*****
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.
*****
Dear Friends:
Welcome to the last issue of volume
ten of Colleagues List. Volume X has
44 issues, the most for any year since
I began using this format in 2009.
Included this week as my Special Item
is a book notice for a new title on the
Dalai Lama as a world political and
spiritual leader - a combined role he
has worn gracefully for many years.
The book is entitled:
"A Force for Good: the Dalai Lama's
Vision for Our World"
http://tinyurl.com/o7catdv
http://tinyurl.com/p7laaps
It is being released this weekend.
I hope you find it helpful.
Please scroll down to read this.
--
Colleague Comment - this week is from
an old Ontario friend, Jean Koning of
Peterborough. She has been involved
in ministry for many years and has
been a strong supporter of First Nations
people - using all the opportunities that
have come her way. Thanks, Jean.
Please scroll down to read her letter.
--
Colleague Contributions this week are
from three of our regulars:
Martin Marty of Chicago. IL who writes -
"The Unholy Holy War - Reactions to
the Pope's Encyclical on the Environment"
http://tinyurl.com/ps8lnot
--
Jim Taylor of Okanagan, BC who offers -
"The Shame of 'Us-and-Them' Prejudice"
http://tinyurl.com/ohlggvy
--
Ron Rolheiser of San Antonio, TX who shares -
"The Hero Complex"
http://tinyurl.com/pryt9gj
--
Net Notes - my www discoveries this week
are as follows:
"A To-Do List for Pope Francis" - the pope
claims his pontificate may be a short one.
Still, he can accomplish a great deal in the
time available to him (America Magazine)
http://tinyurl.com/pa5h4zf
--
"2015 Audubon Bird Photo Awards" -
magnificent nature photos come again
this week from the Atlantic Online
http://tinyurl.com/q6ralqa
--
"Black Church Responds to Violence" -
a sequence of reports, both written
and on video, to remind us of this
major development in Charleston
(New York Times Video, BuzzFeed,
Christianity Today, Youtube)
http://tinyurl.com/opgfovn
http://tinyurl.com/nfz3dqs
http://tinyurl.com/qdusu2t
http://tinyurl.com/olqq7qs
-
"Learning from the Charleston Shootings"
- an early assessment of the tragedy
from an expert in Black American History
(Sightings)
http://tinyurl.com/oem4uez
--
"Green Encyclical Appeals to all Humanity" -
the pope's awaited environmental statement
positions him on the world stage - for praise
and criticism alike - it is a major development
(Aleteia) http://tinyurl.com/pja93bh
--
"Criminal Record as a Conscientious Objector" -
an intriguing video statement from South
Korea as a young man, a Jehovah's Witness,
declares his resistance to military service
(UCA News Video Report)
http://tinyurl.com/n9anz92
--
"More Sexual Allegations
for John Howard Yoder" -
the continuing sad story of sexual abuse
by a major Anabaptist theologian - as he
continued his behaviour at Notre Dame, and
an argument for why the story must be told
(National Catholic Reporter)
http://tinyurl.com/qj963zd
http://tinyurl.com/oceuxb3
--
"Palestine and Israel Found
Guilty of War Crimes" -
a UN report released this week blames
both parties in the protracted dispute
(New York Times)
http://tinyurl.com/npdsynd
--
"President of Kazakhstan Calls
for 'Spiritual Harmony'" -
an article from a conservative Canadian
evangelical perspective which can still
expand our global interfaith perspectives
(Christian Week online)
http://tinyurl.com/o5mg5e8
--
"Lewis and Tolkien -
Faith, Friendship and their Worlds" -
two great English writers of the last
century worked together and challenged
each other. Here is their interesting story
(Publishers Weekly)
http://tinyurl.com/nufwfdu
--
Wisdom of the Week:
Provided from Sojourners
and the Bruderhof online -
Madeleine L’Engle, Mahatma Gandhi,
Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa,
Henry Nouwen, Toni Morrison and
N. T. Wright
Please scroll down to read them.
--
On This Day:
Comes from the archives of the New York Times -
"Custer Defeated by Native American Coalition"
http://tinyurl.com/ncupzq
"Hitler Humiliates France for WWI Humiliation"
http://tinyurl.com/5uy55h2
"Muhammad Ali Convicted, Later Vindicated"
http://tinyurl.com/84j63lh
--
Closing Thought - Jean Vanier
Scroll down to the end of the blog to read him.
(end)
If you are interested, we now have most of
our fall and some winter programs ready for
promotion. Please scroll to the end, to read:
Our New Program Planning Season Begins -
Autumn 2015 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry Programs through St. David's
United and the University of Calgary.
