*****
ADVENT SUNDAY EDITION
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 Advent Season!
My special item this week can help
us enter this period of preparation.
It is a book notice for the title -
"Preparing for Christmas" by
Richard Rohr who is a favourite
spiritual writer for many.
http://shop.franciscanmedia.org/
http://tinyurl.com/pm9fz48
Please scroll down to read the background
information including my thoughts on it.
***
Colleague Comment this week is from
two readers of this blog.
Monica Kilburn Smith (Calgary AB)
http://saintbrigids.org/blog/
http://tinyurl.com/pm9fz48
Genny is the teen-daughter of Catholic woman-
priest Monica and did an amazing job with this
paper, presented recently at Oxford in the UK.
--
William Shantz (Thunder Bay ON)
Bill is a medical doctor who attempts to
connect modern issues of political correctness
with biblical-theological themes, and psychiatry.
http://tinyurl.com/gwfj964
http://tinyurl.com/znsbq8j
http://philosophyofheterosexuality.blogspot.ca/
Please scroll down for back-up notes and
explanations from him.
Thanks to both Monica and Bill for these
worthwhile articles and letters.
***
Colleague Communications this week:
Jim Taylor (Okanagan BC)
Jim offers two articles -
"Lighting a Candle Against Fanatics"
http://tinyurl.com/hkueu4z
"Re-training My Mental Muscles"
http://tinyurl.com/pslfjj6
--
Martin Marty (Chicago IL)
Marty discusses a recent survey on
religion and generosity among children
"Religious Children More Ungenerous?"
http://tinyurl.com/hxe9ah2
--
Ron Rolheiser (San Antonio TX)
Reflects spiritually and theologically on -
"Our Muslim Brothers and Sisters"
http://tinyurl.com/jqcufxv
Thanks to the three of you.
--
Net Notes articles that caught my eye -
"Dalai Lama on the Paris Attacks" -
Work for peace but don't expect help
from God or governments, he says
(DW Website "Made for Minds")
http://tinyurl.com/oylgn7t
-
"Forget the Non-Violent Reputation" -
Buddhism can be lethal and is the theme
of this story (UCA News/Asia News)
http://tinyurl.com/hspl5t8
-
"The Bible in Inuit Dialect Published" -
A goal of biblical translators is to see
the scriptures appear in every living
human tongue. It took 60 years to
complete this Bible for northern
Canadians (Christian Week.org)
http://tinyurl.com/plewh3l
-
"Poignant Pictures of Refugee Rescue" -
We debate the issue, but in others parts
of the world, many are busy doing something.
Hopefully, this will rub off on us too
(The Atlantic Online)
http://tinyurl.com/ztk8kx6
-
"Caring About the Conditions of the World" -
A concern for pastors and everyone -- that's the
theme of this article encouraging collaboration
(Alban Weekly) http://tinyurl.com/jk2w3px
-
"Greek New Testament Papyrus Found on e-Bay" -
read of the Dead Sea Scroll and Nag Hammadi
findings and this story is not quite so bizarre -
(New York Times) http://tinyurl.com/o8s5lx3
-
"How Fairness Develops in Kids Around the World" -
various human cultures treat fairness differently and
here is a study to demonstrate that fact
(The Atlantic Online) http://tinyurl.com/jgnpyhw
-
"The Atmosphere has Passed an Epochal Threshold" -
November 11th Just Happened - is the sub-title of
this article to which we should all pay attention
in light of the upcoming Paris meetings on the
environment (The Atlantic Online)
http://tinyurl.com/zko9jrg
-
"In Africa - Francis Deplores Squandering of Wealth" -
As he begins his current pastoral visit to several
African states the pope speaks of pressing concerns
like wealth distribution and care for the environment
(National Catholic Reporter, UCA/CNS News)
http://tinyurl.com/hnjvlg6
http://tinyurl.com/jawwvpg
-
"Francis - Belief in God is Respect, Unity, Service" -
a third pastoral challenge from the pope took an
interfaith theme; and he is welcomed to Uganda
- a nation of Christian martyrs - with joy
(UCA/CNS News, The Guardian, UK)
http://tinyurl.com/hyokgmy
http://tinyurl.com/hg4pt28
--
Wisdom of the Week comes to us via Sojourners
and the Bruderhof online.
Alice Walker, Søren Kierkegaard, William Blake,
Sophie Scholl and Mother Teresa
Please scroll down to read their thoughts.
