Vol. XI. No. 34
*****
GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telus.net
Colleagues List Web Site:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com
Dear Colleagues:
Enhancing your reading experience is very
important to me. I am currently involved in
up-grading the layout and presentation of
Colleagues List, so please bear with me.
I am attempting to reduce the length, but
not the content and quality, of each issue.
Please let me know how I'm doing.
--
As I prepare to send out this issue, it is
reported that Pope Francis has brought
12 Syrian refugees - a number of them
children - back to Rome with him, after
visiting the island of Lesbos with other
Christian leaders. By this symbolic
gesture he is drawing attention to the
gravity of the refugee question and his
objection to the violence in the Middle
East.
This man knows how to make good use
of the important office he holds today.
In my Special Item this week, I share
with you my Anglican Journal column
for April. It is entitled:
"Pope Francis Joins the Human Quest"
To read this, please scroll down through
my cover letter and read the rest of my
blog as you note articles of interest.
Martin Marty focuses on the pope as well.
He writes in "Colleague Communications"
on the theme of 'Conscience.'
Jim Taylor and Ron Rolheiser also make
helpful "Colleague Contributions."
"Net Notes" includes ten items I thought
would interest you this week.
Five contributors offer their wisdom
and I include two historic stories from
the New York Times - "On this Day."
"Closing Thought" is from J. R. R. Tolkien.
At the end of the blog, we begin to build a
new program year of Adult Spiritual
Development at St. David's United Calgary.
Perhaps this will interest you.
--
Thanks for reading this issue. I am always
happy to hear your constructive comments.
Wayne
***
SPECIAL ITEM
My April Anglican Journal Column:
"Pope Francis Joins the Human Quest"
http://tinyurl.com/zoaapv7
***
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Martin Marty,
Chicago, IL
Sightings,
April 11th, 2016
"Conscience"
http://tinyurl.com/gmb2uvd
--
Jim Tayler,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
April 13th, 2016
"Revisiting the Ten Commandments"
http://tinyurl.com/hy34gpr
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio,TX
Personal Web Site
April 11th, 2016
"Love - A Projection and a Reality"
http://tinyurl.com/zn5qhoc
***
NET NOTES
THE NEW CATHOLIC TRUCE
Francis Renegotiates
Liberal-Conservative Divide
New York Times,
April 10th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/jpwt8yb
--
WOMEN AND THE WORSHIP GAP
Globally More Religious than Men
Pew Research Center
March 22nd, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/zatfwgl
--
FAITH IS A RECEIVED TRADITION
Not 'Make It Up As You Go' Spirituality
Christian Week Online
April 10th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/h8gq6kx
--
BIBLE OLDER THAN
ORIGINALLY THOUGHT
Hebrew Archeology
Reveals Earlier Dating
Jerusalem Post
April 12th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/jdelghp
--
REACTION TO INDIA
FIREWORKS TRAGEDY
One Hundred Plus
Killed in Kerala Hindu Temple
UCA News
April 15th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/zyg9u4f
--
THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY
OF UCC APOLOGY
First Canadian Church
to Issue Prophetic Call
United Church of Canada News
April 12th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/zw6qy82
--
CANTERBURY DISCOVERS
BIOLOGICAL FATHER
Mother's Affair
Before Marriage a Shock
The Guardian, UK
April 10th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/zmtwmyy
--
THE HIGHLY RELIGIOUS
SAY THEY'RE HAPPIER
US Survey Says
They are More Satisfied
Religion News Service
April 12th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/go3nbsk
--
CANADA SETS LIMITS
TO ASSISTED DYING LAWS
Government Wants to Avoid
"Suicide Tourism"
Religion News Service
April 14th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/ztumy2n
--
CANADIAN HIGH COURT GIVES
NATIVE STATUS TO METIS
600,000 Now Given
Equal Rights to First Nations
Global TV
April 14th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/zy7j9sb
***
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof
online:
All joy wants eternity — wants deep, deep
eternity.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
--
The physical voice we use in prayer need not
be great nor startling; even should we not lift
up any great cry or shout, God will yet hear us.
- Origen
--
The ends you serve that are selfish will take you
no further than yourself, but the ends you serve
that are for all, in common, will take you into
eternity.
- Marcus Garvey
--
You can look everywhere for peace, but you may
not find it. Or you can forget yourself and get on
with whatever work is there in front of you. That’s
what brings peace – doing whatever needs to be
done in the house, showing love to your spouse,
or whatever else comes to mind. If you do it for
the sake of the kingdom, it will bring you peace.
