Colleagues List, September 27th, 2020

  Vol XVI. No. 11

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019                                                                                          http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com/

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE                                                    CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net 

This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list.
If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns,
write to me personally - waholst@telus.net

******

Dear Friends:

While my cataract surgery continues to show progress, I must continue to stay alert to strain on my eyes during the healing procress. My current issue of Colleagues List is reduced and there is no Special Item again this week.

Please bear with me as I do what I can to return to a regular issue once more.

Wayne

NOTE 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.

******

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
September 20th, 2020

"Singing - Another Casualty of Coved-19"
  https://tinyurl.com/y6b5dbdd

--

Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.

Sermons and Blog,
September 18th, 2020

"Chosen"
  https://tinyurl.com/y388g47q

*****

NET NOTES - September 27th, 2020

I WENT BACK TO CHURCH --
IT WAS JOYFUL AND STRANGE
Reflections on a Return to Worship

Broadview
September 16th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y5btmpcw

--

RUTH BADER GINSBURG
FIRST WOMAN AND FIRSTJEW
To Lie in State in the US Capitol

Religion News Service
September 22nd, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y6pl6qmu

--

GINSBURG SHAPED BY MINORITY FAITH
Her Jewish Background had Marked Affect

Religion News Service
September 18th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y6zgz2qz

--

DEMONIZING WHITE EVANGELICALS
WILL NOT SOLVE POLITICAL PROBLEMS
We Heed a Much Deeper Understanding

Religion News Service,
September 24th, 24th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yyaz9e2z

--

WHEN CHRISTIANS LOSE THEIR MINDS
PEOPLE LOSE THEIR FAITH
A Reflection on Head and Heart

Christian Week
September 20th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y28du2d4

--

NEW FORMAT FOR GERMAN KIRCHENTAG
Event in 2021 will be Influenced by the Virus

World Council of Churches,
September 23rd, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y6dzjjch

--

CARDINAL LIKENS CHRISTIAN DECLINE
IN MIDDLE-EAST TO A SINKING SHIP
Downward Cycle Continues

Catholic Reporter, Toronto
September 21st, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yybwjxsd

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK - 

Real change, enduring change,
happens one step at a time.

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

--

You must let suffering speak,
if you want to hear the truth.

- Cornel West

--

But in times of crisis, the wise build bridges
while the foolish build barriers.

- King T’Challa in Black Panther (2018)

--

Do not be silent; there is no limit to the power
that may be released through you.

- Howard Thurman, Deep Is the Hunger

--

“Wisdom is not gained by knowing what is right.
Wisdom is gained by practicing what is right,
and noticing what happens when that practice
succeeds and when it fails.”

- Barbara Brown Taylor

--

All of us in our own vocations need just reasons
for serving others when instead we could use,
exploit, or ignore them. Three reasons stand out –
the dignity of the human person, the reality of sin,
and the meaning of redemption.

- Sister Dominic Mary Heath, OP

--

Whether the mildest or bleakest of the recent financial
forecasts prove true, our charge remains the same –
passing down the resources of Christian thinking.

This is an ideal moment to use our memories as
Christians to consider how past generations have
handled this vital work. Now is a time to remember
our roots.

- Richard Hughes Gibson

--

Sometimes the very walls of our churches separate us
from God and each other. In our various naves and
sanctuaries we are safely separated from those outside,
from other denominations, other religions, separated
from the poor, the ugly, the dying.…The house of God
is not a safe place. It is a cross where time and eternity
meet, and where we are – or should be – challenged to
live more vulnerably, more interdependently.

- Madeleine L’Engle

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Barbara Brown Taylor

“Wisdom is not gained by knowing what is right.
Wisdom is gained by practicing what is right,
and noticing what happens when that practice
succeeds and when it fails.”

(end)

******

For those interested:

ACTS MINISTRY STUDIES BEGINNING IN SEPTEMBER!!

This Autumn, Our Groups Meet on Zoom

 

Monday Night Study 7:00PM to 8:30PM (90 minutes)

Online classes run from September 14th to November 23rd.

