Vol. VI. No. 10
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
*****
Book Notice:
"Pastoral Prayers to Share (Year A)
Prayers of the People for Each
Sunday of the Church Year"
by David Sparks
___
Colleague Contributions:
Donald Grayston
Jim Taylor
Margaret Somerville
Michael Higgins
___
Net Notes:
Muslims in Germany
One Nation, Divisible
Our Ecumenical Future
Preparing for Retirement
The World Comes to Cape Town
Germany's First Post War Female Rabbi
World's Oldest Person, a Nun, Dies at 114
Priestly Conversion Needed for Church Reform
Would the Amish Use this Hand-Cranked Lap Top?
Egyptian Book of the Dead Reveals Ancient Beliefs
Christian Worshipers Killed in Baghdad Church Raid
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
10 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Henri J.M. Nouwen
Shoshana Zuboff
Benjamin Jowett
___
On This Day (Oct. 31st - Nov. 4th)
Oct. 31, 1984 - Indian PM Indira Gandhi assassinated
Nov. 1, 1952 - US tests first hydrogen bomb in Marshall Islands
Nov. 4, 2008 - Obama elected first US black chief executive
*****
Closing Thought -
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
Welcome to the latest edition of Colleagues List.
I hope that at least some of the items I have gathered
will prove to be helpful to you this week.
Today, I introduce a worship resource just released
by Canadian church publisher Wood Lake Books of Kelowna -
"Pastoral Prayers to Share (Year A) Prayers of the People
for Each Sunday of the Church Year." It is authored by
United Church of Canada minister David Sparks who lives
in Summerland, BC.
___
Colleague Contributions this week:
Donald Grayston, Jim Taylor, Margaret Somerville and
Michael Higgins provide both visual and written items
for your enrichment.
___
Net Notes:
"Muslims in Germany" - The Islamic peoples of Germany
are generally "underclass," "non-citizen" and "disaster
waiting to happen" - as any visit to Berlin will reveal
(Religion & Ethics, National Public Radio visual/text)
"One Nation, Divisible" - A perspective on the recent
American elections is provided by The Tablet, UK.
"Our Ecumenical Future" - There is still hope for the
ecumenical movement, as this recent article suggests
(America Magazine)
"Preparing for Retirement" - With more people in our
western societies entering retirement age, this piece
is timely and helpful - especially for people of faith
(Virtual House, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada)
"The World Comes to Cape Town" - Recently, evangelical
Christians from around the world met in South Africa.
Here is a report of that event (ChristianWeek.org)
"Germany's First Post War Female Rabbi" - It has taken
more than seventy years for Judaism in Germany to return
to a point where a woman rabbi is appointed to lead a
congregation in that country (The Guardian, UK)
"World's Oldest Person, a Nun, Dies at 114" - The
honour of human longevity was held by a Catholic
nun living in the Caribbean, who died this week
(Cathnews Asia)
"Priestly Conversion Needed for Church Reform" -
The pope continues to stuggle with news from some part
of the world where new priestly sexual abuse is reported.
The pope has a narrower view of what needs to happen
than that expressed by colleague Michael Higgins (above)
(National Catholic Reporter)
"Would the Amish Use this Hand-Cranked Lap Top?" -
The invention of a computer that runs by hand poses
the question suggested by this article (The Atlantic)
"Egyptian Book of the Dead Reveals Ancient Beliefs" -
Almost weekly, anthropologists and archeologists are
unlocking ancient spiritual secrets (The Guardian, UK)
"Christian Worshipers Killed in Baghdad Church Raid" -
This story represents the biggest global faith tragedy
of the past week and I provide reports and assessment
(ENI, The Guardian and The Tablet (UK)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
7 stories appear this week from Ecumenical News
International, World Council of Churches, Geneva.
___
Quotes of the Week:
Henri J.M. Nouwen, Shoshana Zuboff and Benjamin Jowett
offer their contribution for reflection.
___
On This Day (Oct. 31st - Nov. 4th)
Read the stories provided by the New York Times on -
Indian PM Indira Gandhi assassinated (1984)
US tests first hydrogen bomb in Marshall Islands (1952)
Barak Obama elected first US black chief executive (2008)
*****
Closing Thought - humour from George Bernard Shaw
Blessings to you from my home office in Calgary!
Wayne
******************
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/services.htm
___
ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE
Created and maintained by Colleague Jock McTavish
http://stdavidscalgary.net/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Chorister selection is currently taking place.
An organizational meeting will occur this
month, and rehearsals start - early January -
led by our music director, Brent Tucker.
Details are presently being finalized with
the St. David's cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
THE 38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE NOW SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
Let me know if you have an interest in exciting
spiritual tourism!
*****
MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
Introducing our New Fall Program at St. David's:
Follow this series by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Monday, November 8th - 7-9PM
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.
is a native of Wales. He will speak with us at one
session, introducing us to his homeland, and explaining
some of the important sites we plan to visit to maximize
our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
37 persons, representing tour and non-tour participants
are currently registered for this ten-week series and
we have been experiencing our best attendences ever!
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is available to all!
___
WEDNESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
Announcing our Autumn Series:
"The Book of Genesis"
Primeval and Patriarchal Stories -
Creation, Fall, Flood, Babel
Abraham, Covenant, Ishmael & Sodom.
Join us Wednesday mornings, 9-10 AM
October 6th through December 1st
*****
THURSDAY UNIVERSITY STUDY
Students, faculty and staff
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
http://www.ucalgary.ca/chaplain/node/87
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
STUDY ARCHIVES
A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted since 2000 can
quickly be found at: http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/
This collection of study resources represents 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:
PASTORAL PRAYERS TO SHARE, YEAR A
Prayers of the People for Each Sunday
of the Church Year, by David Sparks
Wood Lake Books, 2010. $24.00 CAD.
244 pages. ISBN #978-1-55145-585-3.
Publisher's Promo:
Acknowledging that the pastoral prayer is often overlooked
and undervalued, and that clergy and lay leaders may be
hard-pressed for time to compose a fresh pastoral prayer
each week, he has put together a unique and comprehensive
collection of prayers that can be adapted to present
circumstances and used in a variety of settings.
The prayers are responsive, written for one or two leaders
and a congregational response. They all allow for the
inclusion of local and worldwide current events, and
individual and congregational concerns. David usually
uses the weekly Gospel reading as the broad theme for
the prayers and divides them into four easily identified
sections:
* world
* suffering
* church
* ourselves
The “how to use” section covers preparing to offer pastoral
prayer, and offers 12 ways to “do” pastoral prayer, such as:
* two leader congregational response
* using people and objects to dramatize a theme
* using part of a hymn for a lead or a response
* using silence for effect
Each week offers specific suggestions for two or three
prayer formats.
Other features include:
* Thematic Index
* Scripture Index
* Icons in the margin to enable quick identification
of prayer sections and alternate suggestions
* Data CD with text files for Year A included with
the print version
This book is available in print and will be available
soon as an e-book edition.
___
Author's Words:
The pastoral prayer is a common enterprize of faith.
Worship leaders and people together have the responsibility
of offering to God those situations, persons and challenges
that concerns our hearts, our minds and our essential spirit.
We faithfully offer our prayers Sunday by Sunday in a world
where the inroads of our materialistic society threaten to
erode completely the ancient and treasured life of faith.
But does it do any good to pray for the world and its needs?
Does it do any good to pray for our own needs? Could we not
be doing something more useful? Will the next generation be
a praying generation?
The questions will continually come to us, but at the end
of the day we can only look to the one all-loving God and
say, "We cannot cease from praying."
___
My Comments:
Can we move beyond practices pitting 'formalized'
against 'free will' pastoral prayers during worship?
Author David Sparks believes we can, and he provides
us with this book of prayers for the church year to
demonstrate the point.
This book will help many worship leaders - both lay and
clergy - to make the most of that period of worship we
designate as "The Prayer of the Church," "The Prayers
of the People" or whatever.
I was trained to follow a fixed liturgy, with set prayers,
adapted to the various seasons of the Church Year.
I have learned to value prayers with more immediacy and,
for me, personal meaning.
Yet, rarely have I seen liturgical resources providing
a blend of the best of both formal and informal prayer
in a public worship setting.
This is a book that attempts to bridge that gap. I believe
it will become a welcome resource for pastors and lay
leaders alike.
---
David Sparks, the author of these prayers, was educated
theologically in England and Canada and has served for
30 years with the United Church of Canada. He lives in
Summerland, BC. David's previous three-book, lectionary-
based series, "Prayers to Share" has been widely used
around the world. He is also a prolific and well-received
contributor to the worship leader's resource "Gathering"
and has had prayers and hymns published in other
ecumenical and national worship publications. He has
led many workshops on public prayer.
---
Read below, for example, the first part of a litany that
David has created for the First Sunday after the Epiphany,
(Year A) - The Baptism of the Lord:
After providing the lectionary readings for the day, which
emphasise the Gospel, namely Matthew 3:13-17, the author
notes thematically that Jesus is singled out for ministry
by John the Baptizer, and is anointed by the Spirit.
The litany begins:
Jesus was baptized by John and his ministry began.
We too are called to minister to our world:
- to gain the confidence of elected leaders in our area;
- to speak out directly against racial slurs, "jokes"
or prejudiced remarks;
- to learn about the threats to our environment and to
advocate for change;
- to be alert to the needs of the poorest on our planet
and find ways to meet their needs;
- to be aware of those at risk in our neighbourhood and
find ways of helping them.
Sometimes we see ministry as the work that other people do.
Loving God, you call each of us to minister.
People: We will minister!
(the litany continues...)
(Liturgical Option) - at the end of each section, water
may be poured into the baptismal font from a pitcher. Or,
the congregation may be lightly sprayed with water from a
frond or a leafy branch, for effect.
---
These prayers avoid worship leader "hobby horse" themes
and phrases because they are firmly grounded in the three
year Gospel lectionary-themes. They are presented with a
balance of focus on "the world" "suffering" "church"
and "ourselves."
They come in various petitional formats to add variety
and flexibility to the order being followed. The language
of these prayers is well-framed to balance beauty with
common parlance.
Sparks gives the lie to liturgical purists who believe
that only traditional language is appropriate; as well
as to those who are locked into the vernacular of the day.
I like what David Sparks does with these prayers and
I think you will too.
___
Buy the book from Wood Lake:
http://tinyurl.com/2ajjcof
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
DONALD GRAYSTON
Friends: do I send you too many emails? Do you
sometimes say to yourself, "Another damn email from
Don Grayston?" I know the feeling, because I myself
receive too many damn emails from other people.
The real issue is discernment. To what can I/ought
I to give the precious moments of my life? This or
that experience, this or that book, this or that
person, this or that email? We live in the age of
information overkill, even possibility overkill:
un embarras de richesses, which can easily flip
over into un embarras de pauvreté.
I say this by way of preface to my encouragement to
you to spend, to give, to offer 12 minutes of your
life to the watching of this YouTube item. It concerns
Alice Herz Sommer, 107 years old this month, the oldest
known survivor of the Holocaust. She is a pianist, who
survived Terezin. She tells us that she loves everyone,
hates no-one. It is a magnificent story, and special
thanks goes to my friend Lorilee Mallek for sending
it to me.
Blessings to you as always, DG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlccsLr48Mw&sns=fb
*****
JIM TAYLOR
Web Log
October 31st, 2010
Sunday October 31, 2010
ANNIVERSARY OF A TIPPING POINT
On this day, October 31, 1517, exactly 493 years ago,
Martin Luther nailed his challenges to the Roman Catholic
Church onto the door of a church in Wittenburg, Germany.
Today, nailing something to a church door would be
considered vandalism. In those days, it was the
equivalent of an Internet blog -- a way of posting
a few thoughts where anyone could read them and respond.
In Luther’s case, 95 thoughts...
Read the entire article...
http://edges.canadahomepage.net/2010/10/
*****
MARGARET SOMERVILLE
Virtual House, EFC
Nov. 5th, 2010
CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
"Never Let Me Go" (review)
A movie about utilitarianism and moral relativism
http://tinyurl.com/3534mpn
*****
MICHAEL HIGGINS
WE NEED A NEW CATHOLIC REFORMATION
The Church is reaching the point where it must change
in a fundamental way. Adjustment is no longer enough.
Globe and Mail
November 4th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2wa3y9s
**************
NET NOTES
MUSLIMS IN GERMANY
NPR Religion and Ethics
Repeated from August, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/358nbq9
*****
ONE NATION, DIVISIBLE
The Tablet, UK
November 5th, 2010
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/15484
*****
OUR ECUMENICAL FUTURE
What lies ahead for Christian Unity?
America Magazine
Nov. 8th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/24wvgs4
*****
PREPARING FOR RETIREMENT
Hints for the Next Stage of Life
Virtual House
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Oct. 29th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2edzgx6
*****
WORLD COMES TO CAPE TOWN
Evangelical assembly ends in South Africa
ChristianWeek.org
Nov. 2nd, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1299
*****
GERMANY'S FIRST POST WAR FEMALE RABBI
Woman rabbi portends a renewed future
The Guardian, UK
Nov. 4th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/26j4ekk
*****
WORLD'S OLDEST PERSON, A NUN, DIES AT 114
Cathnews Asia,
November 5th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/32rmrv5
*****
PRIESTLY CONVERSION NEEDED FOR CHURCH REFORM
Pope claims renewal of church begins with priesthood
National Catholic Reporter
Nov. 4th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cj36hq
*****
WOULD THE AMISH USE THIS HAND-CRANKED LAPTOP?
Manually Run Computer Can be Used in Many Settings
Atlantic Month
Nov. 4th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/3x469la
*****
EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD REVEALS ANCIENT BELIEFS
British Museum exhibit offers intriguing insights
The Guardian
Nov. 2nd, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2a6xcwn
*****
CHRISTIAN WORSHIPERS KILLED
IN BAGHDAD CHURCH RAID
Global religious leaders reviled at Baghdad church killing
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
1 November 2010
Geneva (ENI). The World Council of Churches general
secretary, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, has joined Pope
Benedict XVI and other religious leaders in condemning
the "criminal act of terror" in Baghdad when gunmen
took hostages in a city church, resulting in the deaths
of nearly 60 people. "The World Council of Churches
strongly condemns the criminal act of terror that took
place on Sunday in the Sayyidat al-Najat Church in
Baghdad and expresses its deep sympathy and solidarity
with those who lost their loved ones and prays for a
speedy recovery for the injured," said Tveit in a 1
November statement. Earlier in an address to mark
All Saints Day, the Pope told pilgrims in St Peter's
Square, "I pray for the victims of this absurd violence,
all the more ferocious in that it struck defenceless
people united in the house of God, which is a place
of love and reconciliation."
---
The Guardian (UK)
Nov. 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/27zljcm
---
The Tablet (UK)
Nov. 5th, 2010
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/15497
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
1 November 2010
'Protect religious minorities' says Muslim
at talks with Christians
Geneva (ENI). The coordinator of a Muslim initiative
to promote common ground with Christians says that
leaders of the two religions have a duty to protect
adherents of the other faith against followers of
their own. "For both our religions harming religious
minorities among us is evil, is absolutely forbidden
and is ultimately a rejection of God's love and a
crime against God himself," Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad
Bin Talal of Jordan said on the opening day of a 1-4
November meeting of Muslim and Christian leaders and
scholars in Geneva. Speaking at the Ecumenical Centre,
which houses the World Council of Churches, Ghazi
urged leaders of the two faiths to, "defend the other
against followers of our own religion when the other
is weak and oppressed, especially in a social
minority context".
