Vol XVI. No. 40
GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net
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Dear Friends:
Welcome to my mid-May, 2021 issue of Colleagues List.
I hope you enjoy the selections I have made for you this time.
Wayne
PLEASE NOTE - 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.
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SPECIAL ITEM
A NOTE ON SEASONAL TRANSITION
Today, for the first time, the Washington Post declares "it is reasonable to discuss the end of the pandemic." That, indeed, is hopeful news.
We in Canada, however, are more hesitant about it. We still see challenges and our governments are not yet telling us when we can function without facemasks.
As much as I anticipate progress on the Coved-19 front, and believe that we in Canada are making progress, I naturally think our country should be cautious. We know enough about this virus to recognize that it can seem to be in decline one week, and then - there it is again in a slightly different form!
Patience, and progressive anticipation, is the Canadian way!
One area that is definitely moving ahead for us is the natural cycle. We can feel it as we walk in warm spring sunshine and listen to birds singing and watch flowers blooming. We in "foothills country" might still expect the odd skiff of snow during the night, but the feel of the season is definitely one of serious transition toward summer. Thank God for that!
To those of you reading this from other parts of the world, I hope you will allow me this moment of celebration. We do have long winters, and the additional burden of the virus this time has made life more difficult.
The blessing of holding to a cyclical understanding of life comes to mind. No matter how difficult the circumstance, we are invited to anticipate a change for the better.
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COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
John Griffith,
Calgary, AB
What Was I Thinking? (blog)
May 11th, 2021
"Living With a Story"
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Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
May 10th, 2021
"Because That's What Mothers Do"
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Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site,
May 10th, 2021
"A Saint for Our Time"
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NET NOTES
SPRING BLOSSOMS ON FULL DISPLAY
Across Canada there is Much Beauty
CBC.ca
May 9th, 2021
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"GODSPELL" CELEBRATES FIFTIETH
Much-Feted Musical Half a Century Old
Religion News Service,
May 10th, 2021
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MODERN-DAY HEALERS
SEEK ANCESTRAL MEANING
A Search for Traditional Wisdom
Religion News Service,
May 13th, 2021
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GERMAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH
ELECTS YOUNGEST PRESIDENT
She Considers It an Honour
Lutheran World Federation,
May 14th, 2021
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FOR SOME PASTORS, A TIME TO QUIT
Coved-19 Has Taken the Joy From Ministry
Religion News Service
May 7th, 2021
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CALGARY PASTOR JAILED
FOR HOLDING CHURCH SERVICE
Claims Canada Like Hong Kong
Christian Post,
May 13th, 2021
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AS WORLD OPENS POST-PANDEMIC
HOW WILL WE FIND A WAY OUT OF IT?
In Teresa of Avila I Found a New Path
The Christian Century,
May 5th, 2021
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ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN DISPUTE -
A LAND AND A RELIGIOUS ISSUE
Ethnicity and Faith Each Play a Part
Religion News Service,
May 12th, 2021
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DON'T SHOOT AT JERUSALEM'S PALESTINANS
Talk To Them
Religion News Service
May 11th, 2021
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THE SYSTEM FAILED OUR SENIORS
People in LTC Facilities Neglected
Catholic Register, Toronto
May 5th, 2021
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WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhoff online:
I’d like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.
- John Coltrane
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I do not believe in holiness without prayer, even though that prayer need not be lengthy or involve intense emotions.
- Pope Francis
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There is no divine grace in the Old Testament (or in the New Testament) that is bestowed on oppressors at the expense of the suffering of the poor.
- James H. Cone
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The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of prayer is a song, and [we] cannot live without a song.
- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
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The act of creation is not done alone. Two parents must participate to create a child. An artist must collaborate, as well. She must be a co-creator with God, using the gifts he has given her and the resources of creation. And if that artist is a parent, her creation should be supported by a wider community.
- Haley Stewart
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God cannot fill what is full. He can fill only emptiness – deep poverty – and your “yes” [to Jesus] is the beginning of being or becoming empty. It is not how much we really “have” to give – but how empty we are – so that we can receive fully in our life and let him live his life in us. In you today – he wants to relive his complete submission to his father – allow him to do so. Take away your eyes from yourself and rejoice that you have nothing.
- Mother Teresa
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Many believe that they need company at any cost, and certainly if a thing is desired at any cost, it will be obtained at all costs. We need to remember and to teach our children that solitude can be a much-to-be-desired condition. Not only is it acceptable to be alone, at times it is positively to be wished for. It is in the interludes between being in company that we talk to ourselves. In the silence we listen to ourselves. Then we ask questions of ourselves. We describe ourselves, and in the quietude we may even hear the voice of God.
- Maya Angelou
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CLOSING THOUGHT - Walter Brueggemann
The formation of an alternative community with an alternative consciousness is so that the dominant community may be criticized and finally dismantled. But more than dismantling, the purpose of the alternative community is to enable a new human beginning to be made.
- John Coltrane
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