Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019 http://colleagueslist.blogspot.ca/ http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com/
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net
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*****
Dear Friends,
I was sorry to learn, late this week, that colleague
Lorna Dueck is retiring after many years of religious
broadcasting in Canada. She always brought class
and intelligence to her work as a leading reflector
of evangelicalism in this country. Read about her at:
https://tinyurl.com/ydhfo55h
I am still working on my response to Bishop Joey Royal,
who challenged my Easter/Resurrection interpretation.
This week, I feature a personal reflection by colleague
John Griffith as well as an update on my thoughts.
If you have ideas to add, please let me know.
I provide a normal selection of other CL items as well.
Wayne
PS A REMINDER - If a link, below seems to be dead, cut and
paste it into the address bar at the top of your web page
and it should work
SPECIAL ITEM
SOME THOUGHTS TO SHARE ABOUT
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
by John Griffith
John writes:
Hi Wayne, good for you to honour the bishop’s letter,
sharing its Message in your blog and letting him share
his perspective.
That is what love does. It is a listening and a sharing
and not an argument. This challenge has stayed with
me as well and what I understand is - he is right.
Do We Need Salvation? Yes
If what I/human beings need is salvation, then we
need a victor and a physical resurrection to be certain
that evil is defeated and we can get home.
The resurrected Christ opening the door to heaven.
But What Is Salvation Today?
And the bishop is also correct, I am trying to understand
the scripture in terms of my own experience and 21st
century human experience as we evolve on this planet.
I want to know if this is a sacred story that is relevant
to my life on this planet in the 21st century. And I want
my children to have a faith that guides their life and
opens them up to the blessings, wisdom and love of God
that I experience, so they can embrace the new world.
And this is a world that takes both evolution and God
seriously.
I Don't Need Salvation in the Traditional Sense
I don’t need that salvation. At least not as interpreted
as being saved from the devil and being delivered
from sin as the church came to understand Jesus over
the years. But was that Jesus’ message and purpose for
salvation. Obviously, at least obvious to me, the devil
has not been defeated and evil remains an ever present
threat.
Salvation for Me Now
For me, Jesus does not give me an end run around the
devil to get to our goal which is heaven. I need
someone who can give me the power to experience
my full humanity in this world.
The lectionary passage for this next Sunday is John
10-1-10. where Jesus tells us "I come to give you life
and life more abundantly." He leads me beside the
still waters where I can find the Spirit’s voice speaking
to me.
I hear Jesus' message as someone who brings us “new life”, transformation, and saying that love is the way
to live in this world. Holy scripture is the word of God
for me because it gives me access to The Way, The
Truth, and the Life. It seems to me Jesus was always
talking about what that Way looked like (parables).
And for me, the resurrection is important but so is
the road to Emmaus.
Go Back and Wait
And the message there is to go back, stay together
(don’t let this situation defeat you, sounds like a
message for the time of a pandemic), wait together
for the promise to be fulfilled.
Wait for the Spirit to come alive in you and you will
know the next step on your life journey. What I need
in life is someone to love me and someone to love.
And loving is not easy and cannot be experienced alone.
Mark Nepo, in his book, The Exquisite Risk, quotes
St. John of the Cross when he says, “The exquisite risk
is to still our own working to connect us to God, to each
other, and to our own soul. That is what love does. It is
not a good deed project, it is a relationship solution to
what life is about and why we are here – not where we
are going. We just know that wherever we are going,
we need to go together.
Understanding the Purpose of Story
The bishop does not seem to understand the importance
of story. A scripture story is one that allows us to
experience the truth in its telling and its being celebrated
(remembered). The story is all true and it is true because
we can recognize it as a past and present event. The Way
is still happening.
A Head and a Heart Understanding of Resurrection
The message is not in our head, it is in our heart and our
mind and our soul. It is a living message that continues
to show us the way of love and give us the energy to be
an expression of that love.