_____
Polish Lutheran official says debate
on women pastors to go on
Warsaw (ENI). A spokesperson for Poland's Lutheran
church has said the issue of ordaining women as
pastors is not closed, despite a vote by the church's
main governing body not to allow women to be ordained.
"This isn't a once-for-all decision. Once a new synod
is elected in 2012, we can expect fresh calls for women
to be ordained," said Wojciech Pracki, of the
Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in
Poland, which has 80 000 registered members, mostly
in southern Poland. "There are many expectations and
hopes about this move in our church. The ordination
of women is favoured by a wide cross-section of women,
but also by many men, and much will now depend on
sitting down and working out how such a step might
become possible," Pracki told ENI news.
*****
2 November 2010
Ex-diplomat, church official, resigns
as head of Kenya truth body
Nairobi (ENI). Bethuel Kiplagat, the head of Kenya's
Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission and a
former national church figure, has resigned after
mounting pressure on him to step down following
allegations of corruption against him. "In order to
allow the tribunal to carry out its mandate, I am,
therefore, as of today, stepping aside from my day
to day responsibilities at the TJRC," Kiplagat said
in a statement issued in Nairobi on 2 November.
Kiplagat's statement came two days after the chief
justice named a tribunal to investigate corruption
allegations leveled against him. The truth
commission was set up to investigate factors that
led to fierce inter-ethnic fighting and the deaths
of about 1300 people after disputed election results
in December 2007. A former deputy general secretary
of the National Council of Churches of Kenya,
Kiplagat has been involved in World Council of
Churches peace efforts in Africa. He served as
Kenya's ambassador to France in 1978, and was
envoy to Britain from 1981 to 1983.
_____
Secular society warns against 'intelligent design'
in Scottish schools
Edinburgh (ENI). Britain's National Secular Society
has warned against undermining the teaching of
evolution in Scottish schools after the setting
up in Glasgow of a centre on "intelligent design",
the idea that the universe is the result of a
creative mind. "The Scottish educational
establishment needs to set up safeguards, similar
to those which already exist in England and Wales,
to ensure that creationism doesn't get into science
lessons and create confusion in children's minds,"
said Terry Sanderson, president of the secular
society, which says it promotes the rights of
atheists, agnostics and other non-believers.
Sanderson was speaking after the opening in
September of Glasgow's Centre for Intelligent
Design. Its president is Norman Nevin, emeritus
professor of medical genetics at Queen's
University in Belfast, and its vice-president
is Dr David Galloway, the vice president of
the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.
_____
Communion for unbaptised dismissal,
confirmed for Japan pastor
Tokyo (ENI). Japan's largest Protestant denomination
has confirmed the dismissal of one of its pastors for
continuing to allow unbaptised people to receive Holy
Communion at his local church. It met with protests
from fellow believers. The dismissal of Rev. Jiro
Kitamura was finalised at a three-day general assembly
of the United Church of Christ in Japan in Tokyo that
began on 26 October. The original decision to dismiss
Kitamura was made earlier in the year, after he had
been told in 2007 to stop giving communion to
unbaptised people. An attempt at the assembly to
nullify the dismissal was rejected by the Rev.
Nobuhisa Yamakita, then the moderator of the
denomination and a motion he proposed was approved
in a secret vote. Most of the members of the
denomination's Kyoto diocese and its sacked pastor,
Kitamura, walked out of the assembly venue in protest
at the decision.
*****
4 November 2010
Christian and Muslims want
to mobilise joint crisis group
Geneva (ENInews). Global Christian and Muslim leaders
meeting in Switzerland have jointly called for the
formation of a group which can be mobilised whenever
a crisis threatens to arise in which Christians and
Muslims find themselves in conflict. In a closing
statement from their 1-4 November meeting at Geneva's
Ecumenical Centre, the leaders of the two faiths said,
"Religion is often invoked in conflict creation, even
when other factors, such as unfair resource allocation,
oppression, occupation and injustice, are the real
roots of conflict." The meeting at the Geneva centre,
which houses the World Council of Churches and other
Christian organizations, was convened by the WCC, the
Libyan-based World Islamic Call Society, the Jordanian-
based Royal Aal al Bayt Institute and the Consortium
of "A Common Word", a group that includes Muslim
scholars from around the world.
*****
German churches to bridge
former iron curtain in merger
Trier, Germany (ENI news). Three regional Protestant
churches in northern Germany have cleared a key
hurdle to forming one united church that will that
will stretch from the Danish border to Poland. A
majority of 266 delegates from all three churches
voted overwhelmingly on Reformation day, 31 October,
in favour of a draft constitution and a church law
that provides for the merger. The church will be
officially called the Evangelical Lutheran Church
of Northern Germany or in its shortened form the
Nordkirche, the Northern church.
*****
6 November 2010
China helps human rights by feeding its people
says Swiss ethicist
Nairobi/Geneva (ENInews). China is making a contribution
to human rights through its ability to feed its population
of 1.3 billion people, says a Swiss ethicist while noting
Beijing's violation of individual rights. "If China is
able to promote peace to contribute to justice by helping
developing its economy to feed 20 per cent of the world's
population, then it's a major contribution to human rights,"
said Christoph Stückelberger, of the Geneva-based
Globethics.net group, after delivering a lecture about
global and contextual ethics on 28 October in Nairobi.
"They [the Chinese] may violate individual rights, which
is not justified … Of course they have to respect
individual rights, but we should not forget they do
something for fundamental rights," said Stückelberger,
a part-time lecturer at the University of Basel.
_____
'Green publishing' campaign launched
after 300 years work in India
New Delhi (ENI news). On its 300th anniversary, the Indian
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, India's oldest
Christian publisher, has launched a "green publishing"
campaign aimed at cutting the resources needed to produce
books. The campaign was launched in New Delhi at the 16-23
October international conference of the ISPCK, an
autonomous Indian branch of the London-based SPCK.
"Only God has the power to change the ecology, environment
and the earth," said the society in a statement from the
conference. "At the dawn of completing 300 years of
ministry, we pledge to nurture earth keeping and work
towards being carbon positive, water positive and waste
recycling positive." A total of 36 publisher delegates
from Bangladesh, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Nepal,
Sri Lanka and the United States attended.
_____]
Forbes magazine names Pope
world's fifth most powerful figure
Washington DC (ENInews/RNS). Pope Benedict XVI won the
No. 5 spot in a list of the world's most powerful people,
one of only two religious leaders in Forbes, the U.S.
business magazine's list of 68 influential men and women.
Benedict was sandwiched between Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The
only other religious leader on the list was the Dalai Lama,
who ranked at No. 39. Forbes, which released the list on
3 November, scored the rankings by the person's influence
over people, which for religious leaders meant counting
the followers in their flocks. The Pope was named the
"highest earthly authority for 1.1 billion souls," which
represents one-sixth of the world's population. He was
noted for "healing old wounds" in September when he
became the first modern pope to visit London's
Westminster Abbey, where he shook the hand of a
clergywoman.
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online
November 2nd, 2010
"A life in prayer is a life in open hands where you
are not ashamed of your weakness but realize that it
is more perfect for a [human] to be led by the other
than to seek to hold everything in [her] own hand."
- Henri J.M. Nouwen
___
"Awareness requires a rupture with the world we
take for granted; then old categories of experience
are called into question and revised."
- Shoshana Zuboff
___
“We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning,
justice, or kindness in general. Action is always
specific, concrete, individualized, unique.”
- Benjamin Jowett
*****
ON THIS DAY
Oct. 31, 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was
assassinated near her residence by two Sikh security guards.
http://tinyurl.com/2cobgfl
*****
On Nov. 1, 1952, the United States exploded the first
hydrogen bomb, in a test at Eniwetok in the Marshall
Islands.
http://tinyurl.com/2vvrqmq
*****
Nov. 4, 2008, Barack Hussein Obama was elected the
44th president of the United States, as the country
chose him as its first black chief executive.
http://tinyurl.com/2ev5gkt
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
"The English are not very spiritual people, so they
invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity."
- George Bernard Shaw
(end)
Friday, November 5, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Colleagues List, October 30th, 2010
Vol. VI. No. 9.
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
*****
ALL HALLOWS AND ALL SAINTS EDITION
Book Notice:
"A New Kind of Christianity"
by Brian D. McLaren
___
Colleague Comment:
Keith Wright
Therese Castonguay
___
Colleague Contributions:
Jim Taylor
Doug Koop
Martin Marty
John Stackhouse
Kelly Johnson
Beth Porter
Charles Curran
Robert Ellsberg
___
Net Notes:
Interview With Anne Rice
Diocese of Bradford Facing Axe
Dalai Lama Ends Canadian Visit
Tibetans Preserve Their Culture
Happy Birthday King James Version!
Exodus: Changing Map of Middle East
Caste Bias is a Sin Say Indian Groups
Anglican Leader Promotes Shared Values
Beijing Cathedral Restored to Former Glory
Church's Abuse Handling Questioned in Chile
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
12 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Alice Walker
Mahatma Gandhi
Joan Chittister
Elie Wiesel
Anna C. Brackett
___
On This Day (Oct. 25th-28th)
Oct. 25, 1971 - UN votes to admit China and expel Taiwan
Oct. 28, 1886 - Statue of Liberty Dedicated in New York
Oct. 29, 1929 - Stock Market Collapses on New York Exchange
*****
Closing Thought - Seasonal
_____
Dear Friends:
All Hallows and All Saints -
I greet you on this, the weekend of All Hallows
and All Saints! This is the time of the church
year when we classically remember "the church
militant" as well as "the church triumphant."
Perhaps these terms strike you as a bit dated, but
human concerns about death and of "dying in the Lord"
are never out of date. My father would often remind
me of these things as we would tend "God's holy acre" -
the cemetery of St. James Lutheran Church in the town
of St. Jacobs, Ontario where I grew up. Returning there
in early September I was able to recover a sense of
what it meant to be part of that "family of faith"
which extends to many generations and includes all
who died as part of that congregational community.
To recognize those who died well is to demonstrate our
desire to live well.
Today's modern urban anonymity has a way of destroying
the immediacy of "the community of the departed." Still,
it is important for Christians to remember "the great
cloud of witnesses" that continues to accompany us.
We think of that in a special way this weekend.
___
My book notice of "A New Kind of Christianity" by Brian
D. McLaren is of a title that has been on the market for
some months in hardcover. The paperback edition will appear
in early February of next year. This is a good time to
visit a book that attempts to centre on ten important
questions the author believes we in the church need to
be asking at this time.
___
Colleague Comment:
Keith Wright - retired Presbyterian Church USA minister living
in Austin Texas writes to express appreciation for a book
written by another colleague, Douglas John Hall.
Therese Castonguay - retired Grey Nun living in Montreal also
writes to say hello. I recall that her first language is
French, and that she reads Colleagues List to "keep up on
her English." Therese spent her career as a nurse and social
worker in Alberta and Saskatchewan. She contributed much to
building the social services network existing in our two
Canadian western provinces and I salute you, Sr. Therese!
___
Colleague Contributions:
Jim Taylor, Doug Koop, Martin Marty, John Stackhouse,
Kelly Johnson, Beth Porter, Charles Curran and Robert
Ellsberg all contribute to a well supplied selection of
Colleague Contributions this week.
___
Net Notes:
"Interview With Anne Rice" - Ms. Rice, who we reported
some weeks ago has left the church now gives her reasons
(The Guardian, UK)
"Diocese of Bradford Facing Axe"- What happens when your
region in Yorkshire experiences a changeover from Christian
to Islamic worshipers? You close down the diocese.
(Daily Mail, UK)
"Dalai Lama Ends Canadian Visit" - Last autumn, the Dalai
Lama paid a special visit to Calgary. This fall, he came
to Toronto, and experienced a big welcome there as well.
(680 News)
"Tibetans Preserve Their Culture" - While in Toronto, the
Dalai Lama reminded the thousands of Tibetan-Canadians who
came to hear him that they have a responsibility to hold on
to and share special aspects of their culture (Toronto Star)
"Happy Birthday King James Version" - Next year, we will
celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Version
of the Bible (1611) This will provide a special opportunity
to remember this pivotal event in the development of the
English language (Publishers Weekly)
"Exodus: Changing Map of Middle East" - Gradually, many
ancient Christian communities, like the one in Iraq, are
disappearing (The Independent, UK)
"Caste Bias is a Sin Say Indian Groups" - Groups of various
persuasions are joining together to deplore the caste system
existing in India in spite of the fact it has continued to
survive (Cathnews Asia)
"Anglican Leader Promotes Shared Values" - While touring in
India, the Archbishop of Canterbury has continued to urge his
hearers of many faith traditions to fight prejudice and to
work together (Cathnews Asia)
"Beijing Cathedral Restored to Former Glory" - After decades
of wear, the classic Catholic Cathedral in China's capital
city has received a face lift (Agenzia Fides)
"Church's Abuse Handling Questioned in Chile"- Pressure from
legal authorities is forcing the Catholic Church in Chile to
deal with its history of sexual abuse (New York Times)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
12 stories appear this week from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Alice Walker, Mahatma Gandhi, Joan Chittister,
Elie Wiesel and Anna C. Brackett share their
special insights with us courtesy of Sojourners.
___
On This Day (Oct. 25th-29th)
UN votes to admit China and expel Taiwan (1971)
Statue of Liberty Dedicated in New York (1886)
Stock Market Collapses. World-wide panic (1929)
*****
Closing Thought - I offer a few seasonal reflections
on sainthood; living and dying well.
---
I have prepared this issue of Colleagues List from
the home of our daughter and son-in-law Ronnie and
Sarah Lukan who live in Slave Lake, Northern Alberta.
We are spending a few days visiting our new grand-
daughter Mya, but continue to stay in touch with you
through the marvels of modern technology.
By the way, not too many decades ago - this community
on the south-eastern shore of Lesser Slave Lake -
was considered "wilderness" but not so today. It is
a progressive place where native and non-native
Canadians live in general peaceful productivity.
Slave Lake is one of the major supply centres for
the Alberta tarsands industry.
Wayne
******************
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/services.htm
___
ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE
Created and maintained by Colleague Jock McTavish
http://stdavidscalgary.net/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
THE 38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE NOW SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
Let me know if you have an interest in exciting
spiritual tourism!
*****
MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
Introducing our New Fall Program at St. David's:
Follow this series by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.is
a native of Wales. He speaks, Monday, November 8th,
on the subject of what to look for when visiting his homeland,
and will explain some of the important sites we plan to visit to
maximise our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
37 persons, representing tour and non-tour participants
are registered for this ten-week series.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is available to all!
___
WEDNESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
Announcing our Autumn Series:
"The Book of Genesis"
Primeval and Patriarchal Stories -
Creation, Fall, Flood, Babel
Abraham, Covenant, Ishmael & Sodom.
Join us Wednesday mornings, 9-10 AM
October 6th through December 1st
*****
THURSDAY UNIVERSITY STUDY
Students, faculty and staff
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
http://www.ucalgary.ca/chaplain/node/87
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
STUDY ARCHIVES
A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted since 2000 can
quickly be found at: http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/
This collection of study resources represents 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:
A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIANITY
Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith
by Brian D. McLaren
HarperOne. 2010. 306 pages. $32.00 CAD
ISBN #978-0-06-185398-2
Publisher's Promo:
We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church.
Not since the Reformation have so many Christians come to
ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs
and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals
to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who
best represents them is Brian McLaren.
McLaren's fans and detractors have eagerly awaited this book.