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
Book Notice -
A FORCE FOR GOOD
The Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World
by Daniel Goleman, Random House Canada
(Release date: June 30th, 2015)
Hardcover. $18.50 CAD. 256 pp.
ISBN #978-0-553-39489-4.
Publisher's Promo:
For more than half a century, in such books as
The Art of Happiness and The Dalai Lama’s Little
Book of Inner Peace, the Dalai Lama has guided
us along the path to compassion and taught us
how to improve our inner lives. In A Force for
Good, with the help of his longtime friend Daniel
Goleman, the New York Times bestselling author
of Emotional Intelligence, the Dalai Lama
explains how to turn our compassionate
energy outward. This revelatory and inspiring
work provides a singular vision for transforming
the world in practical and positive ways.
Much more than the most prominent exponent
of Tibetan Buddhism, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
is also a futurist who possesses a profound
under-standing of current events and a
remarkable canniness for modern social
issues. When he takes the stage worldwide,
people listen.
A Force for Good combines the central concepts
of the Dalai Lama, empirical evidence that
supports them, and true stories of people
who are putting his ideas into action - showing
how harnssing positive energies and directing
them outward has lasting and meaningful
effects. Goleman details the science of
compassion and how this singular guiding
motivation has the power to:
• break such destructive social forces as
corruption, collusion, and bias
• heal the planet by refocusing our concerns
toward our impact on the systems that
support all life
• reverse the tendency toward systemic
inequity through transparency and
accountability
• replace violence with dialogue
• counter us-and-them thinking by
recognizing human oneness
• create new economic systems that
work for everyone, not just the powerful
and rich
• design schooling that teaches empathy,
self-mastery, and ethics
Millions of people have turned to the Dalai Lama
for his unparalleled insight into living happier,
more purposeful lives. Now, when the world
needs his guidance more than ever, he shows
how every compassion-driven human action -
no matter how small - is integral for a more
peaceful, harmonious world, building a force
for a better future.
Revelatory, motivating, and highly persuasive,
A Force for Good is arguably the most important
work from one of the world’s most influential
spiritual and political figures.
--
About the Author:
Daniel Goleman is the New York Times
bestselling author of the groundbreaking
book Emotional Intelligence. A psychologist
and a science journalist, he reported on
brain and behavioral research for The
New York Times for many years and has
received many awards for his writing.
He is the author of more than a dozen
books, including three accounts of
meetings he has moderated between the
Dalai Lama and scientists, psychotherapists,
and social activists.
Goleman is a founding member of the
board of the Mind and Life Institute, a
co-founder of the Collaborative for
Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning,
and co-director of the Consortium for
Research on Emotional Intelligence in
Organizations
--
The fifty-six years since I left Tibet as a
refugee for freedom in India have been
hard for Tibetans including myself.
One instruction from our tradition that
has helped sustain us is to transform
even the most adverse circumstances
into opportunities. In my own case, life
as a refugee has broadened my horizons.
If I had remained in Tibet, I would most
likely have been insulated from the
outside world, shut off from the challenges
of different points of view.
As a human being, I acknowledge that my
well-being depends on others and the
caring of others' well-being is a moral
responsibility I take seriously.
It's unrealistic to think that the future of
humanity can be achieved on the basis of
prayer or good wishes alone. We also
need is to take action... (which I attempt
to do as best I can...)
I am also a Buddhist monk, and according
to my experience, all religious traditions
have the potential to convey the message
of love and compassion. So my second
commitment is to foster harmony and
friendly relations between them.
Thirdly, I am a Tibetan, and although I
am retired from political responsibility,
I remain committed to do what I can to
help the Tibetan people, and to preserve
our Buddhist culture and the natural
environment of Tibet - both of which are
under threat of destruction...
I am very happy that my old friend Dan
Goleman has written this book describing
how (my) basic commitments have
unfolded over the past several decades...
He has been very helpful to me and is
well-qualified to express these things
clearly.
We have to (live together and support
one another as humans) but we need to
look at this taking a broad view and a
long-term perspective.
Change takes time.
But if we don't make the effort, nothing
will happen at all... Real change will
take place (not by governments) but
when individuals transform themselves
guided by the values that lie at the core
of all human ethical systems, scientific
findings, and common sense... then
each one of us can be a force for good.
- from the Introduction
--
Wikipedia Dalai Lama Bio:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama
--
My Thoughts:
The Dalai Lama is one of those rare humans
who is steeped in his own ancient traditions
and in modern global realities. He is grounded
in his own spiritual values, but open to learning
from the spiritual values of others. He is a
person of prayer, but also of action.
People of the religions of Jerusalem - Judaism,
Christianity and Islam - have much to learn
from this representative of an Eastern faith
tradition. We can do this best, I believe, when
we are grounded in our own faiths, but -
like the Dalai Lama himself - are open to
learning from others as well.
