Vol XVII. No. 14
Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019
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 at - waholst@telus.net
*****
Dear Friends:
My Special Item this week makes a clear statement that
we, in our local congregations, must never go back to
the pre-Covid-19 church we once knew.
I hope you will also enjoy the other items I have
gathered for you this week.
Recently, I have experienced some "link creation"
problems, but hope these have been rectified.
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.
Wayne
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
WHY WE CAN'T GO BACK
TO THE WAY THINGS WERE
AT CHURCH
I write this short article using my experience at
St. David's United Church, Calgary and realize that
other congregations may experience things quite
differently.
My desire in writing here is to suggest why we,
at St. David's, cannot return to church activity
as we once knew it, mainly because of the virus.
First, we have discovered that, at least for some
of our activities, the response to our Zoom work
yields greater participation than face-to face
meetings immediately before that virus-created
major changes for us.
Part of this increase in group engagement is
caused by the fact that it is easier to sit in front
of your computer at home than it is to go to the
effort of personal attendance at church. Older
members will probably agree with me, but many
others as well.
My teaching classes, morning and evening, have
tended to draw more Zoom people than previously.
Our worship attendance averages have tended to
be as high or higher than previously. Having larger
numbers is not everything, but they tend to raise
spirits in the community.
Second, we are learning to use videos and other
technical gifts to aid our worship and learning in
ways we had not previously realized or employed.
There is no doubt that technical visual benefits
appeal to many of our members in ways that
merely live verbal (face-to-face) benefits do not.
I personally like the feeling of personal contact
in most of our church gatherings, but have to admit
that visual attraction can be engaging and gripping.
That implies working with colleagues who are more
gifted technically than I. It also means that those
with technical skills will need to become more at
home with "churchly" ways of doing things.
Third, we have come to discover that it is possible
to exchange with neighbour congregations nearby,
as well as faith communities around the world.
A church like the one I belong to has always sought
to form community and to reach out to faith and
other groups to carry out our mission. Never before,
however, have we had the opportunity to "reach"
beyond ourselves that we do today.
These opportunities to continue to expand outreach
have never been better, or more convenient. For me,
'ecumenical' and 'global' has always been important;
but modern technology makes that more possible.
I want to be involved in new forms of church growth,
in the creative use of new technologies, and in being
able to share with others in as many ways possible.
For these, and other reasons, I hope my congregation
will never again be satisfied with the way we "did"
church in the past and will look for better ways to
"be" church in the days ahead.
Wayne
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Elfrieda Schroeder,
Winnipeg, MB
In Transit Blog
November 2nd, 2021
"Let Me See Your Face"
--
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog,
October 29th, 2021
"Tears"
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log,
October 30th, 2021
"You Don't Have to Fight Growing Older"
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
November 1st, 2021
"Binding and Loosing"
--
Isabel Gibson,
Ottawa, ON.
Traditional Iconoclast
October 31st, 2021
"Spared" (Ripening Nature)
*****
NET NOTES
INDIANS CELEBRATE DIVALI
Amid Fears of Covid-19
Religion News Service,
November 4th, 2021
--
INDIA'S MODI INVITES POPE TO VISIT
Previous Invitation had Collapsed
Religion News Service,
November 1st, 2021
--
"SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS" PEOPLE
Are Like Radical Reformation Protestants
Religion News Service,
November 1st, 2021
--
WILL THE UNITED CHURCH DISSAPPEAR?
Colleague Christopher White Thinks Not
Broadview,
November 4th, 2021
--
INDIGENOUS EXPECT
POSITIVE VISIT FROM FRANCIS
But They Expect an Apology from the Pope
The Catholic Register, Toronto
November 3rd, 2021
--
A PENITANT POPE WILL BE COMING
TO A WOUNDED NATION
The Catholic Register, Toronto
November 4th, 2021
--
COP26 URGES PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN
RELIGIOUS, INDIGENOUS LEADERS
TO SAVE PLANET
Religious News Service,
November 4th, 2021
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
The denunciation of injustice implies the rejection of the use of Christianity to legitimize the established order.
- Gustavo Gutiérrez
- Gustavo Gutiérrez
--
Be like the fox / who makes more tracks than necessary, / some in the wrong direction. / Practice resurrection.
- Wendell Berry
--
There will not be a magic day when we wake up and it’s now okay to express ourselves publicly. We make that day by doing things publicly until it’s simply the way things are.
- Sen. Tammy Baldwin
- Sen. Tammy Baldwin
--
When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises.
- Oscar Romero
- Oscar Romero
--
Our last five minutes on earth are running out. We can spend those minutes in meanness, exclusivity, and self-righteous disparagement of those who are different from us, or we can spend them consciously embracing every glowing soul who wanders within our reach – those who, without our caring, would find the vibrant, exhilarating path of life just another sad and forsaken road.
- Alice Walker
--
He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light, and he can bring thee summer out of winter, though thou hast no spring. Though in the ways of fortune, understanding, or conscience thou hast been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied, now God comes to thee, not as the dawning of the day, not as the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon.
- John Donne
--
We are in the presence of an infinitely and unexpectedly rich tool, so that the tiniest phrase unleashes an entire polyphonic gamut of meaning. The ambiguity of language, even its ambivalence and its contradiction, between the moment it is spoken and the moment it is received, produces extremely intense activities. Without such activities, we would be ants or bees, and our drama and tragedy would quickly be dried up and empty. Between the moment of speech and the moment of reception are born symbol, metaphor, and analogy.
- Jacques Ellul
--
CLOSING THOUGHT - Dorothy Cotton
If a house is burning, and a bucket of water is thrown on the blaze and doesn't extinguish the fire, this doesn't mean that water won't put out fire. It means we need more water. And so with nonviolence.
(end)
*****
For Those Interested -
ACTS MINISTRY AUTUMN STUDIES AT ST.DAVID'S UNITED:
Monday Night Book Study - Sept. 20th - Nov. 29th 7-8:30 PM Zoom (10 weeks)
(no class on Thanksgiving Monday, October 11th)
Book Theme: "Starlight" by Richard Wagamese
**
Thursday Morning Bible Study - Sept. 23 - Nov. 25 10-11 AM
Zoom (10 weeks)
Bible Theme - "First Isaiah" (Isaiah chapters 1-39)
If you have questions, contact me at waholst@telus.net
(end)
******
Zoom Thanksgiving activities are a great way for remote teams to interact and learn more about each other. This year Thanksgiving is on November 25, 2021 in the US. This holiday is also known as “Zoom Thanksgiving”.
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