It codifies the beliefs he introduced in "A New Kind of
Christian" several years ago. McLaren, one of the most visible
faces in the emergent church movement, examines 10 questions
he believes the church must answer as it heads toward "a new
way of believing."
McLaren deconstructs the "Graeco-Roman narrative" of the Bible
and addresses how the Bible should be understood as an "inspired
library," not a "constitution". He moves into questions about
God, Jesus, and the Gospel, urging us to "trade up" our image
of God and realize that Jesus came to "launch a new Genesis"
The church, sexuality, the future, and pluralism merit chapters,
as does McLaren's final call for a "robust spiritual life."
Followers will rejoice as McLaren articulates his thoughts
with logic and eloquence; detractors will point out his artful
avoidance of firm answers on salvation, hell, and a final
judgment.
Here you will find a provocative and enticing introduction to
the Christian faith of tomorrow.
___
Author's Words:
"Wherever the willingness to rethink has been squelched,
wherever the sense of quest has been buried under convention
and complacency, the Christian faith in all its forms is in
trouble.
But even there, something is trying to be born. Even now,
right here, among us, inside you, inside me. You may feel
it as a curiosity, a desire for better answers than you
inherited so far.
You may experience it as frustration, knowing that there
must be more to faith than you currently know. You may know
it as hope, hope that God is seeking humble people whose
hearts and lives can be the womb of a better future...
In you, your family, your faith community, and circles of
friends, among people of peace and faith everywhere,
something is trying to be born."
- from the Conclusion
--
"This book is divided into two main sections. After some
introduction, Book I addresses five profound and critical
questions that are being raised by followers of Christ
around the world. These questions, I believe, have the
potential to unlock us from a prison in which we have
been held hostage for a long time; once we unbolt long-
held assumptions and raise these questions, new
possibilities will open. Hence the title for Book I:
"Unlocking and Unopening."
"In Book II, we'll consider five more questions. They are,
perhaps, less profound and theologically radical, but
they are equally important because of their down-to-earth
practicality and the intensity of debate they engender.
We want to explore these questions in fresh and highly
constructive ways. Hence the title for the second section:
"Emerging and Exploring."
"These ten are by no means the only important questions
being raised... but I hope you'll begin to feel the
thrill of something trying to be born."
- from the Preface
---
The ten questions considered in this book -
Part One:
1. What is the overarching story line of the Bible?
2. How should the Bible be understood?
3. Is God violent?
4. Who is Jesus and why is he important?
5. What is the Gospel?
Part Two:
6. What do we do about the church?
7. Can we find a way to address human sexuality
without fighting about it?
8. Can we find a better way of viewing the future?
9. How should followers of Jesus relate
to people of other religions?
10. How can we translate our quest into action?
___
My Thoughts:
I was first in contact with Brian McLaren while he was
still a pastor of a large evangelical church near
Washington, DC. I was reviewing a book of his for
"Congregations" - the journal of the Alban Institute,
and wanted his views on some of my questions. From the
beginning, he impressed me with his probing mind and
openness to discuss matters that were not always so
discussable with evangelicals; at least ten years ago.
Mainline Protestants have been interested in McLaren
for a decade. Now, others are also finding him to be
a helpful guide who can help us deal with present
challenges and future directions for Christians and
members of Christians faith communities.
This book is one of a number McLaren has penned since
he left the work of a local pastor and began his new
career as a writer, lecturer and advocate for the
exploration of the future of faith.
He has gathered a formidable team of friends and associates
to help him in this quest. People like Harvey Cox, Phylis
Tickle, Diana Butler-Bass and Marcus Borg - not really
your typical consorts of evangelical pastors and teachers.
The fact is, McLaren has been evolving as an emergent
evangelical - one who seeks to build bridges with other
Christian thinkers. Today, he is considered a rather
progressive theologian by people in mainline Protestant
and Catholic communities and in emergent evangelical
Christian circles.
This book comes on the heels of others like "A New Kind of
Christian," "A Generous Orthodoxy," and "Everything Must
Change."
"A New Kind of Christianity" suggests the kind of church
and theological forms that will be required of "new
Christians living into a new age."
The questions he raises in this book are typical of what
many in the mainstream have been asking for some time.
McLaren brings to these questions a bibilical and spiritual
resourcefulness often lacking among those of a more liberal
Protestant tradition.
This is what I believe is special when reading McLaren.
He takes traditional Christian values seriously - like
the Bible, the Church, ethics and inter-faith relations -
and brings to his discussion a passion and an urgency
of one who did not start by questioning traditional
answers, but whose experience has forced him into new
ways of thinking, being and acting.
I believe that history will recount that it was people like
McLaren who helped the church move into the future in ways
that were both inviting and realistic.
"A New Kind of Christianity" is a good McLaren book to start
with - if you've not read him before. If you are continuing
with him, this is a seasoned reflection.
___
Buy the Book from Amazon.ca: http://tinyurl.com/2avd7cq
The hardcover edition sells at Amazon for under $21.
The paperback edition selling for under $14 will be
available by February 1st, 2011.
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMENT:
KEITH WRIGHT
Austin, Texas
October 23rd, 2010
Keith Wright writes from Texas during an autumn study at
University Presbyterian about a book by Douglas John Hall:
Wayne,
I read with interest your article about Canadian evangelicalism
maturing. Our book study group at University Presbyterian
here in Austin is reading the book, "The Stewardship of Life
in the Kingdom of Death" by Douglas John Hall. We have found
the book challenging, disturbing and enlightening. We were
all caught by his understanding of mission as following God
into the world where God is already working to save the world
through many different groups and individuals who may or may
not be a part of the church or the Christian Faith. Seems
like he is saying much the same thing as you reported in your
review of the book "Going Missional" by Stiller and Metzger.
Hope you are well and that your winter will not be too cold
and harsh.
Keith
---
THERESE CASTONGUAY
Montreal, QC
October 26th, 2010
Dear Wayne,
How much I would love to have time to chat a bit!
Other work is keeping me away from that joy!
How are you? Happy and healthy, I hope.
We are still in Summer days, but Christmas is coming shortly!
With love and prayer,
Sr. Thérèse
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
JIM TAYLOR
Web Log
Oct. 24th, 2010
"Evil Never Advertises Itself As Evil"
"Evil, pure evil" -- that's how Andy Lloyd described
the man who murdered his sister, Jessica Lloyd.
What is "pure evil"? How do we recognize it?
http://edges.canadahomepage.net/category/sharp-edges/
*****
DOUG KOOP
ChristianWeek.org
October 26th, 2010
"Bold and Beautiful"
A lesson in evangelism from St. Paul and friends:
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1284
*****
MARTIN MARTY
"Christian Violence"
Christians too, are engaged in violent behaviour:
Sightings
Oct. 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2ersxka
*****
JOHN STACKHOUSE
KELLY JOHNSON
"Why I Help Addicts Shoot Up"
Christian Week
October 19th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/features.php?id=85
*****
BETH PORTER
A Human Future
L'Arche Foundation of Canada
Fall, 2010 Issue
Canadian Muslims Look to the Future
http://larche.ca/en/inspiration/
*****
CHARLES CURRAN
Theologian Prompts Reaction to SMU Lecture
National Catholic Reporter
October 26th, 2010
http://ncronline.org/print/20989
*****
ROBERT ELLSBERG
Marquette U. Press releases:
"All the Way to Heaven -
Selected Writings by Dorothy Day"
Edited by Robert Ellsberg
Press announcement and US Catholic article
by Ellsberg promoting a second volume of
Dorothy Day's letters and diaries:
http://tinyurl.com/2g29ke6
---
Review of the book:
America Magazine
November 8th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/25wkzm2
*****
NET NOTES
INTERVIEW WITH ANNE RICE
Rejects her Catholic faith, pursues new interests
The Guardian UK
Oct. 25th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/38hy6wm
*****
UK DIOCESE OF BRADFORD FACING AXE
Twice as many Muslim worshippers as Anglicans
Daily Mail
Oct. 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/3383dqy
*****
DALAI LAMA WRAPS UP VISIT TO CANADA
He visits Canada's largest Tibetan community
680 News
Oct. 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/29by4eg
*****
TIBETANS CAN PRESERVE CULTURE
THREATENED AT HOME
Tibetan-Canadians have an important role to play
Toronto Star
October 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2wt5wyk
*****
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - KING JAMES VERSION
Commemorative Edition (for 1611-2011) Coming Next Year
Publisher's Weekly
October 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/36ozwhy
*****
EXODUS: THE CHANGING MAP OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Christians declining in several countries
The Independent
October 26th, 2010
by Robert Fisk
http://tinyurl.com/2g5xk6k
*****
CASTE BIAS A SIN SAY INDIAN GROUPS
Ecumenical News International
27 October 2010
No tolerance for caste discrimination,
says India church gathering
Bangalore (ENI). Churches in India need to show zero
tolerance concerning caste-based discrimination within
their ranks, a gathering of Christian leaders in New
Delhi has said. "Casteism is a sin and caste-based
discrimination is a crime," said a statement issued
from the conference in New Delhi. "Since discrimination
is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, churches will
have to be zero tolerance zones with regard to the
practice of caste discrimination." Though the caste
system has been officially abolished in India,
discrimination against Dalits - low castes treated
as "untouchables" - persists. They often have to
survive by scavenging and doing menial jobs, while
living segregated from higher castes in rural areas.
---
Cathnews Asia
October 26th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/3xy34ce
*****
ANGLICAN LEADER PROMOTES SHARED VALUES
In India, Williams Open to Other Faiths
Cathnews Asia
October 25th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/27am2om
*****
BEIJING CATHEDRAL RESTORED TO FORMER GLORY
Cathedral experiences a face lift
Agenzia Fides
Octo. 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/268y9pz
*****
CHURCH'S HANDLING OF ABUSE CHARGES
QUESTIONED IN CHILE
A Chilean judge has ordered that the Rev. Fernando Karadima
be interrogated regarding charges of sexual abuse involving
at least four young parishioners.
http://tinyurl.com/27avlp5
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
25 October 2010
Tension in Sudan ahead of vote is dangerous,
warns church envoy
Nairobi (ENI). A former general secretary of the World
Council of Churches has warned that tension in Sudan
ahead of a plebiscite on independence for the south of
Africa's biggest country could spark mass killings similar
to the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The Rev. Samuel Kobia, who
is a church-backed envoy to Sudan, said the security and
human rights of southern Sudanese living in the north of
the country are endangered, with intimidation and threats
increasing ahead of the scheduled 9 January referendum.
"We know it is possible these people could easily be
massacred, if Khartoum is not happy with the how the
referendum will go," Kobia, a Kenyan Methodist, told a
press conference in Nairobi on 23 October, after a 10-
day visit to the United States with senior Sudanese
church leaders.
_____
Filipino Christian leaders question imam
at inter-faith forum
Baguio City, Philippines, 25 October (ENI)--Imam Bedejim
Abdullah's description of Islam as a "religion of peace"
and Muslims as people "who keep the peace" has helped
clarify misperceptions of the faith say some Christians
in the Philippines. However, during a two-hour lecture on
Islam, Filipino Christian leaders put some tough questions
to the speaker. The imam, also an Islamic chaplain of the
Philippine Military Academy, was invited by the Baguio-
Benguet Ecumenical Group, a northern Philippine inter-church
organization, to speak during a forum on 20 October, which
aimed to help promote inter-faith dialogue and understanding.
*****
26 October 2010
Film on Pacific climate change clinches
Leipzig revolution prize
Leipzig, Germany (ENI). A film charting the dilemmas
facing a community of 400 people on a Pacific atoll
threatened by rising sea levels, due to climate change,
has clinched a prize to commemorate East Germany's 1989
"peaceful revolution". The New Zealand film, "There Once
Was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho", is the first production
to receive the "Leipzig Ring" prize awarded by the
Peaceful Revolution Foundation, during the 53rd
International Leipzig Festival for Documentaries and
Animation Films. Its film prize is for a documentary
that portrays civic engagement for democracy and human
rights or where the producer has demonstrated personal
commitment or great personal courage in making the film.
*****
Ukraine minority churches back rights
for Greek Catholics
Warsaw (ENI). Minority churches in Ukraine have
urged authorities in the capital Odessa to allow the
construction of a church for Greek Catholics, after
an Orthodox archbishop who sits on the local council
intervened to block the project. "Our joint address to
you was provoked by the atmosphere of unhealthy
aggression artificially created in this city by certain
circles," the church leaders said in a letter to the
city mayor and head of regional administration in Odessa.
_____
Bishop of ancient Christian church
warns on Protestant dialogue
Hong Kong (ENI). The Assyrian bishop in the United States
says his ancient church that was one of the first in China
will not have any official dialogue with Protestant churches
which support the blessing of homosexual partners or the
ordination of women. Bishop Mar Awa Royel, the president
of an inter-church relations commission of the Assyrian
Church of the East, told a Hong Kong audience earlier in
October that the church is committed to ecumenical dialogue
but that it will not support dialogue with churches that
it believes deviate from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The Assyrian Church was once referred to as the Nestorian
Church, and had earlier been regarded as heretical and
faced persecution.
*****
28 October 2010
SA Jewish group rejects Tutu call
for opera boycott of Israel
Cape Town (ENI). A Jewish group in South Africa has
criticised a call by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond
Tutu for the Cape Town Opera to cancel a performance in
Israel in November. "Peace and understanding is best
served through constructive and positive engagements
between Israel, South Africa and the Palestinian regions,
not by boycotts," the South African Jewish Board of
Deputies said in a statement. In a letter to the opera
company, Tutu had written, "The Tel Aviv Opera house is
state sponsored. By luring international artists to
perform there it advances Israel's fallacious claim to
being a civilised democracy."
_____
Indonesian Christian group warns
on quake and tsunami deaths
Tokyo (ENI). An Indonesian Christian aid group has sent
a team to the Mentawai islands in West Sumatra, where an
earthquake and tsunami have lead to the deaths of hundreds
of people. "It is estimated the death toll will continue
to grow," said the group, Yayasan Tanggul Bencana Indonesia,
on its Web site. "Most of the victims are in South Pagai
Island, which seems the most heavily affected." On 27
October the group had reported 112 dead but the following
day reports said the toll was at least 340 and cited
officials who said it could climb to more than 500.
Hundreds of people are missing and are thought to have
been swept away by the powerful tsunami that followed
the 25 October earthquake.
_____
Israeli criticises Vatican meeting on Middle East
Rome (ENI). Catholic bishops from the Middle East
have urged the United Nations to take steps to end
Israel's occupation of Arab territories to enable a
"two-State" solution for the region. "The Palestinian
people will thus have an independent and sovereign
homeland where they can live with dignity and security,"
the 185 bishops said in an "An Appeal to Safeguard the
Faith" issued on 23 October after a two-week meeting at
the Vatican.
*****
29 October 2010
Christian leader marks farewell
by planting Luther's 'tree of hope'
Geneva (ENI). Martin Luther, the 16th century
Protestant reformer, is reputed to have said that
even if he knew the world would end tomorrow, he
would plant an apple tree today. And it was by p
lanting an apple tree that the Rev. Ishmael Noko
marked his retirement as leader of the global
grouping of Christians inspired by the German
reformer after 16 years as general secretary of
the Lutheran World Federation. "We are planting
a tree as a sign of hope," Noko told ENI news after
the ceremony outside Geneva's Ecumenical Centre,
where the LWF has its headquarters alongside bodies
such as the World Council of Churches. Described as
one of the most influential leaders of the ecumenical
movement, Noko was praised by his ecumenical colleagues
for his passion for Christian unity and his commitment
to interfaith relations.