The Dalai Lama has always tried hard to
find good interpreters of his faith to those
outside it. In this book, he finds ample support
from a man who is versed in communicating
core values to people within a Western secular
and scientific ethos. That is not to say the Dalai
Lama is unversed in our ways, but that he wants
to communicate with us using the best interpreters
he can find.
In this book, we have a magnificent example of
the convergence of East and West; piety and
politics; spiritual and secular humanist values.
Reading a volume like this offers good guidance
for the integrating meaning systems in our own
lives, and interpreting them to others.
This is a welcome contribution; written while
the Dalai Lama is still among us as a witness
to universal meaning and truth. He should not
be ignored.
---
Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/o7catdv
COLLEAGUE COMMENT
Jean Koning,
Peterborough, ON
June 20th, 2015
Hi Wayne:
Many thanks for your column on the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission Report.
(Colleagues List, June 14th, 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/nrkjhpr
What happens now and
into the future is
what will be most important, and it will
begin for us the
most difficult step of all
as we begin to listen to truth-telling,
which will
lead to truth-sharing, and in
the Creator's good time, to healing and
perhaps
even reconciliation - but probably
not until our great-grandchildren's time.
God
grant us the patience to persevere.Jean
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Martin Marty,
Chicago. IL
Sightings
June 22nd, 2015
"The Unholy Holy War -
Reactions to the Pope's Encyclical
on the Environment"
http://tinyurl.com/ps8lnot
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
June 21st, 2015
"The Shame of 'Us-and-Them' Prejudice"
http://tinyurl.com/ohlggvy
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
June 22nd, 2015
"The Hero Complex"
http://tinyurl.com/pryt9gj
*****
NET NOTES
A TO-DO LIST FOR POPE FRANCIS
Will He Have a Short Pontificate?
America Magazine
June 23rd, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/pa5h4zf
--
2015 AUDUBON BIRD PHOTO AWARDS
Beautiful Collection of Nature Pictures
The Atlantic Online
June 16th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/q6ralqa
--
BLACK CHURCH RESPONDS TO VIOLENCE
In Charleston, Good Triumphs Over Evil
New York Times Video Reports
June 19th, 20th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/opgfovn
"Pix from Charleston's Emanuel AME Church"
Sunday Service After the Disaster
BuzzFeed News
June 22nd, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/nfz3dqs
"Attack on Black Charleston Church
was the Deadliest in Decades"
No Safe Place for Blacks in America
Christianity Today
June 18th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/qdusu2t
"The President Sings 'Amazing Grace'
at the close of His Eulogy for the
Rev. Clementa Pinckney in Charleston"
Youtube,
June 26th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/olqq7qs
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE
CHARLESTON SHOOTINGS?
Assessing the Tragedy from an Expert
Sightings)
June 25th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/oem4uez
--
GREEN ENCYCLICAL APPEALS
TO ALL HUMANITY
Aleteia
June 25th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/pja93bh
--
CRIMINAL RECORD AS A
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR
Korea Rejects Anti-War Stance
of Jehovah Witnesses
UCA News Video Report
June 24th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/n9anz92
--
AGAINST JOHN HOWARD YODER
Abuses Continued During
His Time at Notre Dame
National Catholic Reporter
June 25th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/qj963zd
National Catholic Reporter Blog
June 25th, 2015
"Why Write the Story of These Allegations?"
http://tinyurl.com/oceuxb3
--
PALESTINE AND ISRAEL FOUND
GUILTY OF GAZA WAR CRIMES
UN Report Blames Them Both
New York Times
June 22nd, 2015
--
PRESIDENT OF KAZAKHSTAN CALLS
FOR 'SPIRITUAL HARMONY'
Gathering of World and Traditional Religions
(An Evangelical Christian Perspective)
Christian Week Online
June 22nd, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/o5mg5e8
--
LEWIS AND TOLKIEN: THEIR FAITH,
FRIENDSHIP AND WORLDS THEY CREATED
Publisher's Weekly Online
June 22nd, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/nufwfdu
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and Bruderhof online:
To be human is to be fallible, but it is also to
be capable of love and to be able to retain
that childlike openness which enables us to
go bravely into the darkness and towards that
life of love and truth which will set us free.
- Madeleine L’Engle
--
Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul.
It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is
better in prayer to have a heart without words
than words without a heart.
- Mahatma Gandhi
--
Beautiful is the moment in which we understand
that we are no more than an instrument of God;
we live only as long as God wants us to live; we
can do only as much as God makes us able to; we
are only as intelligent as God would have us be.
- Archbishop Oscar Romero
--
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone,
person to person. Be faithful in small
things because it is in them that your
strength lies.