- Ruth Land
--
Inspection stickers used to have printed on the
back, “Drive carefully: the life you save may be
your own.” That is the wisdom of men in a
nutshell.
What God says, on the other hand, is, “The life you
save is the life you lose.” In other words, the life
you clutch, hoard, guard, and play safe with is in
the end a life worth little to anybody, including
yourself; and only a life given away for love’s sake
is a life worth living.
To bring this point home, God shows us a man who
gave his lifeaway to the extent of dying a national
disgrace without a penny in the bank or a friend to
his name. In terms of men’s wisdom, he was a
perfect fool, and anybody who thinks he can follow
him without making something like the same kind
of fool of himself is laboring not under a cross but
a delusion
- Frederick Buechner
***
ON THIS DAY
From the Archives of the New York Times:
"Titanic Sinks in North Atlantic"
http://tinyurl.com/m7sh67b
"Lincoln Mortally Wounded in Washington
Theatre" http://tinyurl.com/dfzm5s
***
CLOSING THOUGHT - J. R. R. Tolkien
For myself, I find I become less cynical rather
than more — remembering my own sins and
follies; and realize that men's hearts are not
often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as
bad as their words.
(end)
*****
Beginning a New Program Year -
2016 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry at St. David's United
Church, Calgary
NEW SEASON,
NEW SPIRITUAL TRAVEL PROJECT
The Planning Cycle Begins With a Question:
"Where Would You Like to Travel Next?"
Beginning our process to find a destination
for a trip somewhere in the world in 2017.
*****
Vol. XI. No. 33
*****
GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telus.net
Colleagues List Web Site:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com
Dear Colleagues:
Enhancing your reading experience is very
important to me. I am currently involved in
up-grading the layout and presentation of
Colleagues List, so please bear with me.
I am attempting to reduce the length, but
not the content and quality, of each issue.
Therefore I want to:
- remove the duplication
- improve the reading flow (and)
- sharpen the focus, of all material
Please let me know how I'm doing.
--
This week's issue begins with communications
from Lynn Watson of Bancroft, Ontario and
John Horman of Waterloo, Ontario. I consider
both to be friends from two distinctly different
periods of my life. Still, we remain connected
as a result of this blog. Thanks for writing.
Scroll to the beginning of this issue, below.
Special Item - this week is my latest column
to appear this past week in the Anglican
Journal online. It is entitled
"On Becoming Less Self-Absorbed"
It is an appeal to Canadians, but a message
for all of us. I hope you enjoy it.
--
Colleague Communications are provided by:
Martin Marty, Jim Taylor and Ron Rolheiser.
--
Net Notes - this week are a potpourri of
stories that attracted me from my searches
across the internet.
--
Wisdom of the Week comes from -
Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Day, Jane Addams,
Cesar Chavez and Thomas à Kempis.
--
On This Day - offers news stories from history
written as they occurred and appearing from
the archives of the New York Times.
--
Closing Thought this week is offered from -
Henri J. M. Nouwen
(end)
If you are interested, the final week of our
ACTS winter/spring program posting at
St. David's Calgary appears below.
--
I appreciate the comments received, both
about my blog upgrade and concerning
issues raised previously.
Greetings!
Wayne
--
***
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATIONS
Lynn Watson,
Bancroft, ON
April 3rd, 2016
Dear Wayne
I think you may be interested in
the following post:
'Croft Talks God at Playhouse -
Sponsored by St. Paul's United Church,
Bancroft, North Eastern Ontario
Click this link,
http://tinyurl.com/h7dme5f
Then click again to hear the presentation.
--
Thanks Lynn, good to enjoy the fruit
of your ministry efforts.
Wayne
--
John Horman,
Waterloo, ON
April 3rd, 2016
I suspect that homiletic concerns lie at the
root of both this week's and last week's CL
Special Item postings:
Did Jesus Really Exist? (March 27th, 2016)
Maclean's Easter Edition
http://tinyurl.com/j4h6kwb (and)
The Many Faces of Christ (April 3rd, 2016)
http://tinyurl.com/jo7bgfy
Of course, it is a natural human tendency
to ascribe virtues to the past that are, alas,
absent in our world today. And so, for as
far back as our evidence goes, previous
generations have always been more of
whatever is lacking now than they are in
the present.