(Note: Ishmael Noko received much of his higher academic
training in Canada and was known to many Canadian Lutherans
years before he became a world ecumenical figure.)
____
Leader of Latvia's Catholics praises inter-church ties
Warsaw (ENI). The new leader of the Roman Catholic Church
in Latvia has said "exemplary ties" between churches are
strengthening Christian witness in a society still suffering
from communist rule, materialism and corruption. "Our society
caught the virus of communism and fell ill with it, losing
its immunity to the disease which has come from the West
since communism collapsed," said Archbishop Zbignevs
Stankevics in an October interview with Poland's Catholic
information agency, KAI.
_____
Global faith-based aid alliance says a billion hungry wrong
Geneva (ENI). The head of a worldwide faith-based humanitarian
and development alliance has said his organization needs to
take a more vocal stance on global inequalities. "We are fired
up and motivated to challenge political figures, big business
and the vested interests of the world's richest nations," ACT
Alliance general secretary John Nduna said at the end of the
group's 19-22 October assembly in Arusha, Tanzania. "In today's
world, a billion people are going to bed hungry, only 30 percent
of children in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa have access to
anti-malarial drugs and climate change is devastating the
world’s poorest people," said Zambian-born Nduna in a statement,
made available to ENInews. "We know this is wrong. We know we
must make our voices heard against all these gross injustices."
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
October 25th, 2010
"Activism is my rent for living on this planet.
- Alice Walker
---
October 26th, 2010
"Live like Jesus did, and the world will listen."
- Mahatma Gandhi
---
October 27th, 2010
"Humor and laughter are not necessarily the same thing.
Humor permits us to see into life from a fresh and
gracious perspective. We learn to take ourselves more
lightly in the presence of good humor. Humor gives us
the strength to bear what cannot be changed, and the
sight to see the human under the pompous."
- Joan Chittister
---
October 28th, 2010
"The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.
The opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
- Elie Wiesel
---
October 29th, 2010
"We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply
our cares. We increase our possessions only to the
enlargement of our anxieties."
- Anna C. Brackett, in "The Technique of Rest"
*****
ON THIS DAY
Provided by the New York Times:
Oct. 25, 1979, UN votes to admit China and expel Taiwan
http://tinyurl.com/34sxajp
*****
On Oct. 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from
the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor
by President Grover Cleveland.
http://tinyurl.com/354r52n
*****
Oct. 29, 1929, stock prices collapsed on the New York
Stock Exchange amid panic selling. Thousands of investors
were wiped out.
http://tinyurl.com/23o7evk
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
This is the weekend of the church year to think of death
and to remember the saints who provide us with examples
for living and dying well.
It is not a morbid thing to reflect on such matters.
Indeed, it is wise - if nevertheless counter-cultural.
A saint can be anyone whose life provides us with exemplary
behaviour, worth replicating.
Who is your favourite saint? What does this say about you?
How does this saint help you live well as well as prepare
to die well?
(end)
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
*****
ALL HALLOWS AND ALL SAINTS EDITION
Book Notice:
"A New Kind of Christianity"
by Brian D. McLaren
___
Colleague Comment:
Keith Wright
Therese Castonguay
___
Colleague Contributions:
Jim Taylor
Doug Koop
Martin Marty
John Stackhouse
Kelly Johnson
Beth Porter
Charles Curran
Robert Ellsberg
___
Net Notes:
Interview With Anne Rice
Diocese of Bradford Facing Axe
Dalai Lama Ends Canadian Visit
Tibetans Preserve Their Culture
Happy Birthday King James Version!
Exodus: Changing Map of Middle East
Caste Bias is a Sin Say Indian Groups
Anglican Leader Promotes Shared Values
Beijing Cathedral Restored to Former Glory
Church's Abuse Handling Questioned in Chile
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
12 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Alice Walker
Mahatma Gandhi
Joan Chittister
Elie Wiesel
Anna C. Brackett
___
On This Day (Oct. 25th-28th)
Oct. 25, 1971 - UN votes to admit China and expel Taiwan
Oct. 28, 1886 - Statue of Liberty Dedicated in New York
Oct. 29, 1929 - Stock Market Collapses on New York Exchange
*****
Closing Thought - Seasonal
_____
Dear Friends:
All Hallows and All Saints -
I greet you on this, the weekend of All Hallows
and All Saints! This is the time of the church
year when we classically remember "the church
militant" as well as "the church triumphant."
Perhaps these terms strike you as a bit dated, but
human concerns about death and of "dying in the Lord"
are never out of date. My father would often remind
me of these things as we would tend "God's holy acre" -
the cemetery of St. James Lutheran Church in the town
of St. Jacobs, Ontario where I grew up. Returning there
in early September I was able to recover a sense of
what it meant to be part of that "family of faith"
which extends to many generations and includes all
who died as part of that congregational community.
To recognize those who died well is to demonstrate our
desire to live well.
Today's modern urban anonymity has a way of destroying
the immediacy of "the community of the departed." Still,
it is important for Christians to remember "the great
cloud of witnesses" that continues to accompany us.
We think of that in a special way this weekend.
___
My book notice of "A New Kind of Christianity" by Brian
D. McLaren is of a title that has been on the market for
some months in hardcover. The paperback edition will appear
in early February of next year. This is a good time to
visit a book that attempts to centre on ten important
questions the author believes we in the church need to
be asking at this time.
___
Colleague Comment:
Keith Wright - retired Presbyterian Church USA minister living
in Austin Texas writes to express appreciation for a book
written by another colleague, Douglas John Hall.
Therese Castonguay - retired Grey Nun living in Montreal also
writes to say hello. I recall that her first language is
French, and that she reads Colleagues List to "keep up on
her English." Therese spent her career as a nurse and social
worker in Alberta and Saskatchewan. She contributed much to
building the social services network existing in our two
Canadian western provinces and I salute you, Sr. Therese!
___
Colleague Contributions:
Jim Taylor, Doug Koop, Martin Marty, John Stackhouse,
Kelly Johnson, Beth Porter, Charles Curran and Robert
Ellsberg all contribute to a well supplied selection of
Colleague Contributions this week.
___
Net Notes:
"Interview With Anne Rice" - Ms. Rice, who we reported
some weeks ago has left the church now gives her reasons
(The Guardian, UK)
"Diocese of Bradford Facing Axe"- What happens when your
region in Yorkshire experiences a changeover from Christian
to Islamic worshipers? You close down the diocese.
(Daily Mail, UK)
"Dalai Lama Ends Canadian Visit" - Last autumn, the Dalai
Lama paid a special visit to Calgary. This fall, he came
to Toronto, and experienced a big welcome there as well.
(680 News)
"Tibetans Preserve Their Culture" - While in Toronto, the
Dalai Lama reminded the thousands of Tibetan-Canadians who
came to hear him that they have a responsibility to hold on
to and share special aspects of their culture (Toronto Star)
"Happy Birthday King James Version" - Next year, we will
celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Version
of the Bible (1611) This will provide a special opportunity
to remember this pivotal event in the development of the
English language (Publishers Weekly)
"Exodus: Changing Map of Middle East" - Gradually, many
ancient Christian communities, like the one in Iraq, are
disappearing (The Independent, UK)
"Caste Bias is a Sin Say Indian Groups" - Groups of various
persuasions are joining together to deplore the caste system
existing in India in spite of the fact it has continued to
survive (Cathnews Asia)
"Anglican Leader Promotes Shared Values" - While touring in
India, the Archbishop of Canterbury has continued to urge his
hearers of many faith traditions to fight prejudice and to
work together (Cathnews Asia)
"Beijing Cathedral Restored to Former Glory" - After decades
of wear, the classic Catholic Cathedral in China's capital
city has received a face lift (Agenzia Fides)
"Church's Abuse Handling Questioned in Chile"- Pressure from
legal authorities is forcing the Catholic Church in Chile to
deal with its history of sexual abuse (New York Times)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
12 stories appear this week from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Alice Walker, Mahatma Gandhi, Joan Chittister,
Elie Wiesel and Anna C. Brackett share their
special insights with us courtesy of Sojourners.
___
On This Day (Oct. 25th-29th)
UN votes to admit China and expel Taiwan (1971)
Statue of Liberty Dedicated in New York (1886)
Stock Market Collapses. World-wide panic (1929)
*****
Closing Thought - I offer a few seasonal reflections
on sainthood; living and dying well.
---
I have prepared this issue of Colleagues List from
the home of our daughter and son-in-law Ronnie and
Sarah Lukan who live in Slave Lake, Northern Alberta.
We are spending a few days visiting our new grand-
daughter Mya, but continue to stay in touch with you
through the marvels of modern technology.
By the way, not too many decades ago - this community
on the south-eastern shore of Lesser Slave Lake -
was considered "wilderness" but not so today. It is
a progressive place where native and non-native
Canadians live in general peaceful productivity.
Slave Lake is one of the major supply centres for
the Alberta tarsands industry.
Wayne
******************
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/services.htm
___
ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE
Created and maintained by Colleague Jock McTavish
http://stdavidscalgary.net/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
THE 38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE NOW SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
Let me know if you have an interest in exciting
spiritual tourism!
*****
MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
Introducing our New Fall Program at St. David's:
Follow this series by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.is
a native of Wales. He speaks, Monday, November 8th,
on the subject of what to look for when visiting his homeland,
and will explain some of the important sites we plan to visit to
maximise our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
37 persons, representing tour and non-tour participants
are registered for this ten-week series.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is available to all!
___
WEDNESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
Announcing our Autumn Series:
"The Book of Genesis"
Primeval and Patriarchal Stories -
Creation, Fall, Flood, Babel
Abraham, Covenant, Ishmael & Sodom.
Join us Wednesday mornings, 9-10 AM
October 6th through December 1st
*****
THURSDAY UNIVERSITY STUDY
Students, faculty and staff
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
http://www.ucalgary.ca/chaplain/node/87
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
STUDY ARCHIVES
A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted since 2000 can
quickly be found at: http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/
This collection of study resources represents 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:
A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIANITY
Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith
by Brian D. McLaren
HarperOne. 2010. 306 pages. $32.00 CAD
ISBN #978-0-06-185398-2
Publisher's Promo:
We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church.
Not since the Reformation have so many Christians come to
ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs
and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals
to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who
best represents them is Brian McLaren.
McLaren's fans and detractors have eagerly awaited this book.
It codifies the beliefs he introduced in "A New Kind of
Christian" several years ago. McLaren, one of the most visible
faces in the emergent church movement, examines 10 questions
he believes the church must answer as it heads toward "a new
way of believing."
McLaren deconstructs the "Graeco-Roman narrative" of the Bible
and addresses how the Bible should be understood as an "inspired
library," not a "constitution". He moves into questions about
God, Jesus, and the Gospel, urging us to "trade up" our image
of God and realize that Jesus came to "launch a new Genesis"
The church, sexuality, the future, and pluralism merit chapters,
as does McLaren's final call for a "robust spiritual life."
Followers will rejoice as McLaren articulates his thoughts
with logic and eloquence; detractors will point out his artful
avoidance of firm answers on salvation, hell, and a final
judgment.
Here you will find a provocative and enticing introduction to
the Christian faith of tomorrow.
___
Author's Words:
"Wherever the willingness to rethink has been squelched,
wherever the sense of quest has been buried under convention
and complacency, the Christian faith in all its forms is in
trouble.
But even there, something is trying to be born. Even now,
right here, among us, inside you, inside me. You may feel
it as a curiosity, a desire for better answers than you
inherited so far.
You may experience it as frustration, knowing that there
must be more to faith than you currently know. You may know
it as hope, hope that God is seeking humble people whose
hearts and lives can be the womb of a better future...
In you, your family, your faith community, and circles of
friends, among people of peace and faith everywhere,
something is trying to be born."
- from the Conclusion
--
"This book is divided into two main sections. After some
introduction, Book I addresses five profound and critical
questions that are being raised by followers of Christ
around the world. These questions, I believe, have the
potential to unlock us from a prison in which we have
been held hostage for a long time; once we unbolt long-
held assumptions and raise these questions, new
possibilities will open. Hence the title for Book I:
"Unlocking and Unopening."
"In Book II, we'll consider five more questions. They are,
perhaps, less profound and theologically radical, but
they are equally important because of their down-to-earth
practicality and the intensity of debate they engender.
We want to explore these questions in fresh and highly
constructive ways. Hence the title for the second section:
"Emerging and Exploring."
"These ten are by no means the only important questions
being raised... but I hope you'll begin to feel the
thrill of something trying to be born."
- from the Preface
---
The ten questions considered in this book -
Part One:
1. What is the overarching story line of the Bible?
2. How should the Bible be understood?
3. Is God violent?
4. Who is Jesus and why is he important?
5. What is the Gospel?
Part Two:
6. What do we do about the church?
7. Can we find a way to address human sexuality
without fighting about it?
8. Can we find a better way of viewing the future?
9. How should followers of Jesus relate
to people of other religions?
10. How can we translate our quest into action?
___
My Thoughts:
I was first in contact with Brian McLaren while he was
still a pastor of a large evangelical church near
Washington, DC. I was reviewing a book of his for
"Congregations" - the journal of the Alban Institute,
and wanted his views on some of my questions. From the
beginning, he impressed me with his probing mind and
openness to discuss matters that were not always so
discussable with evangelicals; at least ten years ago.
Mainline Protestants have been interested in McLaren
for a decade. Now, others are also finding him to be
a helpful guide who can help us deal with present
challenges and future directions for Christians and
members of Christians faith communities.
This book is one of a number McLaren has penned since
he left the work of a local pastor and began his new
career as a writer, lecturer and advocate for the
exploration of the future of faith.
He has gathered a formidable team of friends and associates
to help him in this quest. People like Harvey Cox, Phylis
Tickle, Diana Butler-Bass and Marcus Borg - not really
your typical consorts of evangelical pastors and teachers.
The fact is, McLaren has been evolving as an emergent
evangelical - one who seeks to build bridges with other
Christian thinkers. Today, he is considered a rather
progressive theologian by people in mainline Protestant
and Catholic communities and in emergent evangelical
Christian circles.
This book comes on the heels of others like "A New Kind of
Christian," "A Generous Orthodoxy," and "Everything Must
Change."
"A New Kind of Christianity" suggests the kind of church
and theological forms that will be required of "new
Christians living into a new age."
The questions he raises in this book are typical of what
many in the mainstream have been asking for some time.
McLaren brings to these questions a bibilical and spiritual
resourcefulness often lacking among those of a more liberal
Protestant tradition.
This is what I believe is special when reading McLaren.
He takes traditional Christian values seriously - like
the Bible, the Church, ethics and inter-faith relations -
and brings to his discussion a passion and an urgency
of one who did not start by questioning traditional
answers, but whose experience has forced him into new
ways of thinking, being and acting.
I believe that history will recount that it was people like
McLaren who helped the church move into the future in ways
that were both inviting and realistic.
"A New Kind of Christianity" is a good McLaren book to start
with - if you've not read him before. If you are continuing
with him, this is a seasoned reflection.
___
Buy the Book from Amazon.ca: http://tinyurl.com/2avd7cq
The hardcover edition sells at Amazon for under $21.
The paperback edition selling for under $14 will be
available by February 1st, 2011.
