Vol XVII. No. 2
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:
Mid-July is a low-time in terms of productivity on Colleagues List. Still, I have collected some good material for your summer-reflection.
Please enjoy what follows. May we all be renewed from our rest-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 SHORT REFLECTION ON NEW BEGINNINGS
For a year and a half we in Canada have been living under the threat of the Coved-19 virus. Most of us have been disciplined and dutiful in our attempts to stand against this evil force and with those whose medical advice has been providing guidance for restricted behaviour.
Now, at long last, life seems to be opening up again. For Calgarians, no event has been more indicative of these new beginnings than hosting the world-famous Stampede once more.
It is not too soon to express gratitude to those who have provided medical support on local, provincial, national and international levels.
One good way to do this is to continue following the scientific advice with which we have been provided these last eighteen months. We are not out of the woods yet, but we seem to be inching toward freedom once more.
I am particularly grateful that we seem to have largely ignored the advice offered by religious radicals in our society. Under the guise of "following God rather than humans" a few have misled the gullible. But their numbers have been few and only a handful of their churches have been fenced-in. Only a small number of their pastoral leaders have been sent to jail, all-the-while-protesting that we live in a country run by communists and Nazis.
Religious Canadian behaviour, on the whole, has been respectful of responsible scientific advice and never once did I feel my faith principles were compromised by medical advisors.
Some months of transition remain ahead of us, and unforeseen problems may still lie ahead. But I don't think it too early to express pride in our nation and Canadian people of the Spirit.
I look forward to good things and to putting into practise lessons we have learned during these past difficult months.
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COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
July 7th, 2021
"Why Stay in the Church?"
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log,
July 4th, 2021
"The Gift of Life for Someone Unknown"
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Elfrieda Schroeder,
Winnipeg, MB.
In Transit Blog
July 7th, 2021
"Dreams"
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NET NOTES
WE MUST LISTEN
We Have Not Really Listened
Catholic Register, Toronto
July 2nd, 2021
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RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS BURIAL SITES
AND OUR GOSPEL CALL AS CHURCH
A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Anna
of the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia
Anglican Church of Canada
July 7th, 2021
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EVOLVING RIGHTS OF CHILDREN
IN CANADA AND BEYOND
Christians are Leading the Charge
Christian Week,
July 9th, 2021
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WHEN CHURCHES ARE
REMINDERS OF OPPRESSION
Learning from Canadian Tragedy
Broadview,
July 9th, 2021
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WHEN RETREIVING RESIDENTIAL
SCHOOL RECORDS CAN BE DIFFICULT
The Problem is Not Just Resistance
CBC.ca
June 20th, 2021
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INDIA CELEBRATES ST. THOMAS --
SAINT WHO BROUGHT CHRISTIANITY
An Early Missionary to South Asia
The Christian Post,
July 4th, 2021
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INDIA CAN STILL TURN THE TIDE
BACK TOWARD DEMOCRACY
Extremism Has Dominated
Religion News Service,
July 15th, 2021
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GREEN BURIAL AS AN ACT OF FAITH
Embracing Natural Burial Practices
The Christian Century,
July 6th, 2021
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MAYBE ITS TIME FOR AN HONEST CHAT
ABOUT CANADIAN POLITENESS
It May be a Kind of Avoidance
Broadview,
July 2nd, 2021
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WHITE MAINLINERS OUTNUMBER
WHITE EVANGELICALS IN THE USA
A Shift, After Many Polling Years
Religion News Service,
June 8th, 2021
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WHAT IS AN AMERICAN
MAINLINE CHRISTIAN ANYWAY?
It May Differ from the Canadian Variety
Religion News Service,
July 8th, 2021
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WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof obline:
To create is to relate.
- Corita Kent
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Outrage without an accompanying action turns into paralysis.
- Sr. Helen Prejean
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We know God doesn’t will for anyone to suffer and die — even if some modicum of “justice” could come out of it.
- Brittini L. Palmer
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Let us not forget: We are a pilgrim church, subject to misunderstanding, to persecution, but a church that walks serene, because it bears the force of love.
- Óscar Romero
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Forgiveness. The ability to forgive oneself. Stop here for a few breaths and think about this because it is the key to making art, and very possibly the key to finding any semblance of happiness in life.
- Ann Patchett
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Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is only this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Has it ever struck you that those who most fear to die are the ones who most fear to live? Life is flexible and free, and you are rigid and frozen. Life carries all things away, and you crave stability and permanence. You fear life and death because you cling. You cannot bear the thought of losing a relative or friend; you dread losing a pet theory or ideology or belief. When you cling to nothing, when you have no fear of losing anything, then you are free to flow like a mountain stream that is always fresh and sparkling and alive.
- Anthony de Mellow
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CLOSING THOUGHT - Theresa S. Thames
Go out into the world with your chin up and your heart wide open. Go out into the world and be an agent of God’s love.
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