Vol XVI. No. 41
GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net
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write to me personally at - waholst@telus.net
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Dear Friends:
This weekend in Canada is associated with what we have traditionally called "Victoria Day Holiday". I have some problems with the term "Victoria Day" so please read what I have to say, below.
Enjoy the other material I have accumulated to share with you. I'm just a few days late with this issue of Colleagues List, but not much.
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 FEW THOUGHTS ON VICTORIA DAY
Canada's Colonial History and Future
This weekend, our first "summer" holiday break, a neighbour of ours is proudly displaying a large Union Jack in his front yard.
I look at this with very mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I was raised in a Canada that showed strong attachment to its colonial heritage. Even though I have Ulster and Germanic background, we were encouraged to honour and respect our rich imperial British tradition. On the whole, we did so.
On the other hand, I have grown to suspect our colonial history, and have started to recognize the unjust abuses associated with it. Indeed, my people were white and European, but we were not English. That put me in a different category from my British-heritage Canadian friends.
I thought more about this recently when it was reported that Oxford University was not about to shed its attachment to Cecil Rhodes and his South African colonial behaviour. Several years ago, we noted while in South Africa, that a Rhodes monument was removed from a prominent location of his historical association with that country. A dramatic change of government there, during the last generation or so, seems to have had a major influence in this demotion. Great Britain, however, seems not to be parting easily with its colonial past.
What about Canada and its current connections to its colonial past?
I can accept the Union Jack on our historic sites and in our museums, but prominently on the front yard of a home in my current Calgary suburb?
Some would argue that the British Empire negotiated treaties with the First Nations People of our land, and that this was a good thing. But I would counter that those treaties were, in the main, not honoured. Only now, after many years, is Canada beginning to realize what has not been done. We are only starting to require that justice be served.
I don't intend to get into an argument with my neighbour over the kind of flag that should be flown this weekend. But perhaps we could start by considering our choice of the term "Victoria Day".
Can we not find a new term that respects both our positive heritage as offspring of empire in Canada, while at the same time recognizing our need to be open to a new future nation that integrates Indigenous and other Canadians from all parts of the world?
Recently, I had the opportunity to discuss issues like this with a thoughtful group of Christians from Toronto Chinese Baptist Church. I was honoured by this evidence of a new Canada that connects Asian and Canadian culture. The twenty or so folk that I was relating to demonstrated a love for both their heritage overseas and their deep commitment to Canada.
This example could find parallels in many other aspects of our nation on this (Canadian) holiday weekend.
My experience teaches me that Canada is maturing as a nation, but we still have some distance to go.
What do you think? -
Wayne
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COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog,
May 14th, 2021
"Grounded"
--
Doug Koop,
Winnipeg, MB
Winnipeg Free Press,
May 13th, 2021
"Spiritual Care Providers
Slog Through Pandemic"
--
Philip Yancey,
Colorado
Philipyancey.com
May, 2021
"The World Outside My Window"
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
May 17th, 2021
"Rich Kids Growing Up Without Money -
or Understanding"
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
May 16th, 2021
"A Eulogy for Wild Yellow Flowers"
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NET NOTES
A WOMAN IN A MAN'S WORLD
Discovering What Bias is Like
Christian Week, Winnipeg
May 14th, 2021
-
LDS GROWTH IS FLAT RIGHT NOW
Why So Many New Mormon Temples?
Religion News Service,
May 20th, 2021
--
RADICAL JEWISH THINKER HAS DIED
God is Dead Theologian Passed Away
Religion News Service,
May 19th, 2021
--
JANE GOODALL WINS 2021 TEMPLETON PRIZE
Only the Fourth Woman to Win the Award
Religion News Service,
My 20th, 2021
--
ALIEN LIFE LOOKS MORE AND MORE LIKELY
Catholics Appear Ready to Accept This
Religion News Service,
May 18th, 2021
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THE DECLINE OF CHRISTIANITY IN PAKISTAN
Church Leaders Worry About Fleeing Faithful
UCA News,
May 21st, 2021
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BANNING CONVERSION THERAPY IS ONE THING
But What Happens Next?
Broadview,
June 21st, 2021
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NEW DOCUMENTARY EXAMINES
BILLY GRAHAM'S LIFE AND LEGACY
An Attempt at Objective Assessment
Religion News Service
May 14th, 2021
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MORE THAN 120 PRIESTS DIE IN INDIA
IN THE PAST TWO WEEKS DUE TO COVID
These are Catholic Numbers Only
The Christian Post
May 18th, 2021
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CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MAY REMOVE
"HUSBAND" AND "WIFE" FROM CEREMONY
Conservatives Bemoan Loss of Tradition
The Christian Post,
May 19th, 2021
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WISDOM OF THE WEEK
From Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
You don’t have to believe a revelation to understand that something inside it was real.
- Jia Tolentin
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If democracy means freedom why aren’t our people free? If democracy means justice why don’t we have justice? If democracy means equality then why don’t we have equality?
- Malcolm X
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There once was a time when Thoreau wrote, “I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.” By the power vested in everything living, let us keep to that faith. I’m a scientist who thinks it wise to enter the doors of creation not with a lion tamer’s whip and chair, but with the reverence humankind has traditionally summoned for entering places of worship: a temple, a mosque, or a cathedral. A sacred grove, as ancient as time.
- Barbara Kingsolver
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Sorry about making a living, or not making a living, is a snare. In actuality, it is the snare. No external power, no actual circumstance, can trap a person. If we choose to be our own providence, then we will go quite ingenuously into our own trap, the wealthy as well as the poor. If we want to entrench ourselves in our own plot of ground that is not under God’s care, then we are living, though we do not acknowledge it, in a prison.
- Soren Kierkegaard
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Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important, wonderful. If you want to be recognized, wonderful. If you want to be great, wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s your new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing that I like about it, by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
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CLOSING THOUGHT - Mitri Raheb
Empires create their own theologies to justify their occupation.
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