- Mother Teresa
--
Showing mercy is different from having pity.
Pity connotes distance, even looking down upon.
When a beggar asks for money and you give him
something out of pity, you are not showing mercy.
Mercy comes from a compassionate heart; it comes
from a desire to be an equal. Jesus didn’t look down
on us. He became one of us and felt deeply with us.
- Henry Nouwen
--
“Here,” she said, “in this here place, we flesh;
flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on
bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard.”
- Toni Morrison
--
Like craftsmen working on a great cathedral,
we have each been given instructions about
the particular stone we are to spend our lives
carving, without knowing or being able to guess
where it will take its place within the grand design.
We are assured, by the words of Paul and by Jesus’
resurrection as the launch of that new creation, that
the work we do is not in vain. That says it all. That
is the mandate we need for every act of justice and
mercy, every program of ecology, every effort to
reflect God’s wise stewardly image into his creation.
- N. T. Wright
*****
ON THIS DAY
From the archives of the New York Times
"Custer Defeated by Native American Coalition"
http://tinyurl.com/ncupzq
"Hitler Humiliates France for WWI Humiliation"
http://tinyurl.com/5uy55h2
"Muhammad Ali Convicted, Later Vindicated"
http://tinyurl.com/84j63lh
CLOSING THOUGHT - Jean Vanier
I am struck by how sharing our weakness
and difficulties is more nourishing to others
than sharing our qualities and successes.
| (end) ***** Our New Program Planning Season Begins - Autumn 2015 Adult Spiritual Development ACTS Ministry Programs through St. David's United and the University of Calgary: -- AUTUMN 2015 MONDAY NIGHT STUDY Theme: "Living in Darkness - Living in Light" Books: "Learning to Walk in the Dark" by Barbara Brown Taylor "Between the Dark and the Daylight" by Joan Chittister http://tinyurl.com/pncmzec http://tinyurl.com/qy9netg A ten-week study in contemporary spirituality with books by two prominent Protestant and Catholic writers. Ten Monday evenings, 7-9PM In the St. David's TM Room September 21st - November 30th, 2015 Books and Registration/Hospitality - $60.00 Books only - $35.00 Brenda and Joan will lead the sessions during the two Mondays that Jock and Wayne are participating in the "Jerusalem and the Lands of Three Great Faiths Tour" (October 16th - 31st) Now into our sixteenth year of Monday Night Studies Our thirty-first series of (usually) ten week sessions! Check our study archives for all 45 book notes: http://tinyurl.com/q3bw6dh ***** THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY Theme: The Book of Exodus from the Hebrew Bible "A Classic Story of Human Liberation" Twelve sessions 10-11 AM In the St. David's TM Room September 17th - December 3rd No charge. Study resource - The DK Complete Bible Handbook http://tinyurl.com/odxlv7q ***** ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS' SPECIAL 2015 SIXTEEN DAY TOUR "Jerusalem and the Land of Three Great Faiths" October 16th - 31st, 2015 http://tinyurl.com/plg4sgo Hardcopy tour details brochure is available at the church Tour Company: Rostad Tours Calgary Tour Hosts: Wayne and Marlene Holst Sponsored by: St. David's ACTS Ministry Endorsed by: St. David's Church Council Talk with or write to Marlene and Wayne (403-286-7416) waholst@telus.net marleneaholst@gmail.com This tour is filled up with 30 registrants. Waiting List is open. Books for consideration - JERUSALEM: One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong (1997) http://tinyurl.com/qb4urn5 JEERUSALEM, ISRAEL, PETRA & SINAI DK Eyewitness Travel (2014) http://tinyurl.com/prl3k8m TOP TEN: Israel, Including Sinai & Petra DK Eyewitness Travel (2014) http://tinyurl.com/pyromfc ***** UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY CENTRE Interfaith Chaplains' Book Studies for faculty, students, staff, and campus guests - Autumn, 2015 Book Title to be determined Book Study Co-Sponsored by: The Faith and Spirituality Centre, University of Calgary and The ACTS Ministry, St. David's United Church, Calgary Native Centre Board Room McEwan Student Centre Fridays, 12:00 - 1:00 PM. Four sessions. November, 2015 Participants are encouraged to attend all four sessions. However, you may attend one or more sessions on a drop-in basis. Study Leader: Dr. Wayne A. Holst Book cost approximately $20.00 ***** ACTS LENTEN RETREAT, 2016 Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre Cochrane, Alberta http://www.mountstfrancis.ca/ Mark your calendars! Sunday February 28th 11:30 AM - 4:00 PM John Griffith is on sabbatical this year. Reflections will be led by a Franciscan on staff. ***** |
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