--
On This Day -
From the archives of the New York Times -
"JFK Assassinated in Dallas"
http://tinyurl.com/2ay2mux
"Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin
Meet in Tehran During WWII"
http://tinyurl.com/nx3fpyh
--
Closing Thought - is from John Perkins
Please scroll to the end of the blog for
this piece of insight.
(end)
For current information on the
ACTS Ministry conclusion of term,
please scroll to the end of the blog
to read:
"Concluding Our Program Season -
Autumn 2015 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry at St. David's United Church,
Calgary."
--
May you experience Advent anticipation
and fulfillment this year!
Wayne
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
Book Notice:
PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS
Daily Meditations for Advent
by Richard Rohr (2012)
Franciscan Media. Paperback
93 pages. $12.00 CAD.
ISBN #978-1616364785
Publisher's Promo:
Speaking at a day of prayer, Richard Rohr
says, “Advent is not about a sentimental
waiting for the baby Jesus.”
He asks listeners to focus expectations and
anticipation on “the adult Christ, the cosmic
Christ,” the Lord who challenges us to empty
ourselves, to lose ourselves, to surrender.
This is the Jesus whom we invite to come
into our hearts at Christmas and throughout
our lives.
--
Author's Words:
In my original lectures that became this book,
I tried to invite people beyond a merely
sentimental understanding of Christmas as
"waiting for the baby Jesus" to an adult and
social appreciation of the message of the
Incarnation of God in Christ.
I felt that the need on this earth for adult
Christianity and the actual message of Jesus
was so urgent that we could not allow this
great feast of Christmas and its preparation
in Advent, to be watered down in any way.
Jesus identified his own message with what
he called the coming of the "reign of God"
or the "kingdom of God," whereas we has
often settled for the sweet coming of a baby
who asked little of us in terms of surrender,
encounter, mutuality or any studying of the
scriptures or the actual teaching of Jesus.
Sentimentality... can be an avoiding of and
substitute for an actual relationship, as we
see in our human relationships too.
(Our entire lives, and the life of the church,
is one huge Advent - "Come Lord Jesus")
(Rev. 22:20).
Remember, Advent is always - until the
end of days.
--
Author's Bio:
Fr. Richard Rohr is a globally recognized
ecumenical teacher bearing witness to
the universal awakening within Christian
mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. He
is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico
Province and founder of the Center for
Action and Contemplation (CAC) in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fr. Richard's
teaching is grounded in the Franciscan
alternative orthodoxy—practices of
contemplation and lived kenosis (self-
emptying), expressing itself in radical
compassion, particularly for the socially
marginalized. Fr. Richard is the author of
numerous books, including Everything
Belongs, Adam’s Return, The Naked Now,
Breathing Under Water, Falling Upward,
Immortal Diamond, and Eager to Love:
The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi.
Fr. Richard is academic Dean of the Living
School for Action and Contemplation.
Drawing upon Christianity's place within
the Perennial Tradition, the mission of the
Living School is to produce compassionate
and powerfully learned individuals who will
work for positive change in the world based
on awareness of our common union with
God and all beings. Visit cac.org for more
information.
--
My Thoughts:
In typical meditational style, this short
booklet provides reflections for all four
weeks and thirty days prior to Christmas.
Each reading of about three short pages
contains scripture passages, a meditation,
and a question for reflection.
Many people appreciate this kind of
preparatory reading in anticipation of
Christmas (Advent) and Easter (Lent )
the major festivals of the church year.
Richard Rohr is one of those special
writers who is able to bridge the
spiritual traditions, and even the
divide between secular and sacred.
Rohr has thought through this material
over many years, and the result is a
refined and mature presentation of
what it means to be spiritual.
For a good preparatory reflection
in anticipation of Christmas, this
93 page booklet is a treasure.
---
See more from Franciscan Media:
http://shop.franciscanmedia.org/
Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/pm9fz48
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMENT
Monica Kilburn Smith
Calgary, AB
November 14th, 2015
Dear Wayne:
I have not yet confirmed with you
about Genny's paper.
(My daughter Genny was invited
to give a paper at Oxford University
and I would like to share this with you
and the readers of Colleagues List).
Here are links from our parish website:
St. Brigid of Kildare, Calgary, AB.
"Genny is Back from Oxford"
http://saintbrigids.org/blog/
Genny's Paper at Oxford:
http://tinyurl.com/z2vvfv5
--
Wayne's Note:
Monica is a woman-priest and pastor
of the St. Brigid of Kildare Catholic
Community in Calgary. She is a brave
and dedicated believer in the right
of women to be ordained as Catholic
priests, and in that, I am sure she has
the support of many Colleagues List
readers.
