Vol XVII. No. 17
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
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Dear Friends:
We begin this week with our annual Holst Christmas letter
Then, my Colleagues List is a bit different. I begin
a reflection on the meaning of my growth in faith during
this current stage of my life and hope to broaden and deepen
it over the next days. Hopefully you will join me in this quest
during the end of 2021. I will share the results next week.
Other themes of my blog continue as usual.
Blessings as we grow spiritually during the Advent season.
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 ITEMS
Part One
HOLST FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER, 2021
Dear Friends:
We wish that we could celebrate the
defeat of the virus with this letter, but that is not yet the case. In some
ways we are ahead of last year, but we are not over this challenge yet. Hopefully,
2022 will bring better news.
Still, 2021 allowed us to continue and
even enhance many family/church ties and activities, and we are grateful for
that even if it’s not all face-to-face.
Here is a brief account of our family
life. The Hamm members (two adults, three children) have become quite
established in Calgary once more. They have remodeled the house they originally
owned and rented out while away in Oman. We are happy about the challenging
work Shell Canada is continuing to provide for Mark and Carmen. The kids are
doing well at school.
The Lukan family in Slave Lake,
Northern Alberta is doing well. Ronnie continues to be creative in his business
ventures and Sarah is doing very well in her nursing career. Their children
continue to be recognized for their gifts as responsible young people and we
are proud of them too
Paul has had a difficult year working
through a divorce and he misses his two children a great deal. The good news is
that he has found a loving friend who is doing a lot to help him through these
times.
We are still hoping to make a visit to
an alumni gathering of the Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies in Bossey,
near Geneva, Switzerland and have not given up hope that this event – to
celebrate our class of 1967-8 - (almost fifty-five years ago) - can still take
place when it is safe to do so. About 15 of us continue to relate via Zoom. It
is wonderful to keep current with alumni living on the continent, the UK and
the USA after all this time.
Wayne has just completed a fall term of
teaching book and bible studies with colleagues at St. David’s United, Calgary.
Collaborating, preparing and teaching 21 sessions has kept him on his toes as
he continues to write. Marlene works in the church office and as an important
hospitality person. As the family “nanna” she does a marvellous job.
We continue to age; but diet, exercise,
and some medication help us along. Come Christmas, both of us will have
received the virus booster shot and we hope to travel to Slave Lake. We think
of you, hoping you are doing well too.
Marlene and Wayne
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Part Two
MOVING SPIRITUALLY THROUGH
A LIFE SEASON OF "SECOND NAIVETE"
I was raised in a pious home environment and within
a larger community that accepted the basic tenets of
the Christian faith as we understood it.
As a result of my education and experience I found
myself rejecting the literal interpretations of faith
that were taught me in family and church. Still, I did
not give up on the meaning and support of community
that family and church offered me.
I needed to go deeper in my faith quest, however.
Now that I have entered the senior stage of life I find
myself returning to many of my early thoughts and
interpretations of what my faith now means to me.
I am not interested in recovering Christianity as I was
first taught it. Yet, I find myself accepting things that
at one period of my life I would have rejected.
This is no small transformation and it requires some
serious thought. Perhaps the most important change
for me has been a new sense of family and church or
community support - experienced now - that I did
not previously recognize or appreciate.
Currently, I have some time to devote to this matter
so I beg your indulgence in allowing me to work a
bit more on the matter of "second naivete,"
Next week, I want to share with you the results of
my search. If this interests you, please join me again
next week. You might want to click the link below
and think along with me in your own way during
the next days.
For a more in-depth assessment of "second naivete"
here is a two page assessment of Paul Ricoeur's theory
from colleague Ron Rolheiser:
Wayne
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COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
November 25th, 2021
"We are More than Our Masks"
--
Elfrieda Schroeder,
Winnipeg, MB.
In Transit,
December, 2021
"Toni from Montana"
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
December 6th, 2021
"Human(Kind) - Ashlee Eiland"
--
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
December 10th, 2021
"In the Wilderness"
*****
NET NOTES
FINDING HOPE FOR OUR BROKEN WORLD
Advent is a Season of Hope
The Christian Post
December 7th, 2021
--
'TIS THE SEASON FOR ROYAL CHRISTIAN MOVIES
The Birth of Jesus Encourages Film Romance
The Christian Century,
December 3rd, 2021
--
THE RELIGIOUS LEGACY OF "ALL IN THE FAMILY"
Justice for All
Religion News Service
December 7th, 2021
--
WHY DO PROTESTANTS GET MARY SO WRONG?
Immaculate Conception is a Stumbling Block
Religion News Service,
December 8th, 2021
--
ANGLICAN JOURNAL
NAMES NEW EDITOR
Folkins an Experienced Journalist
Anglican Journal
December 10th, 2021
--
AS RICH GET BOOSTERS,
AFRICA LACKS VACCINES
Rich Countries Hoard
Catholic Register, Toronto
December 10th, 2021
--
SISTER IS HELPING TO RESHAPE
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Influential at the Vatican
Religion News Service,
December 8th, 2021
--
DOES RELIGON MAKE PEOPLE
MORE LIKELY TO RECEIVE REFUGEES?
European Study is Assessed
Religion News Service
December 6th, 2021
--
FIVE YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH,
LEONARD COHEN IS NOW MORE
THAN EVER A MAN FOR OUR TIMES
He Helps us Answer "How Did We Get Here?"
Religion News Service,
December 4th, 2021
--
CANADIAN MEGACHURCH PASTOR
ACCUSED OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
Leader of The Meeting House Campuses
has been Placed on Leave
Religion News Service
December 8th, 2021
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
There are opportunities even in the most difficult moments.
- Wangari Maathai
--
If you walk through life and don't help anybody,
you haven't had much of a life.
- Fred Hampton
--
Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle.
- Fred Rogers
--
Advent leads up to a birthday. At Christmas we celebrate him who said he came to free the oppressed and the imprisoned, to heal suffering hearts, and to stand by the forgotten: Jesus Christ. He showed us that God is not somewhere far off, but close to us, like a person who has come to visit us. Like a brother who lives and suffers with us. Like someone who loves us.
- Jorg Zink
--
We are human and finite, and thus cannot live perpetually in a sense of expectation, or in a continuous Advent. We are distracted by many things. Our spiritual awareness waxes and wanes in intensity.…God has come to us because we, by our own power of soul, by our own emotions, even the noblest and most sublime, can never attain redemption, can never regain communion with God.
The people’s suffering should not be made a motive for resentment and desperation; it should make people look to the justice of God and realize that this situation must change. And if necessary, like those who have already given their lives, we must be ready to die, but always with the hope that comes from our Christian faith.
How I wish that child, nestled in straw and humble cloth, would speak to us this Christmas of the sublime value of poverty! How I wish that all of us who are reflecting here would bestow divine value on our sufferings great and small! Starting today, let us be more intent on offering to God whatever we suffer.
- Oscar Romero
--
Mary is the most comforting of all the Advent figures. Advent’s holiest consolation is that the angel’s annunciation met with a ready heart in Mary. The Word became flesh, and in the holy place of a motherly heart the earth gave birth to a world of God-humanity. What good does it do us to sense and feel our misery unless a bridge is thrown over to the other shore? What help is it to be terrified at our lostness and confusion unless a light flashes up that is a match for darkness and always is its master?
- Alfred Delp
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*****
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
Class ended November 29th
**
Thursday Morning Bible Study - Sept. 23 - Nov. 25 10-11 AM
Zoom (10 weeks)
Bible Theme - "First Isaiah" (Isaiah chapters 1-39)
Class ended December 2nd
If you have questions, contact me at waholst@telus.net
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