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMENT:
KEITH WRIGHT
Austin, Texas
October 23rd, 2010
Keith Wright writes from Texas during an autumn study at
University Presbyterian about a book by Douglas John Hall:
Wayne,
I read with interest your article about Canadian evangelicalism
maturing. Our book study group at University Presbyterian
here in Austin is reading the book, "The Stewardship of Life
in the Kingdom of Death" by Douglas John Hall. We have found
the book challenging, disturbing and enlightening. We were
all caught by his understanding of mission as following God
into the world where God is already working to save the world
through many different groups and individuals who may or may
not be a part of the church or the Christian Faith. Seems
like he is saying much the same thing as you reported in your
review of the book "Going Missional" by Stiller and Metzger.
Hope you are well and that your winter will not be too cold
and harsh.
Keith
---
THERESE CASTONGUAY
Montreal, QC
October 26th, 2010
Dear Wayne,
How much I would love to have time to chat a bit!
Other work is keeping me away from that joy!
How are you? Happy and healthy, I hope.
We are still in Summer days, but Christmas is coming shortly!
With love and prayer,
Sr. Thérèse
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
JIM TAYLOR
Web Log
Oct. 24th, 2010
"Evil Never Advertises Itself As Evil"
"Evil, pure evil" -- that's how Andy Lloyd described
the man who murdered his sister, Jessica Lloyd.
What is "pure evil"? How do we recognize it?
http://edges.canadahomepage.net/category/sharp-edges/
*****
DOUG KOOP
ChristianWeek.org
October 26th, 2010
"Bold and Beautiful"
A lesson in evangelism from St. Paul and friends:
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1284
*****
MARTIN MARTY
"Christian Violence"
Christians too, are engaged in violent behaviour:
Sightings
Oct. 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2ersxka
*****
JOHN STACKHOUSE
KELLY JOHNSON
"Why I Help Addicts Shoot Up"
Christian Week
October 19th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/features.php?id=85
*****
BETH PORTER
A Human Future
L'Arche Foundation of Canada
Fall, 2010 Issue
Canadian Muslims Look to the Future
http://larche.ca/en/inspiration/
*****
CHARLES CURRAN
Theologian Prompts Reaction to SMU Lecture
National Catholic Reporter
October 26th, 2010
http://ncronline.org/print/20989
*****
ROBERT ELLSBERG
Marquette U. Press releases:
"All the Way to Heaven -
Selected Writings by Dorothy Day"
Edited by Robert Ellsberg
Press announcement and US Catholic article
by Ellsberg promoting a second volume of
Dorothy Day's letters and diaries:
http://tinyurl.com/2g29ke6
---
Review of the book:
America Magazine
November 8th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/25wkzm2
*****
NET NOTES
INTERVIEW WITH ANNE RICE
Rejects her Catholic faith, pursues new interests
The Guardian UK
Oct. 25th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/38hy6wm
*****
UK DIOCESE OF BRADFORD FACING AXE
Twice as many Muslim worshippers as Anglicans
Daily Mail
Oct. 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/3383dqy
*****
DALAI LAMA WRAPS UP VISIT TO CANADA
He visits Canada's largest Tibetan community
680 News
Oct. 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/29by4eg
*****
TIBETANS CAN PRESERVE CULTURE
THREATENED AT HOME
Tibetan-Canadians have an important role to play
Toronto Star
October 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2wt5wyk
*****
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - KING JAMES VERSION
Commemorative Edition (for 1611-2011) Coming Next Year
Publisher's Weekly
October 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/36ozwhy
*****
EXODUS: THE CHANGING MAP OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Christians declining in several countries
The Independent
October 26th, 2010
by Robert Fisk
http://tinyurl.com/2g5xk6k
*****
CASTE BIAS A SIN SAY INDIAN GROUPS
Ecumenical News International
27 October 2010
No tolerance for caste discrimination,
says India church gathering
Bangalore (ENI). Churches in India need to show zero
tolerance concerning caste-based discrimination within
their ranks, a gathering of Christian leaders in New
Delhi has said. "Casteism is a sin and caste-based
discrimination is a crime," said a statement issued
from the conference in New Delhi. "Since discrimination
is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, churches will
have to be zero tolerance zones with regard to the
practice of caste discrimination." Though the caste
system has been officially abolished in India,
discrimination against Dalits - low castes treated
as "untouchables" - persists. They often have to
survive by scavenging and doing menial jobs, while
living segregated from higher castes in rural areas.
---
Cathnews Asia
October 26th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/3xy34ce
*****
ANGLICAN LEADER PROMOTES SHARED VALUES
In India, Williams Open to Other Faiths
Cathnews Asia
October 25th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/27am2om
*****
BEIJING CATHEDRAL RESTORED TO FORMER GLORY
Cathedral experiences a face lift
Agenzia Fides
Octo. 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/268y9pz
*****
CHURCH'S HANDLING OF ABUSE CHARGES
QUESTIONED IN CHILE
A Chilean judge has ordered that the Rev. Fernando Karadima
be interrogated regarding charges of sexual abuse involving
at least four young parishioners.
http://tinyurl.com/27avlp5
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
25 October 2010
Tension in Sudan ahead of vote is dangerous,
warns church envoy
Nairobi (ENI). A former general secretary of the World
Council of Churches has warned that tension in Sudan
ahead of a plebiscite on independence for the south of
Africa's biggest country could spark mass killings similar
to the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The Rev. Samuel Kobia, who
is a church-backed envoy to Sudan, said the security and
human rights of southern Sudanese living in the north of
the country are endangered, with intimidation and threats
increasing ahead of the scheduled 9 January referendum.
"We know it is possible these people could easily be
massacred, if Khartoum is not happy with the how the
referendum will go," Kobia, a Kenyan Methodist, told a
press conference in Nairobi on 23 October, after a 10-
day visit to the United States with senior Sudanese
church leaders.
_____
Filipino Christian leaders question imam
at inter-faith forum
Baguio City, Philippines, 25 October (ENI)--Imam Bedejim
Abdullah's description of Islam as a "religion of peace"
and Muslims as people "who keep the peace" has helped
clarify misperceptions of the faith say some Christians
in the Philippines. However, during a two-hour lecture on
Islam, Filipino Christian leaders put some tough questions
to the speaker. The imam, also an Islamic chaplain of the
Philippine Military Academy, was invited by the Baguio-
Benguet Ecumenical Group, a northern Philippine inter-church
organization, to speak during a forum on 20 October, which
aimed to help promote inter-faith dialogue and understanding.
*****
26 October 2010
Film on Pacific climate change clinches
Leipzig revolution prize
Leipzig, Germany (ENI). A film charting the dilemmas
facing a community of 400 people on a Pacific atoll
threatened by rising sea levels, due to climate change,
has clinched a prize to commemorate East Germany's 1989
"peaceful revolution". The New Zealand film, "There Once
Was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho", is the first production
to receive the "Leipzig Ring" prize awarded by the
Peaceful Revolution Foundation, during the 53rd
International Leipzig Festival for Documentaries and
Animation Films. Its film prize is for a documentary
that portrays civic engagement for democracy and human
rights or where the producer has demonstrated personal
commitment or great personal courage in making the film.
*****
Ukraine minority churches back rights
for Greek Catholics
Warsaw (ENI). Minority churches in Ukraine have
urged authorities in the capital Odessa to allow the
construction of a church for Greek Catholics, after
an Orthodox archbishop who sits on the local council
intervened to block the project. "Our joint address to
you was provoked by the atmosphere of unhealthy
aggression artificially created in this city by certain
circles," the church leaders said in a letter to the
city mayor and head of regional administration in Odessa.
_____
Bishop of ancient Christian church
warns on Protestant dialogue
Hong Kong (ENI). The Assyrian bishop in the United States
says his ancient church that was one of the first in China
will not have any official dialogue with Protestant churches
which support the blessing of homosexual partners or the
ordination of women. Bishop Mar Awa Royel, the president
of an inter-church relations commission of the Assyrian
Church of the East, told a Hong Kong audience earlier in
October that the church is committed to ecumenical dialogue
but that it will not support dialogue with churches that
it believes deviate from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The Assyrian Church was once referred to as the Nestorian
Church, and had earlier been regarded as heretical and
faced persecution.
*****
28 October 2010
SA Jewish group rejects Tutu call
for opera boycott of Israel
Cape Town (ENI). A Jewish group in South Africa has
criticised a call by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond
Tutu for the Cape Town Opera to cancel a performance in
Israel in November. "Peace and understanding is best
served through constructive and positive engagements
between Israel, South Africa and the Palestinian regions,
not by boycotts," the South African Jewish Board of
Deputies said in a statement. In a letter to the opera
company, Tutu had written, "The Tel Aviv Opera house is
state sponsored. By luring international artists to
perform there it advances Israel's fallacious claim to
being a civilised democracy."
_____
Indonesian Christian group warns
on quake and tsunami deaths
Tokyo (ENI). An Indonesian Christian aid group has sent
a team to the Mentawai islands in West Sumatra, where an
earthquake and tsunami have lead to the deaths of hundreds
of people. "It is estimated the death toll will continue
to grow," said the group, Yayasan Tanggul Bencana Indonesia,
on its Web site. "Most of the victims are in South Pagai
Island, which seems the most heavily affected." On 27
October the group had reported 112 dead but the following
day reports said the toll was at least 340 and cited
officials who said it could climb to more than 500.
Hundreds of people are missing and are thought to have
been swept away by the powerful tsunami that followed
the 25 October earthquake.
_____
Israeli criticises Vatican meeting on Middle East
Rome (ENI). Catholic bishops from the Middle East
have urged the United Nations to take steps to end
Israel's occupation of Arab territories to enable a
"two-State" solution for the region. "The Palestinian
people will thus have an independent and sovereign
homeland where they can live with dignity and security,"
the 185 bishops said in an "An Appeal to Safeguard the
Faith" issued on 23 October after a two-week meeting at
the Vatican.
*****
29 October 2010
Christian leader marks farewell
by planting Luther's 'tree of hope'
Geneva (ENI). Martin Luther, the 16th century
Protestant reformer, is reputed to have said that
even if he knew the world would end tomorrow, he
would plant an apple tree today. And it was by p
lanting an apple tree that the Rev. Ishmael Noko
marked his retirement as leader of the global
grouping of Christians inspired by the German
reformer after 16 years as general secretary of
the Lutheran World Federation. "We are planting
a tree as a sign of hope," Noko told ENI news after
the ceremony outside Geneva's Ecumenical Centre,
where the LWF has its headquarters alongside bodies
such as the World Council of Churches. Described as
one of the most influential leaders of the ecumenical
movement, Noko was praised by his ecumenical colleagues
for his passion for Christian unity and his commitment
to interfaith relations.
(Note: Ishmael Noko received much of his higher academic
training in Canada and was known to many Canadian Lutherans
years before he became a world ecumenical figure.)
____
Leader of Latvia's Catholics praises inter-church ties
Warsaw (ENI). The new leader of the Roman Catholic Church
in Latvia has said "exemplary ties" between churches are
strengthening Christian witness in a society still suffering
from communist rule, materialism and corruption. "Our society
caught the virus of communism and fell ill with it, losing
its immunity to the disease which has come from the West
since communism collapsed," said Archbishop Zbignevs
Stankevics in an October interview with Poland's Catholic
information agency, KAI.
_____
Global faith-based aid alliance says a billion hungry wrong
Geneva (ENI). The head of a worldwide faith-based humanitarian
and development alliance has said his organization needs to
take a more vocal stance on global inequalities. "We are fired
up and motivated to challenge political figures, big business
and the vested interests of the world's richest nations," ACT
Alliance general secretary John Nduna said at the end of the
group's 19-22 October assembly in Arusha, Tanzania. "In today's
world, a billion people are going to bed hungry, only 30 percent
of children in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa have access to
anti-malarial drugs and climate change is devastating the
world’s poorest people," said Zambian-born Nduna in a statement,
made available to ENInews. "We know this is wrong. We know we
must make our voices heard against all these gross injustices."
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
October 25th, 2010
"Activism is my rent for living on this planet.
- Alice Walker
---
October 26th, 2010
"Live like Jesus did, and the world will listen."
- Mahatma Gandhi
---
October 27th, 2010
"Humor and laughter are not necessarily the same thing.
Humor permits us to see into life from a fresh and
gracious perspective. We learn to take ourselves more
lightly in the presence of good humor. Humor gives us
the strength to bear what cannot be changed, and the
sight to see the human under the pompous."
- Joan Chittister
---
October 28th, 2010
"The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.
The opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
- Elie Wiesel
---
October 29th, 2010
"We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply
our cares. We increase our possessions only to the
enlargement of our anxieties."
- Anna C. Brackett, in "The Technique of Rest"
*****
ON THIS DAY
Provided by the New York Times:
Oct. 25, 1979, UN votes to admit China and expel Taiwan
http://tinyurl.com/34sxajp
*****
On Oct. 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from
the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor
by President Grover Cleveland.
http://tinyurl.com/354r52n
*****
Oct. 29, 1929, stock prices collapsed on the New York
Stock Exchange amid panic selling. Thousands of investors
were wiped out.
http://tinyurl.com/23o7evk
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
This is the weekend of the church year to think of death
and to remember the saints who provide us with examples
for living and dying well.
It is not a morbid thing to reflect on such matters.
Indeed, it is wise - if nevertheless counter-cultural.
A saint can be anyone whose life provides us with exemplary
behaviour, worth replicating.
Who is your favourite saint? What does this say about you?
How does this saint help you live well as well as prepare
to die well?
(end)
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Colleagues List, October 23rd, 2010
Vol. VI. No. 8
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
*****
Personal Book Review:
"Going Missional"
Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches
Who Have Embraced Missional Life
By Karen Stiller and Willard Metzger
---
Book Notice:
"Conversations With Myself"
By Nelson Mandela
___
Colleague Contribution:
Jim Taylor
___
Net Notes:
City of Tranquil Light
Pope Names Six New Saints
Christian Unity a Dream in Progress
Atheists Split at Annual Conference
World Falling Short of Millennial Goals
Google to Publish Dead Sea Scrolls Online
Nenshi - Canada's First Big City Muslim Mayor
Crystal Cathedral Files for Bankruptcy Protection
Scouts Remove Mormon Leaders Over Religious Beliefs
Altar Boy, Seminarian and Penthouse Founder Dead at 79
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
14 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Christina Baldwin
Mother Teresa
Abraham Lincoln
African Proverb
St. Augustine
___
On This Day (Oct. 19th - 22nd)
Oct. 19, 1987 - Stock Market Takes Big Plunge
Oct. 21, 1879 - Edison invented a workable electric light
Oct. 22, 1962 - JFK announces air/naval blockade of Cuba
___
Closing Thought -
Falling asleep during your church's "quiet time..."
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
Lots of interesting things have been happening
this past week, and Colleagues List has tried
to tap into some of these developments for you.
---
Book Review:
Colleague Bill Fledderus asked me to review a new
book on the meaning of the term "missional" in a
Canadian context. He has granted permission that
you can read my pre-edited review for "Faith Today" -
the bi-monthly journal of the Evangelical Fellowship
of Canada.
I hope you enjoy -
"Going Missional"
Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches
Who Have Embraced Missional Life
By Karen Stiller and Willard Metzger
---
Book Notice:
I am thoroughly enjoying my reading of the new memoir
"Conversations With Myself" by Nelson Mandela. It has a
foreword written by President Barack Obama. I introduce
this title and encourage you to get hold of a copy too.
___
Colleague Contribution:
This week, our sole colleague contribution is by long-time
friend and frequent writer on these pages, Jim Taylor, who
worked for the United Church Observer, became a free-lance
writer, and then moved to the Okanagan Valley a lifetime
ago to become a book publisher and editor.
Read his comments on how he views same-sex marriage, a
helpful followup to my own reflections on attending
the religious vows of a lesbian couple this past summer.