In the Babylonian flood story, for example,
the young gods are simply not as wise and
as sensible as the older gods. Within a Christian
context, this natural human tendency meant that
if a preacher needed to scold his congregation
for being too "x", then this is contrasted with
earlier Christians who instead were "y".
Hence we have on the one hand the Acts of
the Apostles, a creative work with perhaps
here and there some tenuous connection to
actual events, depicting Christians united in
faith and in their teachings, sitting and learning
at the feet of the apostles, and hence also the
image of Jesus as the paragon of whatever
virtue may be deemed lacking in the current
congregation...
I am reasonably sure that there was a
historical person named Jesus who in
some sense lies at the root of all of this.
That explains why these sayings are
generally prefaced by "Jesus says"
and not "Harvey says".
But Jesus is also susceptible to homiletical
(preaching) pressures. Jesus was after all no
longer available to contradict, so generally if
the congregation does too much of "x", then
Jesus by contrast said "y". Once stories come
to be told about incidents in the life of Jesus,
then of course they must also illustrate "y".
... I find that Christians in general are too hard on
themselves. They use an ideal Jesus and an ideal
early Christian church as a stick to beat themselves
for not adhering to impossible and often even
thoroughly useless goals. Actually much of what
is really attractive about Christianity can easily be
shown to be the product of later developments in
Christian thought. This is especially true of social
teachings. The only social teaching which seems
to me very likely to go back to the historical person
of Jesus is one which most Jesus scholars tend
not to emphasize, namely the denunciation of
divorce, a group of sayings which meets all Norman
Perrins' criteria of authenticity, but which, as we learn
from I Corinthians, sometimes caused problems
in application.
In fact, the origins of most movements, not only
Christianity, tend to be obscure. The reason for this
is that no one usually thinks it worth writing about
the origins of their movement until the memories
have faded or are even non-existent. Apart from the
idea of a golden age, sometimes people just don't
know, but feel compelled to say something anyway.
And so they get the past that they feel they deserve.
John
--
Thanks John for interesting reflections on our
last two Easter-related Special Items.
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
My Latest Anglican Journal Column:
"On Becoming Less Self-Absorbed"
http://tinyurl.com/hwfsdwk
Link to the Monday Night Book Study notes
in question: http://tinyurl.com/z7u4tzj
***
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Martin Marty
Chicago, IL
Sightings
April 4th, 2016
"How to Save Your Soul"
http://tinyurl.com/jnepa3v
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
April 3rd, 2016
"Tipping Points"
http://tinyurl.com/hnwr4d9
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
April 4th, 2016
"The Power of Prayer and Ritual"
http://tinyurl.com/h5a9q4m
***
NET NOTES
PATTERNS IN NATURE
Most Beautiful Book of 2016
Publisher's Weekly
April 8th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/gp27rgx
--
EVERYBODY LOVES DAVID
Review of 'The Secret Chord'
America Magazine
April 18th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/zywuzga
--
'MORE GRACE, LESS DOGMA' -
Pope on Divorce, Contraception
National Public Radio,
April 8th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/z3mrglz
"Francis and Situational Doctrine"
UCA News
April 8th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/hw6bvsx
--
VOW TO END CHILD MARRIAGE
A Bane to Many Young Girls
America Magazine
April 18th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/zw7pvdv
--
ON BEING GAY AND HUTTERITE
Movies Shows Human Struggle
Canadian Press/Castanet
April 3rd, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/jsq6nov
--
THE FUTURE OF MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Focus on Depth, Not Faddism
Christianity Today
March 30th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/heykqxf
--
7 REASONS MEN SHOULD NOT BE ORDAINED
Most Visited Article/Video at Sojourners
April 4th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/htd9zlz
COVER-ALL BATHING SUITS ROCKING EUROPE
New Fashion on the Beach for Muslim Women
Religion News Service
April 7th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/jyjrrfh
--
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP NEEDS
TO IDENTIFY WITH JESUS
Facing Issues of Identity
Christian Week
April 3rd, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/hqfj6mk
--
A NEW RELIGIOUS REALITY
FOR EUROPEAN ACADEMIC THEOLOGY
University Inter-Faith Faculties Now
Emerging, Previously Only Christian
Lutheran World News
April 8th, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/hv8wt44
***
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
From Sojourners and the Bruderhof Online:
Law and justice are not always the same.
- Gloria Steinem
--
As for ourselves, yes, we must be meek,
bear injustice, malice, rash judgment.
We must turn the other cheek, give up
our cloak, go a second mile.
