnam stove",
ingeniously designed to disperse the tell-tale
cooking smoke, to keep it
from being detected
by the bombers flying overhead;
3) hiking through an amazingly lush 34-year-
old forest, fertilized
to resurrection by the
ashes left by the "scorched-earth" policy of
USA'n/Salvadoran military strategy of 1980-1992;
4) hiking past ashen patches left by the not-
so-ecological
current agricultural techniques
of burning the corn stubble, rather than
letting
it nourish and nurture the earth more slowly,
more naturally,
more effectively;
5) absorbing and grieving the impassioned
testimony
of a 75-year-old revolutionary
who lost 5 of his children to the war,
ashes
to ashes--4 in combat and 1 to suicide, semi-
mortally wounded, not
wanting to be a burden
to his parents and others;
God of life, take our mortality, renew our lives.
Paz,
Brian Rude
--
PHILIP JENKINS
University Park, PA
Waco, TX
A GREAT AND HOLY WAR
How WWI Became a Religious Crusade
HarperCollins Canada
http://tinyurl.com/ny373ov
--
MARTIN MARTY
Chicago, IL
"Sightings"
March 3rd, 2014
"'Son of God' - on Film"
http://tinyurl.com/m56tmlj
--
RON ROLHEISER
San Antonio, TX
Personal Weblog
March 2nd, 2014
"The Human Struggle with Sexual Energy"
Introduction to his new book "Sacred Fire"
http://tinyurl.com/k38ycd3
--
JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
March 2nd, 2014
"Euthanasia"
http://tinyurl.com/yl374wj
*****
NET NOTES
ASHES TO LIFE - LENT 2014
UCAN Spirituality
Ash Wednesday, March 5th
http://tinyurl.com/lk3bdss
--
GLOBAL RELIGIOUS REPORTS
ARE ODDLY SILENT NOW
A Failure to Make Connections
Sightings
March 6th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/kdxf8y3
--
NORTH KOREA DEPORTS
AUSTRALIAN MISSIONARY
He Apologizes for
Distribution of Religious Tracts
Huffington Post Religion
March 3rd, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/n42cx5e
--
PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE
SEEKS CHURCH RENEWAL
Montreal School Counters Trends
Christian Week.Org
March 4th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/levvq3u
--
UGANDA ANGLICANS MAY
BREAK FROM COMMUNION
Anti-Gay Issue Prompts Threat
Christian Post
March 4th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/levvq3u
African Catholic Cardinal says
"Gays not criminals"
Christian Post
March 5th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/mkvcr75
--
SHOCKING VIDEO ON
VATICAN FINANCIAL SCANDAL
Situation Appears Worse than
Thought Previously
Seattle Times/PBS
February 27th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/lz9hd59
--
WCC HEAD CALLS FOR PEACE,
DIALOGUE IN UKRAINE
Majority of Combatants
are Orthodox Christians
Christian Post
March 4th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/mpf35tp
--
MEGACHURCH PASTOR
EMBEZZLEMENT CONVICTION
Leader of World's
Largest Church in Korea
Christianity Today
February 24th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/qxyqy5h
"Singapore Megachurches Shrug Off Scandal"
American Model is Popular Here
Reuters News Religion
March 6th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/kebwlwq
--
CHURCH TEACHING MUST
CHANGE ON SEXUAL MORALITY
German Bishop Says Study Shows
Rejection of Church Teaching by Faithful
National Catholic Reporter
March 4th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/mpue7rv
--
HUTTERITE WOMAN'S ORGANIZATION
HELPS KIDS WITH HIV IN ETHIOPIA
Canadian's Gifts Help African Children
Christian Week Online
February 25th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/malazpz
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and Plough Press
"We're here to know God, to love and serve
God, and to be blown away by the beauty
and miracle of nature. You just have to get
rid of so much baggage to be light enough
to dance, to sing, to play. You don't have
time to carry grudges; you don't have time
to cling to the need to be right."
- Anne Lamott
--
Unfortunately, in seeing ourselves as we truly are,
not all that we see is beautiful and attractive. This
is undoubtedly part of the reason we flee silence.
We do not want to be confronted with our hypocrisy,
our phoniness. We see how false and fragile is the
false self we project. We have to go through this
painful experience to come to our true self. It is a
harrowing journey, a death to self – the false self
– and no one wants to die. But it is the only path
to life, to freedom, to peace, to true love. And it
begins with silence. We cannot give ourselves in
love if we do not know and possess ourselves.
This is the great value of silence. It is the pathway
to all we truly want.
- M. Basil Pennington
--
“It's a matter of taking the side of the weak against the
strong, something the best people have always done.”
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
--
"Unlock the silence and let us speak to the world."
- Ingrid Washinawatok
--
"Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice,
otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace
it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on
principle, on justice."
- Corazon Aquino
*****
ON THIS DAY
From the archives of the New York Times -
"Churchill Delivers 'Iron Curtain' Speech"
http://tinyurl.com/bzc5eoj
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - HENRI NOUWEN
A seed only flourishes by staying in the ground in
which it is sown. When you keep digging the seed
up to check whether it is growing, it will never bear
fruit. Think of yourself as a little seed planted in rich
soil. All you have to do is stay there and trust that
the soil contains everything you need to grow. This
growth takes place even when you do not feel it.
Source: The Inner Voice of Love
(end)
************
CHURCH AND UNIVERSITY TEACHING
Contact Wayne Holst
403-286-2416
waholst@telus.net
WINTER CLASSES
At St. David's:
LINK TO OUR CURRENT MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
50 Book Sets Sold; 35 Course Registrants
NEAR DEATH AND LIFE AFTER LIFE - Course Design
http://tinyurl.com/kvmu8o5
Study Books:
"The Light Beyond" by Raymond Moody and
"Eternal Life" by Bishop John Shelby Spong
Audio and Video Links Added as Class Develops
Moody Series:
http://tinyurl.com/kq6ukpd
http://tinyurl.com/kjkltd2
http://tinyurl.com/kdxchff
Spong Series: (to come)
---
At the University:
LENTEN FRIDAY NOON FACULTY,
STAFF AND STUDENT STUDY
"In Search of Deep Faith" -
A Pilgrimage Among People and Places of Europe
by Jim Belcher, IVP, paperback. 2013.
February 27th - April 3rd, 2014
Six Fridays, 12-1PM. Native Centre Board Room,
Mac Hall.
Co-sponsored by St. David's United and the
U. of C. Faith and Spirituality Centre.
THIS CLASS HAS NOW BEGUN
*****
ST. DAVIDS BOOK STUDY ARCHIVE
No comments:
Post a Comment