Vol XVII. No. 12
Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019
http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com
How do you find the courage to go on when everything you knew is gone?
That is a question faced by Philipp Weingartner several times in his life. Born into a family of insignificant farm labourers in a town, region, and country erased from our maps, Philipp set out on a journey—both geographical and spiritual—across the front lines of two World Wars, and eventually across an ocean to a new life in Canada. This biographic collaboration between Erich Weingartner and his late father Philipp's writings gives witness to the tenacity of the human spirit. It provides abundant affirmation that commitment to a life of faith can empower ordinary people to become extraordinary in times of great need. Based on diaries, letters, articles and sermons, A Journey of Faith details one man's lived experience of tragedy, survival, and a passion to serve the less fortunate.
Philipp's son Erich transforms original German source material into a lively and meaningful English-language account of his father's life and has done so in a page-turning way.
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Editor Erich Weingartner's Words:
My father was a great story-teller. He turned Hebrew Bible anecdotes into lively events. For me, and before movies and TV this was entertainment at its best.
Earlier in my life, I was not too much interested in these stories, or the ones about our family's refugee history in Yugoslavia and Austria. But my mother saved and gave me many of them. Today I deeply treasure them.
Before he died, my brother Arthur shared with me 200 pages of my father's memoirs. He had started translating them into English but he wanted me to complete the job. "Our kids need to know our family history and how we came to be Canadians" - my brother suggested.
Reading these pages helped me understand my own ancestry and communal history. The tragedy of war, expulsion from ancestral lands, the experience of being unwelcome "displaced persons" in search of a new home - these stories are far from unique. It became obvious that my father's account was sure to find an audience far wider than our immediate family. Although this is one man's story, it contains within it the history and tragedy of 20th century Europe.
I have included all the workable material I had at my disposal into the book you now can hold in your hands. I have tried to retain my father's voice in all the ways I found possible. Our family has made numerous trips to places in Europe described here because we wanted to enhance our memories.
This book is indeed a family labour of love and I thank them all.
Working this material gave me many insights into my father's way of thinking and tenacity of spirit that was anchored in his faith. His life was an example of up-rootedness, but never his faith.
My father's story will encourage readers to persevere in faith and hope, no matter where their journey leads them through our own turbulent times.
- taken and interpreted by Wayne from the Preface
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Subject's Short Bio:
Pastor Philipp Weingartner ministered to churches in former Yugoslavia, to refugees in post-war Austria, and finally to immigrants in Canada as founder of St. John's Lutheran Church in Hamilton, Ontario.
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My Thoughts:
The first WWII German migrants to my community in Southern Ontario did not impress me. They acted out customs that most of us Canadians with German background did not recognize or value. Some of them seemed distant and remote to us. They seemed to practice customs that we "canadianized" Germans were embarrassed by in front of the English-speaking Canadians we wanted to impress with our new world ways.
It is only after reading a few pages of this book that I began to appreciate why at least some of the new Canadians mentioned here came across as they did. I appreciate the detail that Erich puts into this writing.
Most of us knew so little about what the newcomers had lived through. Only at a later stage of my life did I recognize this.
Erich and I became friends while in seminary during the mid-60's. I soon realized that he was more culturally mature than I, and I tried to learn from him. He had lived through a great deal more than I.
I appreciated getting to know Erich's mother (Philipp's wife) almost two decades ago and appreciated her openness with me - writing about their family history.
I was assigned to a German-speaking congregation in Toronto for my intern year in 1966-67 and I did not fully appreciate the people there, or their pastor. Perhaps all of us were the better for having had to work together - I would now say.
It was very generous of Erich to share this book with me and now I want to share it with you. There is no question that Canada is the better because of the immigration of families like the Weingartners. I hope you will read and value this profound collection of experience.
When you hear some people complaining about new Canadians today, I hope you will reflect on learnings you have gleaned from this book.
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Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
You are moving in the direction of freedom and the function of freedom is to free somebody else.
- Toni Morrison
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Through the call of Jesus people become individuals. They are compelled to decide, and that decision can only be made by themselves. It is no choice of their own that makes them individuals: it is Christ who makes them individuals by calling them. Every person is called separately, and must follow alone.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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If we as Christians can see the issues of our day – poverty, racism, war, and injustice – and if we can use the skills and resources that we get from our training at school or on the job, and if we can really be open to being equipped by the spirit of God, then we will be used. We must lie awake at night and wrestle with how we can individually and collectively bring our faith from talk to power, how we can bring our faith and works to bear on the real issues of human need.
- John M. Perkins
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If I did not believe, if I did not make what is called an act of faith (and each act of faith increases our faith, and our capacity for faith), if I did not have faith that the works of mercy do lighten the sum total of suffering in the world, so that those who are suffering…somehow mysteriously find their pain lifted and some balm of consolation poured on their wounds, if I did not believe these things, the problem of evil would indeed be overwhelming.
- Dorothy Day
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The nonviolent response of the Christian communities in Iraq and Syria goes back to the beginning, when these peoples first became Christian and believed that Jesus’s instructions to his disciples to put away the sword was a command for them as well. When this belief is coupled with being a conquered and persecuted people, it is not so hard to see why these communities don’t fight back. Violence against Christians began with the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, and continues until today. One might say that the East has a heavy emphasis on the theology of the cross whereas the West emphasizes Christ as victor.
- Luma Simms
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CLOSING THOUGHT - Elie Wiesel
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
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Thanks for your book reviews. This was fascinating.
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