Vol XVII. No. 16
Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019
GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
EARLY ADVENT EDITION
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:
What every computer operator dreads happened to me
this past weekend. As I was about to send out this
issue of Colleagues I lost it to the cyber-furies.
Now I'm back, with a regular mailing, including a Special
Item on my thoughts after attending my first face-to face
service of worship at my home church in twenty months.
Please enjoy the other items as well.
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
A FEW THOUGHTS AFTER
OUR RETURN TO FACE-TO-FACE WORSHIP
For the first time since mid-March 2020 (or twenty months)
the people of St. David's United Church Calgary came together
for face-to-face worship this past Sunday.
We did so under some strict conditions - as prescribed by the
church council which declared -
- masks must be worn at all times in the church
- use the sanitation stations often
- sign the registry with your name and phone number
- worshippers are expected to be double-vaccinated
- (and) you are requested to affirm that in a statement
- seating will honour social distancing requirements
- food and drink will not be served after worship
- Communion will be served in individual packages
How many current worshippers across North America
would pass that test? It would seem that our people are
both cautious and venturesome compared to many others.
Feelings that First Sunday
I was proud of the care taken by our church leaders to
make sure that worshippers were protected.
I was also proud of our people. Those meeting face-to-face,
plus those who joined us on Zoom totalled about double the
number that usually joined us online for the past months.
Hopefully, that heightened attendance will continue.
Now, our task will be to reconnect with those who were
with us when Coved hit, but who did not stay with us
when we worshipped online.
And, of course, we need to start reaching out to newcomers
as well.
Will we weather the storm of inevitable virus challenges?
I think we will.
Wayne
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATIONS
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON
Sermons and Blog,
November 26th, 2021
"We Get to Carry Each Other"
https://tinyurl.com/bdfc26a6
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
November 25th, 2021
"Starting the Year With a Breathless Hush"
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
November 29th, 2021
"Leaving Church"
*****
NET NOTES
HAPPY NEW YEAR - IT'S ADVENT
Religion News Service,
November 26th, 2021
--
ROBERT BLY,
A MEN'S MOVEMENT FOUNDER, DIES
He Was 94
National Public Radio
November 22nd, 2021
--
WE ARE STARDUST
Science and Religion
are Not in Competition
Sojourners,
December, 2021
--
WE HAVE OPTIONS -
CHOOSE YOUR'S WELL
The Best Ways to Help Refugees
Catholic Register, Toronto
November 25th, 2021
--
AMERICA SACRAMENTALIZES GUNS
THIS IS HERESY
A Jesuit Perspective
National Catholic Reporter,
December 1st, 2021
--
DATABASE KEEPS TRACK
OF CANADIAN CHURCH ATTACKS
57 Reported Attacks Took Place
On Catholic Churches This Year
The Catholic Register, Toronto
December 1st, 2021
--
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE STOPPED SHOPPING?
Envisioning a Society Not Based on Consumption
Broadview,
December, 2021
--
DON'T TELL MY PENTECOSTAL MOM,
BUT I PRAY THE HAIL MARY
by Samuel Thomas Martin
The Christian Century
November 29th, 2021
--
FOR MOST CANADIANS, INTEREST IN REMAINING
A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY WILL DIE WITH
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Angus Reid Institute,
November 30th, 2021
--
BEING DIFFERENT TOGETHER,
ANGLICANS AND LUTHERANS
SHARE A JOURNEY OF RECONCILIATION
AND INDIGENOUS SELF-DETERMINATION
Anglican Journal
October 1st, 2021
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
Continue / To let gratitude be the pillow / Upon which you kneel to / Say your nightly prayer / And let faith be the bridge / You build to overcome evil / And welcome good.
- Maya Angelou
- Maya Angelou
--
If I can do no more, let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.
-- Louisa May Alcott
--
Whenever I groan within myself and think how hard it is to keep writing about love in these times of tension and strife, which may at any moment become for us all a time of terror, I think to myself, “What else is the world interested in?” What else do we all want, each one of us, except to love and be loved, in our families, in our work, in all our relationships? God is love. Love casts out fear. Even the most ardent revolutionist, seeking to change the world, to overturn the tables of the money changers, is trying to make a world where it is easier for people to love.
- Dorothy Day
--
Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it – because he is out of place in it, and yet must be in it – his place is with those others who do not belong, who are rejected because they are regarded as weak; and with those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, and are tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. He is mysteriously present in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst.
- Thomas Merton
--
CLOSING THOUGHT - Desmond Tutu
Your ordinary acts of love and hope point to the extraordinary promise that every human life is of inestimable value.
(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
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
(end)
******
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