--
Wayne, I share these thoughts as a companion on this
journey with you. I encourage and look forward to your
loving response.
---
My Thoughts Now:
Joey Royal is the director of the Arthur Turner Training
School for ministry in the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic,
located in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Below are helpful links. He
is first on the left in the back row, and his official church
title is Suffragan Bishop - one of several in the diocese
(note the second link).
https://tinyurl.com/y8v69xoz
https://tinyurl.com/ydfnz35j
When he first wrote the response to my Easter column
he was not expecting to engage in a discussion with me.
I am hopeful that Matthew Townsend, Anglican Journal
editor, can help to bring that about.
Here are some of my own current thoughts on the
resurrection column I wrote:
For starters, I wonder if Joey understands my meaning
of the term 'myth' (story). He also assumes I reject a
'bodily' resurrection - implying, I presume, that Jesus
did not really return to us from the dead. My position
does not rule out that possibility, but my faith is not
dependent upon it.
It might also surprise him to learn that I probably
have as much difficulty with many modern secular
interpreters of Easter as he has.
When I hear him use certain words, I am inclined to
put him in a theological/cultural box, just as I worry
he does of me. A major purpose of my column was
to support those for who have a problem believing
positions like his (as thus far expressed.) I would still
like to retain the interest of many who have rejected
the resurrection of Jesus.
Sometimes, when we try to explain our positions,
we add complexity to our presentation, and leave
people confused. I hope to avoid that if I can.
I have great respect for the Canadian Arctic missions -
both Catholic and Anglican - and rejoice at strides being
taken to indigenize and contextualize the gospel in
that part of our country. Early in my career, I invested
much in the mission of the church in Canada's North.
https://tinyurl.com/ycvmdyhw
(picture of Holst at Dene National Assembly, 1988)
What may be "true" in my setting now may not be so
true for him (and vice versa) and I think we both need
to be open to that.
That said, I suspect we have thus far been both working
with unconfirmed stereotypes of each other's views.
I continue to try to understand where bishop Joey is
coming from, and want to believe his comments are
meant to further discussion.
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Doug Koop,
Winnipeg, MB.
Winnipeg Free Press
April 24th, 2020
"They Also Serve
Who Only Stand and Wait"
https://tinyurl.com/y7wg4s8y
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan. BC
Personal Web Log,
April 24th, 2020
"Entering a Strange New Land"
https//tinyurl.com/yf7686uo
--
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
April 24th, 2020
"What's Burning in Your Heart?"
https://tinyurl.com/y735dbdc
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
April 27th, 2020
"God and the Principle
of Non-Contradiction"
https://tinyurl.com/yao9sw9g
--
Robert Ellsberg,
Maryknoll, NY
National Catholic Reporter,
April 27th, 2020
"Seeking Wisdom from
Masters of Social Isolation"
https://tinyurl.com/yatfkzco
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
I shall rest and continue to exist.
- Virginia Woolf
--
Prayer begins where human capacity ends.
- Marian Anderson
--
More and more I have come to admire resilience /
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam /
returns over and over to the same shape, but the
sinuous / tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly
blocked on one side, / it turns in another. A blind
intelligence, true. / But out of such persistence
arose turtles, rivers, / mitochondria, figs – all this
resinous, unretractable earth.
- Jane Hirshfield, "Optimism"
--
raging tempest who broke all crooked wings. He
feared not his persecutors nor his enemies. Free
and brave and daring he was. He defied all despots
and oppressors. He saw the contagious pustules
and amputated them. He muted Evil and he crushed
Falsehood and he choked Treachery.
- Kahlil Gibran
--
The duties and cares of the day crowd about us
when we awake each day – if they have not already
dispelled our night’s rest. How can everything be
accommodated in one day? When will I do this,
when that? How will it all be accomplished?
Thus agitated, we are tempted to run and rush.
And so we must take the reins in hand and remind
ourselves, “Let go of your plans. The first hour of
your morning belongs to God. Tackle the day’s work
that he charges you with, and he will give you the
power to accomplish it.”