Our Book - "The Universal Christ" by Richard Rohr

You buy it from Amazon.ca or Indigo

It will be your only cost for the series.

 

Thursday Morning Bible Study 10:00AM to 11:00AM (60 minutes)

We meet September 17th to make our fall study Bible selection

Classes run until the end of November

 

Invite new friends to join us via Zoom.

If you have questions, contact Wayne at waholst@telus.net

(end)

--

Colleagues List, September 20th, 2020

 Vol XVI. No. 10

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019                                                                                          http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com/

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE                                                    CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net 

This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list.
If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns,
write to me personally - waholst@telus.net

******

Dear Friends:

I am sending you last week's Colleagues List now, without a Special Item. My regular Anglican Journal column "Decolonization - an Evolving Possibility" has not yet been published as planned, so I cannot provide you with a link. When it appears, I will share it with you. I send you now what I had prepared, short of my article, because I don't want the material to become dated. 

This week, two of our adult studies at the church began on Zoom with a total of almost 60 participants for our book and bible groups. We were most gratified.

Wayne

NOTE 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

(not available)

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Mark Noll,
Notre Dame University
South Bend, Indiana

"What Kind of Turning Point?"
  Respecting the History of Pandemic
  Comment, August 20th, 2020
  https://tinyurl.com/y3dg2e6z

--  

Thomas Ryan CSP
Boston, MA

Koinonia, Paulist Fathers
September 16th, 2020

"The Importance of Ecumenical Friendships"
  https://tinyurl.com/y5k

--

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log,
September 10th, 2020

"Blessings from the Past"
  https://tinyurl.com/y2xn3lvo

--

Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.

Sermons and Blog,
September 5th, 2020

"Two Ways"
  https://tinyurl.com/yyjnbcy5

--

Philip Yancey,
Colorado

Philipyancey.com
August 23rd, 2020

"Family Secrets"
  https://tinyurl.com/y559yhr8

*****

NET NOTES - September 20th, 2020

JOE BIDEN IS A PRACTICING CATHOLIC
How His Faith Shapes His Politics

Religion News Service,
September 17th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y5sxgt6k

--

LAND OF THE FREE,
HOME OF THE SELF-CENTERED
From Where I Stand; Column
by Joan Chittister

National Catholic Reporter,
September 17th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y46vrcuq

--

A HISTORY NOT TO BE
FORGOTTEN OR REPEATED
The Residential School Legacy

United Church of Canada,
September 17th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yykcf76b

--

MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR
WHITE AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY
Comment by Jim Wallace, Sojourners

Religion News Service,
September 15th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y2sxgbsj

--

JAMES BALDWIN, BLINDNESS,
AND HAGIA SOPHIA
What Turkey Misses

National Catholic Reporter,
September 15th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y4dyms4x

--

MARK GHALLI, FORMER EDIGOR 

OF CHRISTIANITY TODAY, 

BECOMES A CATHOLIC
Considers Himself an "Evangelical Catholic"

The Christian Post,
September 14th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y2ul9rzt

--

WHY CANADA WANTS BORDER WITH
USA CLOSED IN SPITE OF THE COST
A Matter of Self-Preservation

CBC.ca
September 15th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yxcp7u9l

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

If now isn’t a good time for the truth,
I don’t see when we’ll get to it.

- Nikki Giovanni

--

May your hands be an extension of your heart
and may you do the work of love with them.

- Aja Monet

--

Do everything possible so that liberty is victorious
over oppression, justice over injustice, love over hate.

- Ignacio Ellacuria

--

No matter how much people have been oppressed
or how much they have oppressed others, the part
of them made in God’s image is worth rescuing
and restoring.

- John M. Perkins

--

Now, more than ever, I understand what a difference
a teacher can make in a student’s life, and what a
difference a student can in a teacher’s life, how much
we ourselves can be the diagonal that sends an
otherwise straight line on a detour, the event that
changes fate, with nothing more than a word, a glance,
a pat on the back at the right moment, a “you can do it”
when everything seems to be going badly.