___
Net Notes:
"City of Tranquil Light" - here is a book about early
Mennonite missionaries in China, a delightful story
(Books and Culture)
"Pope Names Six New Saints" - Benedict XVI named a Canadian
and an Australian, among a half dozen honoured last week
(Voice of America)
"Christian Unity a Dream in Progress" - Many of us
continue to harbour hopes for a more united Christianity
as well as more co-operation between the great faiths.
Canadians are at work making this dream into a reality.
(Christian Week)
"Atheists Split at Annual Conference" - While it has
been easy to pin point the flaws of religion, atheists
are finding it difficult to find their own consensus.
(Christianity Today)
"World Falling Short of Millennial Goals" - universal
standards are never easy to attain. Still, we try.
Read about the challenges faced by those seeking to
attain the Millennial Goals established by the UN.
(Christian Week)
"Google to Publish Dead Sea Scrolls Online" - Electronic
media continue to dazzle us with breakthrough developments.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are about to be opened to the masses.
(CathnewsAsia)
"Nenshi - Canada's First Big City Muslim Mayor" -
Calgarians made history this week by electing Canada's
first Muslim mayor and leaving the old establishment
(as well as many eastern naysayers) confounded!
(Backofthebook.ca)
"Crystal Cathedral Files for Bankruptcy Protection" -
While the demise of Robert Schuller's church has been
predicted for some time, it is bittersweat to read these
developments this week (Assist News)
"Scouts Remove Mormon Leaders Over Religious Beliefs" -
In the UK, Mormon scout leaders were removed from office
because they were deemed un-Christian. Is this for real?
(Christian Science Monitor)
"Altar Boy, Seminarian and Penthouse Founder Dead at 79" -
For many of us who grew up during the 1960's the names
Bob Guccione and Hugh Hefner were "pioneers of porn."
Alas, the time has come when even such icons pass on.
(Cathnews Asia)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
14 stories appear this week from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Christina Baldwin, Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln,
African Proverb and St. Augustine are specially noted.
___
On This Day (Oct. 19th - 22nd)
The New York Times offers these stories:
Stock Market Takes Big Plunge (1987)
Edison invented a workable electric light (1879)
JFK announces air/naval blockade of Cuba (1962)
___
Here is my closing thought:
Falling asleep during your church's "quiet time..."
___
The last of the leaves and plants are collected from
our yard. Here in foothills Calgary the first snowfall
(likely to melt, we hope) could happen anytime.
It has been a lovely autumn here!
I hope you can still enjoy the weather where you live.
Wayne
******************
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/services.htm
___
ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE
Created and maintained by Colleague Jock McTavish
http://stdavidscalgary.net/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
THE 38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE NOW SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
Let me know if you have an interest in exciting
spiritual tourism!
*****
MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
Introducing our New Fall Program at St. David's:
Follow this series by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.
is a native of Wales. He will speak with us at one
session, introducing us to his homeland, and explaining
some of the important sites we plan to visit to maximize
our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
36 persons, representing tour and non-tour participants
are registered for this ten-week series.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is available to all!
___
WEDNESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
Announcing our Autumn Series:
"The Book of Genesis"
Primeval and Patriarchal Stories -
Creation, Fall, Flood, Babel
Abraham, Covenant, Ishmael & Sodom.
Join us Wednesday mornings, 9-10 AM
October 6th through December 1st
*****
THURSDAY UNIVERSITY STUDY
Students, faculty and staff
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
http://www.ucalgary.ca/chaplain/node/87
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
STUDY ARCHIVES
A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted since 2000 can
quickly be found at: http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/
This collection of study resources represents 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 ITEMS
Book Review:
Prepared for Faith Today
Magazine of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
GOING MISSIONAL
Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches
Who Have Embraced Missional Life
By Karen Stiller and Willard Metzger
Word Alive Press, 2010
161 pages. $16.45 (paper)
Canadian evangelicalism is maturing.
Why? Because qualitative growth, organic development,
a desire for excellence and a humble spirit are
obvious in this distillation from 46 interviews with
13 congregations involving communities ranging from
Duncan BC to Halifax, NS. Those interviewed responded
to the question – “What does it mean for you to be a
missional church?” - producing a rich variety of
definitions.
Several pivotal insights dominate. To be missional
is to be open and aware to what God is doing in the
community (within and beyond the congregation itself)
and to connect people to this. Join with where God is
already at work. The responsibility to do this belongs
to everyone - not just the formal leadership -since all
have unique gifts to offer. Focus on serving the wider
community by discovering its real needs through careful
listening. Fill a niche needing attention. Refocus from
merely “filling pews” and “counting heads.” Move past
spiritual consumerism to authentic servanthood.
Many responses reflect a serious desire to be more
fully the church. People are called to a heightened
consciousness of what God is doing outside the
congregation so that all can join in that activity.
Quantitative growth, while important, is intentionally
complemented by a strong commitment to qualitative
member formation. People stop “coming to church” and
start “being the church.”
Some weaknesses in this generally healthy collage are
detected. Attention is so often fixed on present and
future that there seems to be little consideration
for Christian tradition and its lessons for moderns.
Busyness, a common evangelical characteristic, is
strongly evident. The quiet, contemplative life can
be a worthy ally in efforts to be effectively missional.
Still, this book provides valuable sketches of some very
creative ministry taking place in Canada today.
____
Book Notice:
NELSON MANDELA
Conversations With Myself
Forward by President Barack Obama
Publisher's Promo:
Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring and iconic
figures of our age. Now, he has opened his personal
archive, which offers unprecedented insight into his
remarkable life.
From letters written during the darkest hours of his
twenty-seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an
unfinished sequel to his "Long Walk to Freedom" this
book "Conversations With Myself" gives readers access
to the private man behind the public figure.
An intimate journey from the first stirrings of his
political conscience to his galvanizing role on the
world's stage, "Conversations With Myself" is a rare
chance to spend time with Nelson Mandela the man, in
his own voice: direct, clear, private.
---
Author's Comment:
"... the cell is an ideal place to learn to know oneself,
to search realistically and regularly the process of
your own mind and feelings. In judging our progress as
individuals we need to concentrate on external factors
such as one's social position, influence and popularity,
wealth and standard of education. These are, of course,
important in measuring one's success in material matters
and it is perfectly understandable if many people exert
themselves mainly to achieve all these. But internal
factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's
development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity,
simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity,
readiness to serve others - qualities which are within
easy reach of every soul - are the foundation of one's
spiritual life. Development in matters of this nature
is inconceivable without serious introspection, without
knowing yourself, your weaknesses and mistakes. At least,
if for nothing else, the cell gives you the opportunity
to look daily into your entire conduct, to overcome the
bad develop whatever is good in you. Regular meditation,
say about 15 minutes a day before you turn in, can be
very fruitful in this regard. You may find it difficult
at first to pinpoint the negative features in your life,
but the 10th attempt may yield rich rewards. Never forget
that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.
---
My Thoughts:
On page 39 of "Conversations" we note a letter to Zindzi
Mandela, a daughter, dated December 9th, 1979. It never
reached her because it was confiscated by prison censors.
Neither sender nor the anticipated recipient knew it had
been removed from the card.
The letter was discovered in 2010 in the South African
National Archives with a written note in Afrikaans by a
prison censor which read: 'The attached piece that
prisoner Mandela included with his Christmas card will
not be sent. The card will be sent. The prisoner has not
been informed that this piece has been rejected. He does
not have permission to include it with the card... Keep
it in his file.'
During his years in prison, Nelson Mandela experienced
many indignities and disappointments - he was fully aware
of some of them and of some he was not. Exposure to this
book helps us better understand the profound truth that
it is not what life presents, but how we handle what
comes our way.
Mandela - whose flaws are also visible in places
throughout the text - struggled to make the most of
his situation, and in doing so he developed a sense
of personal freedom that his jailers could not touch.
That is a great discovery that happens time and again
through a reflective reading.
Those who read "Long Walk," Mandela's first book of
memoirs, will discover a different type of memoir in
these "Conversations." This book, while retaining
its public and political side, focuses much more
on Mandela the human; the family man. As he says in his
opening thoughts to the book, "the cell is an ideal place
to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and
regularly the process of your own mind and feelings..."
Periods of solitude in our lives can be challenging,
because so much makes us feel cut off and alone. But
these times also offer the possibility of the rich gift
of insight into the self that is not so available when
our worlds are full of activity and interchange.
What was it that transformed Mandela the young radical
into the mature freedom fighter? The angry black man
into the global diplomatic icon? It was, to a large
extent, the time he spent alone with his thoughts,
and the personal "conversations with myself" that
resulted.
Mandela could have died in his cell, an embittered
old man. Instead, without planning it, he became an
inspiration to his people and to the world.
Here is a book that opens a window on how and why
that great human being was formed.
"Conversations" should be in the personal library of
anyone who "wants to overcome the bad and develop
whatever is good in you."
---
Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/25c47l6
*************************
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
JIM TAYLOR
Weblog
Oct. 20th, 2010
A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
By Jim Taylor
As I read the newspapers, preachers and columnists seem
to be fulminating for and against same-sex marriage almost
everywhere. It’s legal across Canada. Mexico City not only
allows it, it encourages same-sex couples to adopt children.
California first allowed same-sex marriages, then banned them,
then overturned the ban.... Same-sex conflicts threaten to
gut the worldwide Anglican communion.
Typically, the cry is that same-sex unions will destroy
traditional family patterns.
It seems taken for granted that we have always had
heterosexual monogamy...
Read the article: http://edges.canadahomepage.net/2010/10/
*****
NET NOTES
CITY OF TRANQUIL LIGHT
A Story of Early Mennonite Missions in China
Books and Culture (Nov/Dec. Issue)
http://tinyurl.com/26tkfb6
*****
POPE NAMES SIX NEW SAINTS
Canadian & Australian Among Those Honoured
Voice of America
Oct. 17th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2ag736d
*****
CHRISTIAN UNITY A DREAM IN PROGRESS
The Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal
Christianweek.org
October 19th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1238
*****
ATHEISTS SPLIT AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE
New Atheists and Moderates Fall Out
Christianity Today
October 13th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/3yvkntu
*****
WORLD FALLING SHORT OF MEETING MILLENNIAL GOALS
Time is running out on meeting some pretty big hopes
Christianweek.org
October 19th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1230
*****
GOOGLE TO PUBLISH DEAD SEA SCROLLS ONLINE
Electronic media make treasures available to all
Cathnews Asia
October 19th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2efrfb5
*****
NENSHI: CANADA'S FIRST BIG CITY MUSLIM MAYOR
Calgary has it week in the sun and wants to stay there!
Backofthebook.ca
October 19th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28jmhun
*****
CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL FILES
FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION
Pioneer Megachurch faced with reality
Assist News
October 18th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/25fndwv
*****
BOY SCOUTS REMOVE MORMON LEADERS
OVER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Can this be for real?
Christian Science Monitor
October 21st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2agflpw
*****
ALTAR BOY, SEMINARIAN AND
PENTHOUSE FOUNDER DEAD AT 79
Pioneer of porn meets his end
Cathnews Asia
October 22nd, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2fpsp5l
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
18 October 2010
Evangelical group regrets no show of
China's Christians in Cape
Cape Town (ENI). The World Evangelical Alliance has
expressed disappointment at the failure of a Christian
delegation from China to attend its third world gathering
in South Africa. "The presence and contribution of Chinese
delegates would have enriched all the Congress participants
and contributed to a more complete understanding of our
common humanity and the diversity of ethnicity and cultural
expression that enriches us all," said the grouping in a
17 October statement made available to ENI news. Up to 4500
participants from around the globe are gathering in Cape
Town from 16-25 October for the 3rd Lausanne Congress for
World Evangelization. At least 200 Protestant Christians
were barred from travelling to Cape Town by authorities
in Beijing says a report carried by the Roman Catholic
news agency AsiaNews.it. The churches are said to oppose
membership of China's Three-Self Patriotic Movement, a
group gathering state-approved Protestant denominations.
_____
In India, Archbishop of Canterbury criticises European
burqa bans
Nagpur, India (ENI). The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan
Williams has deplored attempts by governments in Europe
to prohibit Muslim women from publicly wearing the burqa,
a garment that covers the entire body. "Governments should
have better things to do than ban the burqa," Williams,
the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, told an
interfaith meeting organized by the National Council of
Churches in India at its headquarters in Nagpur, during
a visit to India. "I believe that the State ought not
to be addressing issues like these. Instead, it should
leave such concerns to the religious communities,"
stated Williams at the 14 October meeting in Nagpur.
He described a French ban as, "a sign of being
overanxious".
_____
World churches' leader's speech reaches
to evangelical Christians
Cape Town (ENI). The head of the World Council of
Churches has reached out to a global gathering of
Evangelicals saying Christians of different
traditions need to learn from each other to
participate together in God's mission. "We
are called to be one, to be reconciled, so
that the world may believe that God reconciles
the world to himself in Christ," the WCC general
secretary, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, said in
a 17 October address on the opening day of the
3rd Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization.
It is the first time a WCC general secretary has
addressed a congress of the Lausanne Movement,
which takes its name from the Swiss city where
the first such gathering was held in 1974. "This
historic invitation is a sign that God has called
all of us to the ministry of reconciliation and
to evangelism," said Tveit at the Cape Town
meeting which has gathered more than 4000
participants and runs until 25 October.
*****
19 October 2010
Anglican head concerned for failed Zimbabwe
asylum seekers
London (ENI). Human rights activists have praised the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, for showing
concern about the safety problems failed Zimbabwean
asylum seekers face if they are forced to return and
live under the regime of President Robert Mugabe. "I
would love to see more and more Christians and church
leaders follow his example and warn the British
government that there must be checks and monitoring
systems in place before these people are sent home,"
Sarah Harland, co-coordinator of the Zimbabwe Association
told ENInews. "This is not the time for enforced returns."
_____
Tanzanian theologian says 'Saint Nyerere'
is important for Africa
Nairobi (ENI). Some Roman Catholics are making a new
push for the beatification of the former Tanzanian
president, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, describing
this as important for Africa due to his example of good
leadership. The Rev. Laurent Magesa from Tanzania's
Musoma diocese, where the leader came from, said that
in today's political context where many African leaders
have been criticised for embezzling public funds,
Nyerere is remembered for his honesty. The process
of beatification in the Catholic Church is often seen
as a step towards making a person a saint. A person
who is beatified is given the title "Blessed".
_____
Church of North India turns 40,
with Archbishop of Canterbury
Nagpur, India (ENI). The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Rowan Williams, has led celebrations to mark the 40th
anniversary of the Church of North India, which was
formed by six Protestant denominations, including
Anglicans, in 1970. The six uniting churches in 1970
represented Anglican, Baptist, Brethren, Congregational,
Disciples, Methodist and Presbyterian traditions. The
visit by Williams visit comes as a time of tension in
the worldwide Anglican Communion after the 2003
consecration by the Episcopal (Anglican) Church in
the United States of a homosexual bishop who has a
male partner. The Episcopal Church has since
consecrated as a bishop an openly lesbian cleric,
who has lived with a female partner for 22 years.
*****
20 October 2010
Canadian court urges case-by-case decisions on face veils
Toronto (ENI). A Canadian court has urged compromise when
considering whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear
veils while testifying in court. The Court of Appeal in the
province of Ontario was considering a Toronto case
involving an alleged sexual assault victim, identified
only as N.S., who wished to wear her niqab - a face veil
with a slit for the eyes - while testifying at a preliminary
hearing against two men accused of assaulting her. The woman,
who had worn a niqab for five years, asked the province's
Superior Court to overturn the ruling. That court affirmed
the judge's jurisdiction to order the woman to unveil but
suggested that similar cases should be decided by judges
on an individual basis.