- Dorothy Day
--
In
the unceasing ebb and flow of justice
and oppression we must all dig channels
as
best we may, that at the propitious
moment somewhat of the swelling tide
may be
conducted to the barren places of life.
-
Jane Addams
--
Kindness and compassion towards all living
things is a mark of a civilized society.
Conversely, cruelty, whether it is directed
against human beings or against animals,
is not the exclusive province of any one
culture or community of people.
- Cesar Chavez
--
A person who cares nothing for praise or
blame knows great inward peace… Praise
does not make you holier than you are,
nor blame more wicked. You are exactly
what you are, and cannot ever be any
better or worse than that, in the eyes of
God. Attend to what is really within you,
then, and you will not care what others s
ay of you. People look at externals, but
God looks at the heart. They weigh actions;
God knows your intent... To feel no need of
human support and assurance is a mark of
inward confidence – of those who truly
walk with God in their hearts.
- Thomas à Kempis
***
ON THIS DAY
From the archives of the New York Times:
"Martin Luther King Shot to Death in Memphis"
http://tinyurl.com/3zl4yc7
"Peary and Henson First to Reach North Pole"
http://tinyurl.com/73ed4mr
"Picasso Dies in France, at 91"
http://tinyurl.com/meyxgbs
***
CLOSING THOUGHT - Henri J. M. Nouwen
Being patient is difficult. It is not just waiting
until something happens over which we have
no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of
the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution
of a conflict. Patience is not waiting passively
until someone else does something.
Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest,
to be completely present to the moment, to taste
the here and now, to be where we are.
When we are impatient, we try to get away from
where we are. We behave as if the real thing will
happen tomorrow, later, and somewhere else.
Be patient and trust that the treasure you are looking
for is hidden in the ground on which you stand.
(end)
*****
Continuing Our Program Season -
Winter 2016 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry at St. David's United Church, Calgary
WINTER 2016 MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
THIS SERIES HAS BEEN COMPLETED
Theme: "The Other Two Religions of Jerusalem"
Judaism and Islam
Books: "Chosen? Reading the Bible
Amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict"
by Walter Brueggemann
"Islam: A Short History"
by Karen Armstrong
http://tinyurl.com/jzbybmj
http://tinyurl.com/hr4ohvd
A ten-week investigation into the religious
sources of modern global unrest centered
in the Mid-East:
Ten Monday evenings, 7-9PM
In the St. David's TM Room
January 18th - March 21st, 2015
Including Monday of Family Weekend
Books and Registration/Hospitality - $60.00
Books only - $35.00
Total book sets made available for sale: 33.
All sets have now been sold.
Now beginning seventeen years
of Monday Night Studies
Our thirty-second series of
(usually) ten week sessions!
Course design:
http://chosen.stdavidscalgary.net/
Check our complete archives
for all 46 book studies:
http://tinyurl.com/q3bw6dh
***
THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
Theme: The Books of JOB and DANIEL
Hebrew Bible Wisdom and Apocalyptic
literature have meanings for our time.
Five sessions 10-11 AM
Gathering at 9:30AM
In the St. David's TM Room
March 10th - April 14th.
No charge.
Study resource -
The DK Complete Bible Handbook
http://tinyurl.com/odxlv7q
(copy available in our church library)
The Bible Study Group provided the
service reflection Sunday, Jan. 17th, 2016
and it was well received.
*****
ACTS LENTEN RETREAT, 2016
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN COMPLETED
A Good Experience Again This Year
Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre
Cochrane, Alberta
http://www.mountstfrancis.ca/
Took place:
Sunday February 28th
11:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Theme: "Opening the Jubilee Door:
A Focus on the Ecological Spirituality
of St. Francis of Assisi"
Registration, including lunch and
refreshments during the day - $35.00
Reflections were led by Susan Campbell
enthusiastic, qualified and new MSF director;
included a nature walk.
26 paid registrations. 24 attended
***
ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS
THIS PROGRAM CONTINUES
Our "Memories Project" the Sight and Sound
Packet was supplied by 24 persons who took the
"Jerusalem and the Lands of Three Great Faiths"
tour last October. It was produced by Jock McTavish.
12,000+ pictures were offered and processed into
various accessible electronic presentations.
Distributed free to all 29 people who participated
in our tour with additional packets available at
a modest price for those interested.
--
New Project Beginning this Spring--
"Where Would You Like to Travel Next?"
Beginning our process to find a destination
for a trip somewhere in the world in 2017.
*****