- Enrico Galiano

--

Try saying this silently to everyone and everything you see
for thirty days: “I wish you happiness now and whatever will
bring happiness to you in the future.” If we said it to the sky,
we would have to stop polluting; if we said it when we see
ponds and lakes and streams, we would have to stop using
them as garbage dumps and sewers; if we said it to small
children, we would have to stop abusing them;…if we said
it to people, we would have to stop stoking the fires of enmity
around us. Beauty and human warmth would take root in us
like a clear, hot June day. We would change.

- Joan Chittister

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims
beneath the wheels of injustice.

We are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.

(end)

*****

For those interested:

ACTS MINISTRY STUDIES BEGINNING IN SEPTEMBER!!

This Autumn, Our Groups Meet on Zoom

 

Monday Night Study 7:00PM to 8:30PM (90 minutes)

Online classes run from September 14th to November 23rd.

Our Book - "The Universal Christ" by Richard Rohr

You buy it from Amazon.ca or Indigo

It will be your only cost for the series.

 

Thursday Morning Bible Study 10:00AM to 11:00AM (60 minutes)

We meet September 17th to make our fall study Bible selection

Classes run until the end of November

 

Invite new friends to join us via Zoom.

If you have questions, contact Wayne at waholst@telus.net

(end)

September 13th, 2020

Vol XVI. No. 9

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019                                                                                          http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com/

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE                                                    CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net 

This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list.
If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns,
write to me personally - waholst@telus.net

*****

Dear Friends:

This is the first complete issue of my Colleagues List

in a month, as a result of cataract surgery. I am still

dealing with a certain amount of visual blurring, but

that is natural and it will gradually go away.

I introduce the sixth in a series of small group bible

studies produced by Donald Schmidt and Wood Lake

Publishing. These books are written for progressive

Christians who recognize the need for theological 

grounding in the scriptures. Thanks for this, Don!

Colleague Isabel Gibson provides a link to some

major Smithsonian Institute archeological finds

in ancient Judaism which I think is most useful.

Isabel's efforts are a reminder that other colleagues

might want to pass along findings of value for all of us.

You will find her submission in Net Notes.

The remaining material is my attempt to catch up on

summer findings.

I begin the season with new book and other suggestions                    which I will pass on to you in the coming weeks.

Blessings,

Wayne

NOTE 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

Book Notice -

THE BEATITUDES FOR

PROGRESSIVE CHRISTUANS

The Message Jesus Left to

Celebrate, Live and Follow

by Donald Schmidt

A Ten Session Study Guide

Wood Lake Publishing,

Kelowna, BC. 80 pages. 

$12.00 CAD Paper. $7.50 Kindle

ISBN 978--1-77343-037-9

Publisher's Promo:

Let's admit it. We live in a complicated world where                                    
things are a bit crazy - and not in a good way. A global                
pandemic, wars, racial strife, wealth disparity, death                              
and destruction; we are all affected by these things one                              
way or another, even if only through the media.

And we all suffer because of them - sometimes directly                          
and physically; usually emotionally; and often spiritually,                  
though we may not always recognize it. Some of us                            
suffer more than others, of course, particularly those                                
of us who are or have been touched directly by tragedy                          
 or trauma. It's enough, sometimes, to make you question                    
your faith. It's enough, sometimes, to make you wonder                            
if you're cursed.

"Not so!" says Jesus. Not only are we not cursed, it is                              
in these painful extremes we are the most blessed.

With genuine pastoral sensitivity, Schmidt says,                                  
"The Beatitudes tell us that we can find and
experience God's presence in difficulties are
expressions of divine love when we seek to                            
bring about peace and justice in our world.
We can find comfort when we are grieving
and hurting. And all those times when people
put us down for our attempts to live the gospel,
we can feel assured that - despite ridicule -
we are on the right path."

--

Author's Bio:

onald Schmidt, Author 

Whenever he can choose what to do, Donald Schmidt likes                         

to spin wool, knit, and weave. In his spare time, he also works                   

in ministry in a variety of settings. He has served parishes in                      

Quebec, New York, Vermont, Washington, and Hawai‘i.  