_____
Kenya Christian leaders' stand
on terror suspects angers Muslims
Nairobi (ENI). Christian leaders in Kenya have cautiously
backed the extradition of terror suspects to Uganda,
expulsions that have enraged Muslims in the east African
country. More than 10 Kenyan Muslims, suspected to be
linked to the Kampala bombing attacks that took place
during the soccer World Cup, have been arrested and taken
to neighbouring Uganda for trial. "The crime was committed
in Uganda and if the extraditions are going to curb crime,
then I support it, " the Rev. David Gathanju, the moderator
of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, told ENI news
on 19 October in Nairobi. "The exchange of suspects in
a case like this one sends a good signal to east African
countries and the international community of their
commitment to the war on terror. "
*****
21 October 2010
UK Christian groups say tax dodgers
cost developing world billions
Edinburgh (ENI). Tax dodging costs developing countries
more than the total they receive in aid and could be
as high as US$160 billion annually, says a report by
Britain-based Christian Aid Scotland and the Church of
Scotland. The report's lead author, Christian Aid
Scotland's Kathy Galloway, said the two groups are
working together to highlight the "devastating effect
the tax dodging has on the global economy. In poor
countries, where the tax base is very small and millions
live on subsistence incomes, it is shameful that companies
which make large profits from the resources of these
countries should be dodging fair taxes." The report -
"Paying our dues: How tax dodging punishes the poor " -
calls on multinationals operating in developing countries
to report on their profits and provide other financial
details in each of the countries, or jurisdictions, in
which they operate.
_____
Israel halts El Al flights from Nigeria,
citing security concerns
Jerusalem (ENI). Security officials barred the Israeli
national airline from ferrying thousands of Nigerian
pilgrims to Israel later in October due to security
concerns. The Israeli daily Ha'aretz newspaper reported
that as a result of the decision, El Al cancelled some
20 flights which were to bring 28 000 pilgrims from
Nigeria over the coming months. The report said El Al
was to have removed its symbol from the planes and the
code for the Israeli airline would also be taken away
in an effort to provide extra security. Nevertheless,
media reports said that security agencies were concerned
that Israeli aircraft and crew members could become
targets for terrorist attacks in Africa's most populous
nation, where about 50 percent of the 149 million people
are Muslims.
_____
First woman to lead Church of Norway bishops
Oslo (ENI). The (Lutheran) Church of Norway has for
the first time elected a woman as its presiding bishop,
although her tenure is for an interim period, the
Norwegian News Agency (NTB)reports. Bishop Helga
Haugland Byfuglien of Borg is to succeed Bishop Olav
Skjaevesland of Agder, who has held the post since 2006,
the bishops' conference in Norway said. Byfuglien's term
will end in mid-2011,as the Church of Norway then will
have its first permanent presiding bishop based in the
country's ancient ecclesiastical capital of Nidaros or
Trondheim as it is known now.
*****
22 October 2010
Turkish aide wants Hagia restored for Muslim,
Christian worship
Warsaw (ENI). A Turkish government adviser says Christians
and Muslims should be allowed to worship again in Istanbul's
Hagia Sophia basilica, eight decades after it was turned into
a museum by the country's secularist authorities. "Hagia Sofia
was built as a place of worship. It served people this way as
a church and mosque for more than a thousand years," said
Mehmet Akif Aydın, an expert with the Presidency of Religious
Affairs, which monitors religious sites in Turkey, including
more than 80 000 mosques. "As a Muslim, I'd like it to become
a mosque. But if Hagia Sofia were opened to Muslim worshippers
on weekdays, it should also be opened to Christians on Sundays.
It disturbs me that it's become just a museum and tourist
destination." The expert was commenting on calls for the sixth
century landmark to be reopened for religious events. Turkey,
which has witnessed several attacks by Islamic militants on
Christian clergy, including the June killing of Bishop Luigi
Padovese, president of the country's Roman Catholic Bishops
Conference.
_____
Spanish Muslim, who advocated tolerance,
religious liberty, dies
Córdoba, Spain (ENI). The death of a Muslim leader, who had
converted to Islam and sought to build bridges between people
of different faiths, is being mourned in Spain and has been
especially praised in a Spanish newspaper article. Mansur
Escudero, 62,"was considered one of the most important
mediators between the Muslim community and the different
government administrations in Spain", the English-language
edition of the El País newspaper reported on 7 October. "He
was considered an excellent and creative orator, who defended
laity as well as freedom of religious practice.” In one of
his best known acts of interfaith activism, Escudero asked
the Vatican to allow Muslims - there are around 1.3 million
in Spain - to pray at the Cathedral of Córdoba, one of the
most unusual religious sites in the world.
_____
Anglican congregation's plan for Roman exit
not seen as exodus
London (ENI). The decision by an Anglican parish in south-east
England to leave the Church of England to become Roman Catholic
has taken some by surprise. The elected parochial church council
of St Peter's, Folkestone, south east England, which has taken
the unanimous decision to secede, is seeking a meeting with the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to discuss procedure.
Earlier this year Pope Benedict XVI offered special provisions
for members of the Church of England unhappy with the prospect
of female bishops. The Rev. Stephen Bould, the parish vicar, and
the church council said they regretted having to take such action
and called for a smooth transition in the interest of both
parties. Bould said he was proud of the courage and faith of
the lay people concerned. He told journalists after the morning
service on 17 October he did not know how many of the
congregation would join the Catholic Church.
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
October 18th, 2010
"To work in the world lovingly means that we are
defining what we will be for, rather than reacting
to what we are against."
- Christina Baldwin
___
October 19th, 2010
“Today it is fashionable to talk about the poor.
Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them.”
- Mother Teresa
___
October 20th, 2010
"To sin by silence when they should protest
makes cowards of men."
- Abraham Lincoln
___
October 21st, 2010
“When you pray, move your feet.”
- African Proverb
___
October 22nd, 2010
“Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.”
- Saint Augustine
*****
ON THIS DAY
Oct. 19, 1987 - Stock Market Takes Big Plunge
http://tinyurl.com/35dvh5f
*****
On Oct. 21, 1879, Thomas Edison invented a workable
electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J.
http://tinyurl.com/24vjclw
*****
On Oct. 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy
announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba,
following the discovery of Soviet missile bases
on the island.
http://tinyurl.com/2b42fda
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
Falling asleep during your church's "quiet time" is not
the biggest sin in the universe. The disciples did it,
for example. Any they had Jesus around. So don't beat
yourself up about nodding off as you are in good company.
(end)
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
*****
Personal Book Review:
"Going Missional"
Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches
Who Have Embraced Missional Life
By Karen Stiller and Willard Metzger
---
Book Notice:
"Conversations With Myself"
By Nelson Mandela
___
Colleague Contribution:
Jim Taylor
___
Net Notes:
City of Tranquil Light
Pope Names Six New Saints
Christian Unity a Dream in Progress
Atheists Split at Annual Conference
World Falling Short of Millennial Goals
Google to Publish Dead Sea Scrolls Online
Nenshi - Canada's First Big City Muslim Mayor
Crystal Cathedral Files for Bankruptcy Protection
Scouts Remove Mormon Leaders Over Religious Beliefs
Altar Boy, Seminarian and Penthouse Founder Dead at 79
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
14 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Christina Baldwin
Mother Teresa
Abraham Lincoln
African Proverb
St. Augustine
___
On This Day (Oct. 19th - 22nd)
Oct. 19, 1987 - Stock Market Takes Big Plunge
Oct. 21, 1879 - Edison invented a workable electric light
Oct. 22, 1962 - JFK announces air/naval blockade of Cuba
___
Closing Thought -
Falling asleep during your church's "quiet time..."
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
Lots of interesting things have been happening
this past week, and Colleagues List has tried
to tap into some of these developments for you.
---
Book Review:
Colleague Bill Fledderus asked me to review a new
book on the meaning of the term "missional" in a
Canadian context. He has granted permission that
you can read my pre-edited review for "Faith Today" -
the bi-monthly journal of the Evangelical Fellowship
of Canada.
I hope you enjoy -
"Going Missional"
Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches
Who Have Embraced Missional Life
By Karen Stiller and Willard Metzger
---
Book Notice:
I am thoroughly enjoying my reading of the new memoir
"Conversations With Myself" by Nelson Mandela. It has a
foreword written by President Barack Obama. I introduce
this title and encourage you to get hold of a copy too.
___
Colleague Contribution:
This week, our sole colleague contribution is by long-time
friend and frequent writer on these pages, Jim Taylor, who
worked for the United Church Observer, became a free-lance
writer, and then moved to the Okanagan Valley a lifetime
ago to become a book publisher and editor.
Read his comments on how he views same-sex marriage, a
helpful followup to my own reflections on attending
the religious vows of a lesbian couple this past summer.
___
Net Notes:
"City of Tranquil Light" - here is a book about early
Mennonite missionaries in China, a delightful story
(Books and Culture)
"Pope Names Six New Saints" - Benedict XVI named a Canadian
and an Australian, among a half dozen honoured last week
(Voice of America)
"Christian Unity a Dream in Progress" - Many of us
continue to harbour hopes for a more united Christianity
as well as more co-operation between the great faiths.
Canadians are at work making this dream into a reality.
(Christian Week)
"Atheists Split at Annual Conference" - While it has
been easy to pin point the flaws of religion, atheists
are finding it difficult to find their own consensus.
(Christianity Today)
"World Falling Short of Millennial Goals" - universal
standards are never easy to attain. Still, we try.
Read about the challenges faced by those seeking to
attain the Millennial Goals established by the UN.
(Christian Week)
"Google to Publish Dead Sea Scrolls Online" - Electronic
media continue to dazzle us with breakthrough developments.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are about to be opened to the masses.
(CathnewsAsia)
"Nenshi - Canada's First Big City Muslim Mayor" -
Calgarians made history this week by electing Canada's
first Muslim mayor and leaving the old establishment
(as well as many eastern naysayers) confounded!
(Backofthebook.ca)
"Crystal Cathedral Files for Bankruptcy Protection" -
While the demise of Robert Schuller's church has been
predicted for some time, it is bittersweat to read these
developments this week (Assist News)
"Scouts Remove Mormon Leaders Over Religious Beliefs" -
In the UK, Mormon scout leaders were removed from office
because they were deemed un-Christian. Is this for real?
(Christian Science Monitor)
"Altar Boy, Seminarian and Penthouse Founder Dead at 79" -
For many of us who grew up during the 1960's the names
Bob Guccione and Hugh Hefner were "pioneers of porn."
Alas, the time has come when even such icons pass on.
(Cathnews Asia)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
14 stories appear this week from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Christina Baldwin, Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln,
African Proverb and St. Augustine are specially noted.
___
On This Day (Oct. 19th - 22nd)
The New York Times offers these stories:
Stock Market Takes Big Plunge (1987)
Edison invented a workable electric light (1879)
JFK announces air/naval blockade of Cuba (1962)
___
Here is my closing thought:
Falling asleep during your church's "quiet time..."
___
The last of the leaves and plants are collected from
our yard. Here in foothills Calgary the first snowfall
(likely to melt, we hope) could happen anytime.
It has been a lovely autumn here!
I hope you can still enjoy the weather where you live.
Wayne
******************
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/services.htm
___
ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE
Created and maintained by Colleague Jock McTavish
http://stdavidscalgary.net/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
THE 38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE NOW SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
Let me know if you have an interest in exciting
spiritual tourism!
*****
MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
Introducing our New Fall Program at St. David's:
Follow this series by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.
is a native of Wales. He will speak with us at one
session, introducing us to his homeland, and explaining
some of the important sites we plan to visit to maximize
our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
36 persons, representing tour and non-tour participants
are registered for this ten-week series.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is available to all!
___
WEDNESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
Announcing our Autumn Series:
"The Book of Genesis"
Primeval and Patriarchal Stories -
Creation, Fall, Flood, Babel
Abraham, Covenant, Ishmael & Sodom.
Join us Wednesday mornings, 9-10 AM
October 6th through December 1st
*****
THURSDAY UNIVERSITY STUDY
Students, faculty and staff
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
http://www.ucalgary.ca/chaplain/node/87
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
STUDY ARCHIVES
A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted since 2000 can
quickly be found at: http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/
This collection of study resources represents 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 ITEMS
Book Review:
Prepared for Faith Today
Magazine of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
GOING MISSIONAL
Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches
Who Have Embraced Missional Life
By Karen Stiller and Willard Metzger
Word Alive Press, 2010
161 pages. $16.45 (paper)
Canadian evangelicalism is maturing.
Why? Because qualitative growth, organic development,
a desire for excellence and a humble spirit are
obvious in this distillation from 46 interviews with
13 congregations involving communities ranging from
Duncan BC to Halifax, NS. Those interviewed responded
to the question – “What does it mean for you to be a
missional church?” - producing a rich variety of
definitions.
Several pivotal insights dominate. To be missional
is to be open and aware to what God is doing in the
community (within and beyond the congregation itself)
and to connect people to this. Join with where God is
already at work. The responsibility to do this belongs
to everyone - not just the formal leadership -since all
have unique gifts to offer. Focus on serving the wider
community by discovering its real needs through careful
listening. Fill a niche needing attention. Refocus from
merely “filling pews” and “counting heads.” Move past
spiritual consumerism to authentic servanthood.
Many responses reflect a serious desire to be more
fully the church. People are called to a heightened
consciousness of what God is doing outside the
congregation so that all can join in that activity.
Quantitative growth, while important, is intentionally
complemented by a strong commitment to qualitative
member formation. People stop “coming to church” and
start “being the church.”
Some weaknesses in this generally healthy collage are
detected. Attention is so often fixed on present and
future that there seems to be little consideration
for Christian tradition and its lessons for moderns.
Busyness, a common evangelical characteristic, is
strongly evident. The quiet, contemplative life can
be a worthy ally in efforts to be effectively missional.
Still, this book provides valuable sketches of some very
creative ministry taking place in Canada today.
____
Book Notice:
NELSON MANDELA
Conversations With Myself
Forward by President Barack Obama
Publisher's Promo:
Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring and iconic
figures of our age. Now, he has opened his personal
archive, which offers unprecedented insight into his
remarkable life.
From letters written during the darkest hours of his
twenty-seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an
unfinished sequel to his "Long Walk to Freedom" this
book "Conversations With Myself" gives readers access
to the private man behind the public figure.
An intimate journey from the first stirrings of his
political conscience to his galvanizing role on the
world's stage, "Conversations With Myself" is a rare
chance to spend time with Nelson Mandela the man, in
his own voice: direct, clear, private.
---
Author's Comment:
"... the cell is an ideal place to learn to know oneself,
to search realistically and regularly the process of
your own mind and feelings. In judging our progress as
individuals we need to concentrate on external factors
such as one's social position, influence and popularity,
wealth and standard of education. These are, of course,
important in measuring one's success in material matters
and it is perfectly understandable if many people exert
themselves mainly to achieve all these. But internal
factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's
development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity,
simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity,
readiness to serve others - qualities which are within
easy reach of every soul - are the foundation of one's
spiritual life. Development in matters of this nature
is inconceivable without serious introspection, without
knowing yourself, your weaknesses and mistakes. At least,
if for nothing else, the cell gives you the opportunity
to look daily into your entire conduct, to overcome the
bad develop whatever is good in you. Regular meditation,
say about 15 minutes a day before you turn in, can be
very fruitful in this regard. You may find it difficult
at first to pinpoint the negative features in your life,
but the 10th attempt may yield rich rewards. Never forget
that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.