- Edith Stein
--
Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has
to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without
getting tired. How does a lamp burn? Through the
continuous input of small drops of oil. If the drops of
oil run out, the light of the lamp will cease, and the
bridegroom will say, “I do not know you” (Matt. 25:12).
What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are
the small things of daily life: faithfulness, small words
of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being
silent, of looking, of speaking, and of acting. These
are the true drops of love that keep your religious
life burning like a living flame
- Mother Teresa
*****
NET NOTES - May 3rd, 2020
WHO DEFINES EVANGELICALISM?
An Interview with Colleague Mark Noll
Religion and Politics,
April 28th, 2020
https://tinurl.comy/yaynohf6
--
LONG ROAD UNTIL CHURCHES RE-OPEN
Religious Groups are Unique Gatherings
Catholic Register, Toronto
April 29th, 2020
https://tinyurl.com/ybpem9b4
--
DIGITAL PILGRIMAGES HELP YOU TRAVEL
Visiting Sites You Would Hope to See
Religion News Service,
April 29th, 2020
https://tinyurl.com/y9wvhrpj
--
DANISH BIBLE SOCIETY CREATES
VERSION FOR NON-RELIGIOUS
Takes Criticism for Some of It
Christian Post,
April 26th, 2020
https://tinyurl.com/y8fqz2p2
--
ARE WE REALLY 'AT WAR' WITH
THE CORONAVIRUS?
Militant Talk is Double-Edged
The Christian Century,
April 27th, 2020
https://tinyurl.com/ybsrcrwn
--
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER, CANADA
We have Been Here Before and Will Be Here Again
The Post Millennial,
April 26th, 2020
https://tinyurl.cobr9m/y9gyn
--
ROOM FOR HOPE - BUT ALSO WARNING
RE CANADA'S FLATTENING COVID-19 CURVE
We Are a Fortunate People, but...
Global TV News
April 27th, 2020
https://tinyurl.com/yc4788n2
-
AFTER NOVA SCOTIA SHOOTINGS
WE HAVE ALSO LOST A WAY OF LIFE
Reflection from a Local Perspective
Broadview,
April 24th, 2020
https://tinyurl.com/y7tthjde
--
WARTIME VATICAN ARCHIVE SHOWS HOW
MUCH POPE KNEW ABOUT HOLOCAUST
Reflects Badly on the Silence of Pius XII
Religion News Service,
April 27th, 2020
https://tinyurl.com/yc4hzc8p
--
RESTORED NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL
IN PARIS MUST REMAIN A CHURCH
Cultural Site or Place of Worship?
Religion News Service,
April 29th, 2020
https://tinyurl.com/yax8u2sz
*****
MOMENT IN TIME
April 30th, 1945
Globe and Mail,
April 30th, 2020
Hitler Dies in Berlin Bunker
When it became clear to Adolf Hitler that Berlin
was going to fall, he fled to his 18-room bunker
located 55 feet under the chancellery where he
continued to give orders for four months.
On April 29, terrified at the prospect of a humiliating
death (the body of his Italian fascist ally Benito
Mussolini was dumped like garbage in a public
square in Milan), Hitler finalized his will and married
his long-time partner Eva Braun. The next day, after
saying goodbyes to his staff, he and Braun retreated
to his private quarters. Braun swallowed cyanide and
Hitler took the poison and shot himself in the head.
Their bodies were hastily cremated and Germany
surrendered seven days later. For years, conspiracy
theorists insisted Hitler was still alive, having escaped
to Spain, Antarctica or Argentina. Finally, in 2018, a
group of French researchers, with access to fragments
of Hitler’s teeth, proved he had definitively died. Evil
personified was finally dead beyond a shadow of doubt.
- Gayle MacDonald
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - Anne Nelson
There are moments in history when people of faith
must ask what their faith instructs them to do.
(end)
*****
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