He has also worked as an Associate Conference Minister with                     

the United Church of Christ, and is a retired United Methodist                    

minister. Perhaps his favorite ministry has been as an editor                     

and writer of church resources, for worship, education, and                         

church revitalization. He has published 3 books, and has had                       

a few pieces of music appear in various collections around the                   

world. He also loves to travel, finding that visiting anywhere                     

new and different can open us up to learn new things about                       

others and, in the process, ourselves. More recently Donald                     

has served with the United Church of Canada, and was Minister                 

for Worship and Leadership Development at First United Church                 

in Kelowna, British Columbia. He lives in the Okanagan Valley                   

of BC. He is a grandfather of 8, and father of 3.

--

Author's Words:

Every book comes to life in a specific setting. For this one,                      
it is the Covid-19 pandemic that has changed the way of                      
living for eight billion people on the planet. This book was                  
begun when we were under fairly strict lockdown, and                  
"concern for what would happen next" was rampant.                              

As I finish this writing, governments in many places are                    
trying to find ways to relax restrictions without going too                        
far, while businesses are anxious to re-open without                        
knowing quite how to do that..                                                                    

All of this sets a profound context to talk about something                          
like the Beatitudes. They are generally understood as                        
words of comfort. People will often turn to them assuming                      
that they contain words that will uplift the spirit and make                    
them feel better.

I think the Beatitudes do that without question.                      

I also think that there is more to them than that. As we will          
explore here, they have a richer and deeper meaning than                    
 we have generally allowed them. My desire in this book is                        
to break them open a little, so that our understanding of                      
them might grow and blossom, and that we might come                          
to see in these few verses some of the profound truths                          
that Jesus (or the writers of Matthew and Luke) embedded                      i
in them.


I invite you to open your heart and to hear these words                      
anew. Let them speak to you afresh in this time of our                        
world being reborn out of necessity.

- from the Preface

--

My Thoughts:

As the author states in his Introduction, we can have a                        

sense of the Beatitudes, even if we have at least some                              

of them in the back of our minds but can't locate them in                          

any part of scripture. We may think we know what they say,                  

but we couldn't locate them.

These words do not emerge from a context similar to our own.            

They came first from the mouth of a Jewish peasant and were          

shared with Jewish peasants two thousand years ago.

We need to hear these words in a new way, fresh for today.                  

But to do that we need to create an environment of listeners         

together - both to the ancient words in their context, and                      

then to the present situation in which we live.

Biblical scholars do this all the time. We can do it too.

A good way to do this is to read each Beatitude slowly and        

deliberately together - then think about the ancient setting            

followed  by our own. As old and new wisdom is shared, I                

believe that new wisdom will emerge.

Small group progressive bible study is an ideal setting for this.

---

Buy the book from Wood Lake Press:

https://tinyurl.com/yydwnh7j

Buy the book from Amazon.ca

https://tinyurl.com/y5p6hk7w

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Elfrieda Schroeder,
Winnipeg, MB

In Transit Blog,
September 1st, 2020

"Sitting Down - Quietly"
  https://tinyurl.com/y8ngz8l5

--

Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON

Sermons and Blog
September 4th, 2020

"Sideways"
  https://tinyurl.com/y2tobp5g

--

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log,
September 6th, 2020

"The Shoe on the Other Foot"
  https://tinyurl.com/yyu4696o

--

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site
September 7th, 2020

"Mystical Experience and Everyday People"
  https://tinyurl.com/y64x5yez

--

John Stackhouse, Jr.
Moncton, NB

Personal Website
September, 2929

"Don't Ask Me to Pray"
  https://tinyurl.com/y48v5rkh

*****

NET NOTES - September 13th, 2020

IT'S TIME FOR CANADA'S STATUES TO FALL
Taking Another Look at our Public Heroes

Broadview,
September 2nd, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y5bk752u

--

BIBLE READING IS DOWN
Apps and Audio Books are Up

Publishers Weekly,
August 25th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yxbdl9ag