We earnestly pray for this to become
a reality, even in our own lifetimes.
When it does, it will be because of
visionaries like priest Monica and her
supporters who have committed their
lives to it, and have conveyed that
spirit to their daughters, like Genny.
Thanks for this paper!
--
William Shantz,
Thunder Bay, ON
Recently, colleague William Shantz, (we
are contemporaries and both hale from
Waterloo Country Ontario) a medical doctor
specializing in psychiatry, wrote me about an
exchange he had with Dr. Linda Mercadante,
a Methodist theologian from Ohio. She spoke
this month at Wycliffe College, an Anglican
theological school at the University of Toronto.
Her theme was "Spiritual But Not Religious"
(based on a book she has written on the subject).
Bill has himself blogged on the theme of political
correctness in matters of sexuality.
Here are is comments to Linda, including some
links related to her talk in Toronto.
November 7th, 2015
Dr. Mercadante,
The evening of November 6th, 2015, I had the
opportunity to watch/hear your Wycliffe College
presentation via the internet. Thank You.
http://tinyurl.com/gwfj964
http://tinyurl.com/znsbq8j
It occurs to me to wonder whether most of your
Spiritual But Not Religious interviewees were
adherents of the contemporary popular quasi-
religion known as Political Correctness.
Traditionally, Christian and other monastic
enterprises have expedited HOLINESS by
practicing avoidance of contact with the
opposite sex. St. Paul suggested the same.
As you are aware, a foundational doctrine
of Political Correctness is that there is no
real sexual difference between male and
female bodies - only free-standing socially
constructed gender unrelated to the body.
By denying the reality of sex itself, there is
no such thing as an opposite sex: ergo,
Political Correctness would seem to offer
the opportunity of achieving a Secular sex-
free HOLINESS.
Theologian that you are, you must be aware
that the first verse of Genesis actually reads,
"In the beginning when God created the
heavens and the earth", and that this first v
erse is a kind of title/heading for the narrative
that follows.
Thus, "God" is cast as an actor in a Creation
Story involving Him and "the heavens and
the earth".
And the subsequent narrative easily reads
as flagrantly heterosexual: with the female
element being (vaginally) "a formless void
and darkness covered the face of the deep";
while the male (potency/action) "wind from
God swept over the face of the waters."
Next, verbal input (ejaculation), "Then God
said, 'Let there be light...etc., etc.'"
While you may not have previously consciously
perceived the beginning of the Bible (and the
very Torah) this way, it has always been there -
even without the word "when". To the extent
that HOLINESS is associated with lack of contact
with the opposite sex (never mind 'gender'), the
Bible itself is intrinsically not HOLY.
The gender-based sex-free culture of Political
Correctness must certainly find Judaeo-Christianity
distasteful as its God described in Genesis 1 is,
fundamentally, a sexually functioning male relating
to a female essence.
Homosexuality that eschews heterosexual intimacy
is currently very popular and fashionable in Western
Culture. For my part, I have attempted to analyze the
nature of procreative sexual male-female interaction
in my Philosophy of Heterosexuality.
http://philosophyofheterosexuality.blogspot.ca/
With respect,
William P. Shantz, M.D. Cert. ABPN (Psychiatry)
Thunder Bay, ON
--
Linda Mercadante, Ph.D (Rev.)
B. Robert Straker
Professor of Historical Theology
The Methodist
Theological School in Ohio
3081 Columbus Pike
Delaware, Ohio 43015
Office: 740-362-3442
Cell: 614-638-4031
3081 Columbus Pike
Delaware, Ohio 43015
Office: 740-362-3442
Cell: 614-638-4031
Would you like to join them in discussion?
Linda Mercadante - LMercadante@mtso.edu
William Shantz - wps102@yahoo.com
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATIONS
Jim Taylor
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
November 21st, 2015
"Lighting a Candle Against Fanatics"
http://tinyurl.com/hkueu4z
"Re-training My Mental Muscles"
http://tinyurl.com/pslfjj6
--
Martin Marty,
Chicago, IL
Sightings
November 23rd, 2015
"Religious Children More Ungenerous?"