---
My Thoughts:
On page 39 of "Conversations" we note a letter to Zindzi
Mandela, a daughter, dated December 9th, 1979. It never
reached her because it was confiscated by prison censors.
Neither sender nor the anticipated recipient knew it had
been removed from the card.
The letter was discovered in 2010 in the South African
National Archives with a written note in Afrikaans by a
prison censor which read: 'The attached piece that
prisoner Mandela included with his Christmas card will
not be sent. The card will be sent. The prisoner has not
been informed that this piece has been rejected. He does
not have permission to include it with the card... Keep
it in his file.'
During his years in prison, Nelson Mandela experienced
many indignities and disappointments - he was fully aware
of some of them and of some he was not. Exposure to this
book helps us better understand the profound truth that
it is not what life presents, but how we handle what
comes our way.
Mandela - whose flaws are also visible in places
throughout the text - struggled to make the most of
his situation, and in doing so he developed a sense
of personal freedom that his jailers could not touch.
That is a great discovery that happens time and again
through a reflective reading.
Those who read "Long Walk," Mandela's first book of
memoirs, will discover a different type of memoir in
these "Conversations." This book, while retaining
its public and political side, focuses much more
on Mandela the human; the family man. As he says in his
opening thoughts to the book, "the cell is an ideal place
to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and
regularly the process of your own mind and feelings..."
Periods of solitude in our lives can be challenging,
because so much makes us feel cut off and alone. But
these times also offer the possibility of the rich gift
of insight into the self that is not so available when
our worlds are full of activity and interchange.
What was it that transformed Mandela the young radical
into the mature freedom fighter? The angry black man
into the global diplomatic icon? It was, to a large
extent, the time he spent alone with his thoughts,
and the personal "conversations with myself" that
resulted.
Mandela could have died in his cell, an embittered
old man. Instead, without planning it, he became an
inspiration to his people and to the world.
Here is a book that opens a window on how and why
that great human being was formed.
"Conversations" should be in the personal library of
anyone who "wants to overcome the bad and develop
whatever is good in you."
---
Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/25c47l6
*************************
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
JIM TAYLOR
Weblog
Oct. 20th, 2010
A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
By Jim Taylor
As I read the newspapers, preachers and columnists seem
to be fulminating for and against same-sex marriage almost
everywhere. It’s legal across Canada. Mexico City not only
allows it, it encourages same-sex couples to adopt children.
California first allowed same-sex marriages, then banned them,
then overturned the ban.... Same-sex conflicts threaten to
gut the worldwide Anglican communion.
Typically, the cry is that same-sex unions will destroy
traditional family patterns.
It seems taken for granted that we have always had
heterosexual monogamy...
Read the article: http://edges.canadahomepage.net/2010/10/
*****
NET NOTES
CITY OF TRANQUIL LIGHT
A Story of Early Mennonite Missions in China
Books and Culture (Nov/Dec. Issue)
http://tinyurl.com/26tkfb6
*****
POPE NAMES SIX NEW SAINTS
Canadian & Australian Among Those Honoured
Voice of America
Oct. 17th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2ag736d
*****
CHRISTIAN UNITY A DREAM IN PROGRESS
The Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal
Christianweek.org
October 19th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1238
*****
ATHEISTS SPLIT AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE
New Atheists and Moderates Fall Out
Christianity Today
October 13th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/3yvkntu
*****
WORLD FALLING SHORT OF MEETING MILLENNIAL GOALS
Time is running out on meeting some pretty big hopes
Christianweek.org
October 19th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1230
*****
GOOGLE TO PUBLISH DEAD SEA SCROLLS ONLINE
Electronic media make treasures available to all
Cathnews Asia
October 19th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2efrfb5
*****
NENSHI: CANADA'S FIRST BIG CITY MUSLIM MAYOR
Calgary has it week in the sun and wants to stay there!
Backofthebook.ca
October 19th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28jmhun
*****
CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL FILES
FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION
Pioneer Megachurch faced with reality
Assist News
October 18th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/25fndwv
*****
BOY SCOUTS REMOVE MORMON LEADERS
OVER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Can this be for real?
Christian Science Monitor
October 21st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2agflpw
*****
ALTAR BOY, SEMINARIAN AND
PENTHOUSE FOUNDER DEAD AT 79
Pioneer of porn meets his end
Cathnews Asia
October 22nd, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2fpsp5l
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
18 October 2010
Evangelical group regrets no show of
China's Christians in Cape
Cape Town (ENI). The World Evangelical Alliance has
expressed disappointment at the failure of a Christian
delegation from China to attend its third world gathering
in South Africa. "The presence and contribution of Chinese
delegates would have enriched all the Congress participants
and contributed to a more complete understanding of our
common humanity and the diversity of ethnicity and cultural
expression that enriches us all," said the grouping in a
17 October statement made available to ENI news. Up to 4500
participants from around the globe are gathering in Cape
Town from 16-25 October for the 3rd Lausanne Congress for
World Evangelization. At least 200 Protestant Christians
were barred from travelling to Cape Town by authorities
in Beijing says a report carried by the Roman Catholic
news agency AsiaNews.it. The churches are said to oppose
membership of China's Three-Self Patriotic Movement, a
group gathering state-approved Protestant denominations.
_____
In India, Archbishop of Canterbury criticises European
burqa bans
Nagpur, India (ENI). The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan
Williams has deplored attempts by governments in Europe
to prohibit Muslim women from publicly wearing the burqa,
a garment that covers the entire body. "Governments should
have better things to do than ban the burqa," Williams,
the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, told an
interfaith meeting organized by the National Council of
Churches in India at its headquarters in Nagpur, during
a visit to India. "I believe that the State ought not
to be addressing issues like these. Instead, it should
leave such concerns to the religious communities,"
stated Williams at the 14 October meeting in Nagpur.
He described a French ban as, "a sign of being
overanxious".
_____
World churches' leader's speech reaches
to evangelical Christians
Cape Town (ENI). The head of the World Council of
Churches has reached out to a global gathering of
Evangelicals saying Christians of different
traditions need to learn from each other to
participate together in God's mission. "We
are called to be one, to be reconciled, so
that the world may believe that God reconciles
the world to himself in Christ," the WCC general
secretary, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, said in
a 17 October address on the opening day of the
3rd Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization.
It is the first time a WCC general secretary has
addressed a congress of the Lausanne Movement,
which takes its name from the Swiss city where
the first such gathering was held in 1974. "This
historic invitation is a sign that God has called
all of us to the ministry of reconciliation and
to evangelism," said Tveit at the Cape Town
meeting which has gathered more than 4000
participants and runs until 25 October.
*****
19 October 2010
Anglican head concerned for failed Zimbabwe
asylum seekers
London (ENI). Human rights activists have praised the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, for showing
concern about the safety problems failed Zimbabwean
asylum seekers face if they are forced to return and
live under the regime of President Robert Mugabe. "I
would love to see more and more Christians and church
leaders follow his example and warn the British
government that there must be checks and monitoring
systems in place before these people are sent home,"
Sarah Harland, co-coordinator of the Zimbabwe Association
told ENInews. "This is not the time for enforced returns."
_____
Tanzanian theologian says 'Saint Nyerere'
is important for Africa
Nairobi (ENI). Some Roman Catholics are making a new
push for the beatification of the former Tanzanian
president, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, describing
this as important for Africa due to his example of good
leadership. The Rev. Laurent Magesa from Tanzania's
Musoma diocese, where the leader came from, said that
in today's political context where many African leaders
have been criticised for embezzling public funds,
Nyerere is remembered for his honesty. The process
of beatification in the Catholic Church is often seen
as a step towards making a person a saint. A person
who is beatified is given the title "Blessed".
_____
Church of North India turns 40,
with Archbishop of Canterbury
Nagpur, India (ENI). The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Rowan Williams, has led celebrations to mark the 40th
anniversary of the Church of North India, which was
formed by six Protestant denominations, including
Anglicans, in 1970. The six uniting churches in 1970
represented Anglican, Baptist, Brethren, Congregational,
Disciples, Methodist and Presbyterian traditions. The
visit by Williams visit comes as a time of tension in
the worldwide Anglican Communion after the 2003
consecration by the Episcopal (Anglican) Church in
the United States of a homosexual bishop who has a
male partner. The Episcopal Church has since
consecrated as a bishop an openly lesbian cleric,
who has lived with a female partner for 22 years.
*****
20 October 2010
Canadian court urges case-by-case decisions on face veils
Toronto (ENI). A Canadian court has urged compromise when
considering whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear
veils while testifying in court. The Court of Appeal in the
province of Ontario was considering a Toronto case
involving an alleged sexual assault victim, identified
only as N.S., who wished to wear her niqab - a face veil
with a slit for the eyes - while testifying at a preliminary
hearing against two men accused of assaulting her. The woman,
who had worn a niqab for five years, asked the province's
Superior Court to overturn the ruling. That court affirmed
the judge's jurisdiction to order the woman to unveil but
suggested that similar cases should be decided by judges
on an individual basis.
_____
Kenya Christian leaders' stand
on terror suspects angers Muslims
Nairobi (ENI). Christian leaders in Kenya have cautiously
backed the extradition of terror suspects to Uganda,
expulsions that have enraged Muslims in the east African
country. More than 10 Kenyan Muslims, suspected to be
linked to the Kampala bombing attacks that took place
during the soccer World Cup, have been arrested and taken
to neighbouring Uganda for trial. "The crime was committed
in Uganda and if the extraditions are going to curb crime,
then I support it, " the Rev. David Gathanju, the moderator
of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, told ENI news
on 19 October in Nairobi. "The exchange of suspects in
a case like this one sends a good signal to east African
countries and the international community of their
commitment to the war on terror. "
*****
21 October 2010
UK Christian groups say tax dodgers
cost developing world billions
Edinburgh (ENI). Tax dodging costs developing countries
more than the total they receive in aid and could be
as high as US$160 billion annually, says a report by
Britain-based Christian Aid Scotland and the Church of
Scotland. The report's lead author, Christian Aid
Scotland's Kathy Galloway, said the two groups are
working together to highlight the "devastating effect
the tax dodging has on the global economy. In poor
countries, where the tax base is very small and millions
live on subsistence incomes, it is shameful that companies
which make large profits from the resources of these
countries should be dodging fair taxes." The report -
"Paying our dues: How tax dodging punishes the poor " -
calls on multinationals operating in developing countries
to report on their profits and provide other financial
details in each of the countries, or jurisdictions, in
which they operate.
_____
Israel halts El Al flights from Nigeria,
citing security concerns
Jerusalem (ENI). Security officials barred the Israeli
national airline from ferrying thousands of Nigerian
pilgrims to Israel later in October due to security
concerns. The Israeli daily Ha'aretz newspaper reported
that as a result of the decision, El Al cancelled some
20 flights which were to bring 28 000 pilgrims from
Nigeria over the coming months. The report said El Al
was to have removed its symbol from the planes and the
code for the Israeli airline would also be taken away
in an effort to provide extra security. Nevertheless,
media reports said that security agencies were concerned
that Israeli aircraft and crew members could become
targets for terrorist attacks in Africa's most populous
nation, where about 50 percent of the 149 million people
are Muslims.
_____
First woman to lead Church of Norway bishops
Oslo (ENI). The (Lutheran) Church of Norway has for
the first time elected a woman as its presiding bishop,
although her tenure is for an interim period, the
Norwegian News Agency (NTB)reports. Bishop Helga
Haugland Byfuglien of Borg is to succeed Bishop Olav
Skjaevesland of Agder, who has held the post since 2006,
the bishops' conference in Norway said. Byfuglien's term
will end in mid-2011,as the Church of Norway then will
have its first permanent presiding bishop based in the
country's ancient ecclesiastical capital of Nidaros or
Trondheim as it is known now.
*****
22 October 2010
Turkish aide wants Hagia restored for Muslim,
Christian worship
Warsaw (ENI). A Turkish government adviser says Christians
and Muslims should be allowed to worship again in Istanbul's
Hagia Sophia basilica, eight decades after it was turned into
a museum by the country's secularist authorities. "Hagia Sofia
was built as a place of worship. It served people this way as
a church and mosque for more than a thousand years," said
Mehmet Akif Aydın, an expert with the Presidency of Religious
Affairs, which monitors religious sites in Turkey, including
more than 80 000 mosques. "As a Muslim, I'd like it to become
a mosque. But if Hagia Sofia were opened to Muslim worshippers
on weekdays, it should also be opened to Christians on Sundays.
It disturbs me that it's become just a museum and tourist
destination." The expert was commenting on calls for the sixth
century landmark to be reopened for religious events. Turkey,
which has witnessed several attacks by Islamic militants on
Christian clergy, including the June killing of Bishop Luigi
Padovese, president of the country's Roman Catholic Bishops
Conference.
_____
Spanish Muslim, who advocated tolerance,
religious liberty, dies
Córdoba, Spain (ENI). The death of a Muslim leader, who had
converted to Islam and sought to build bridges between people
of different faiths, is being mourned in Spain and has been
especially praised in a Spanish newspaper article. Mansur
Escudero, 62,"was considered one of the most important
mediators between the Muslim community and the different
government administrations in Spain", the English-language
edition of the El País newspaper reported on 7 October. "He
was considered an excellent and creative orator, who defended
laity as well as freedom of religious practice.” In one of
his best known acts of interfaith activism, Escudero asked
the Vatican to allow Muslims - there are around 1.3 million
in Spain - to pray at the Cathedral of Córdoba, one of the
most unusual religious sites in the world.
_____
Anglican congregation's plan for Roman exit
not seen as exodus
London (ENI). The decision by an Anglican parish in south-east
England to leave the Church of England to become Roman Catholic
has taken some by surprise. The elected parochial church council
of St Peter's, Folkestone, south east England, which has taken
the unanimous decision to secede, is seeking a meeting with the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to discuss procedure.
Earlier this year Pope Benedict XVI offered special provisions
for members of the Church of England unhappy with the prospect
of female bishops. The Rev. Stephen Bould, the parish vicar, and
the church council said they regretted having to take such action
and called for a smooth transition in the interest of both
parties. Bould said he was proud of the courage and faith of
the lay people concerned. He told journalists after the morning
service on 17 October he did not know how many of the
congregation would join the Catholic Church.
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
October 18th, 2010
"To work in the world lovingly means that we are
defining what we will be for, rather than reacting
to what we are against."
- Christina Baldwin
___
October 19th, 2010
“Today it is fashionable to talk about the poor.
Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them.”
- Mother Teresa
___
October 20th, 2010
"To sin by silence when they should protest
makes cowards of men."
- Abraham Lincoln
___
October 21st, 2010
“When you pray, move your feet.”
- African Proverb
___
October 22nd, 2010
“Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.”
- Saint Augustine
*****
ON THIS DAY
Oct. 19, 1987 - Stock Market Takes Big Plunge
http://tinyurl.com/35dvh5f
*****
On Oct. 21, 1879, Thomas Edison invented a workable
electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J.
http://tinyurl.com/24vjclw
*****
On Oct. 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy
announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba,
following the discovery of Soviet missile bases
on the island.
http://tinyurl.com/2b42fda
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
Falling asleep during your church's "quiet time" is not
the biggest sin in the universe. The disciples did it,
for example. Any they had Jesus around. So don't beat
yourself up about nodding off as you are in good company.
(end)
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