--

THE MORAL END OF TRUTH
When Leadership Becomes Nothing But Lies
Joan Chittister August Column

National Catholic Reporter,
August 20th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y5nrxxur

--

COMPASSION BEGINS IN THE EYES
Masks Still Allow Us to Look into Eyes

The Christian Century,
August 14th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y6he3r67

--

WHAT JERRY FALWELL TAUGHT ME AT LIBERTY U.
This is How a Christian Education Can Go Wrong

New York Times,
August,26th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y2npx7l2

--

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY GROWING IN IRAN
Still a Minority but Making an Impact

Christianity Today,
September 3rd, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yxk78prp

--

CHINA CRACKS DOWN IN MONGOLIA AND TIBET
Policy of Ethnic and Religious Persecution Continues

Globe and Mail,
September 8th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y5z2hcqw

--

Submitted by Isabel Gibson, Ottawa ON -

REDISCOVERING HISTORIC JEWISH
SITES FROM MANY CENURIES AGO
Archeological Wonders Revealed

Smithsonian Magazine,
June, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y277mucw

--

KAMALA HARRIS IS THE FUTURE
OF AMERICAN RELIGION
She is More than a Symbol
of Race and Gender

Religion News Service
August 12th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yxs2d2n

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK - September 13th, 2020

The world is full of painful stories. Sometimes
it seems as though there aren't any other kind
and yet I found myself thinking how beautiful
that glint of water was through the trees.

- Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower

--

You cannot change any society unless you
take responsibility for it, unless you see
yourself as belonging to it, and responsible
for changing it.

- Grace Lee Boggs

--

We don’t have the right to demand perfection
from each other. But we do have the right to
expect progress. To demand evolution. So,
let’s make some new mistakes.

- Naomi Klein

--

In normal life we hardly realize how much more
we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich
without such gratitude.

It is so easy to overestimate the importance of
our own achievements compared with what we
owe to the help of others.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

--

Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let
others do your thinking, talking, and naming for
you; it means learning to respect and use your
own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with
hard work.

- Adrienne Rich

--

It’s funny: I always imagined when I was a kid
that adults had some kind of inner toolbox, full
of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the
hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience.
But then when I grew up I found that life handed
you these rusty, bent old tools – friendships,
prayer, conscience, honesty – and said, Do
the best you can with these, they will have to do.
And mostly, against all odds they’re enough.

- Anne Lamott

--

Whether in Hell or in Purgatory, you get what
you want – if that is what you really do want.
If you insist on having your own way, you will
get it: Hell is the enjoyment of your own way
for ever. If you really want God’s way for you,
you will get it in Heaven, and the pains of
Purgatory will not deter you, they will be
welcomed as the means to that end.

 Dorothy L. Sayers

--

Have you wept at anything during the past year?
Has your heart beat faster at the sight of young
beauty? Have you thought seriously about the
fact that someday you are going to die? More
often than not, do you really listen when people
are speaking to you, instead of just waiting for
your turn to speak? Is there anybody you know
in whose place, if one of you had to suffer great
pain, you would volunteer yourself?

If your answer to all or most of these questions
is no, the chances are that you’re dead.

- Frederick Buechner

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Naomi Klein

We don’t have the right to demand perfection
from each other. But we do have the right to
expect progress. To demand evolution. So,
let’s make some new mistakes.

*****

(end)

For those interested:

ACTS MINISTRY STUDIES BEGINNING IN SEPTEMBER!!

This Autumn, Our Groups Meet on Zoom

 

Monday Night Study 7:00PM to 8:30PM (90 minutes)

Online classes run from September 14th to November 23rd.

Our Book - "The Universal Christ" by Richard Rohr

You buy it from Amazon.ca or Indigo

It will be your only cost for the series.

 

Thursday Morning Bible Study 10:00AM to 11:00AM (60 minutes)

We meet September 17th to make our fall study Bible selection

Classes run until the end of November

 

Invite new friends to join us via Zoom.

If you have questions, contact Wayne at waholst@telus.net

(end)