http://tinyurl.com/hxe9ah2
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
November 23rd, 2015
"Our Muslim Brothers and Sisters"
http://tinyurl.com/jqcufxv
*****
DALAI LAMA ON PARIS ATTACKS
Work for Peace but Don't Expect
Help from God, Governments
DW Website "Made for Minds"
November 17th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/oylgn7t
--
Buddhism Can Be Lethal
UCA News/Asia News
November 23rd, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/hspl5t8
--
It Took 60 Years to Produce
Christian Week.org
November 25th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/plewh3l
--
POIGNANT PICTURES OF
REFUGEE RESCUE IN EUROPE
We Debate, Many are Busy
The Atlantic Online
November 22nd, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/ztk8kx6
--
CARING ABOUT
THE CONDITIONS OF THE WORLD
A Concern for Pastors and Everyone
Alban Weekly
October 7th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/jk2w3px
--
GREEK NEW TESTAMENT PAPYRUS
FOUND ON e-BAY
New York Times
November 20th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/o8s5lx3
--
HOW FAIRNESS DEVELOPS
IN KIDS AROUND THE WORLD
Various Cultures Approach
Fairness Differently
The Atlantic Online
November 20th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/jgnpyhw
--
ATMOSPHERE HAS PASSED
AN EPOCHAL THRESHOLD
November 11th Just Happened
The Atlantic Online
November 24th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/zko9jrg
--
SQUANDERING OF WEALTH
As He Begins His Current Trip
to Several African States
National Catholic Reporter
November 27th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/hnjvlg6
"Protect Environment or Destroy It"
Pope Says During Visit to Kenya
UCA/CNS News
November 27th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/jawwvpg
--
BELIEF IN GOD MEANS
RESPECT, UNITY, SERVICE
Francis Speaks to Interfaith Reps
While on Tour in Africa
UCA/CNS News
November 27th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/hyokgmy
"Francis Welcomed to Uganda with Joy"
Land of many martyrs
The Guardian, UK
November 27th, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/hg4pt28
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and Bruderhof online:
'Thank-you' is the best prayer that anyone could say.
- Alice Walker
--
When you were called, did you answer or did you not?
Perhaps softly and in a whisper?
- Søren Kierkegaard
--
Seek Love in the pity of others’ woe,
In the gentle relief of another’s care,
In the darkness of night and winter’s snow,
In the naked and outcast. Seek Love there!
- William Blake
--
I pity people who can’t find some bit of
amusement in the little doings of the day.
I think I could find something to laugh
about in the saddest moment, if necessary.
It has nothing to do with superficiality.
It’s a matter of joy in life.
- Sophie Scholl
--
The password of the early Christians was joy,
so let us still serve the Lord with joy. Joy is love,
joy is prayer, joy is strength. God loves a person
who gives joyfully, and if you give joyfully you
always give more. A joyful heart is the result of
a heart burning with love. Works of love are
always works of joy. We don’t need to look for
happiness: if we have love for others we’ll be
given it. It is the gift of God.
- Mother Teresa
*****
ON THIS DAY
From the archives of the New York Times -
"JFK Assassinated in Dallas"
http://tinyurl.com/2ay2mux
"Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin
Meet in Tehran During WWII"
http://tinyurl.com/nx3fpyh
CLOSING THOUGHT - John Perkins
Salvation means we are delivered as whole beings:
body, soul, and spirit.
(end)
*****
Continuing Our Program Season -
Autumn 2015 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry at St. David's United Church,
Calgary.
AUTUMN 2015 MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
THIS STUDY IS FINISHING
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
Total Class Registrations: 28.
We have sold all of our 37 supplied book sets.
Thanks to Brenda and Joan who helped Jock when
Wayne participated in the "Jerusalem and the Land
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!
Our Current "Spiritual Darkness" Study Design/Links:
http://tinyurl.com/nu4ze5b
Check our complete archives for all 45 book studies:
http://tinyurl.com/q3bw6dh
*****
THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
Theme: The Book of Exodus from the Hebrew Bible
"A Classic Story of Human Liberation"
Ten sessions 10-11 AM
Gathering at 9:30AM
In the St. David's TM Room
September 17th - December 3rd
No charge.
Study resource -
The DK Complete Bible Handbook
http://tinyurl.com/odxlv7q
(copy available in our church library)
*****
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
THIS TOUR IS COMPLETED.
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
We had 29 paid-up participants taking
the tour.
A service to "report to the congregation
on the tour" is took place, Sunday,
November 15th.
Recommended books -
JERUSALEM:
One City, Three Faiths
by Karen Armstrong (1997)
http://tinyurl.com/qb4urn5
JERUSALEM, 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
*****
ACTS LENTEN RETREAT, 2016
SOMETHING TO ANTICIPATE
IN THE NEW YEAR
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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