Wayne's Blog

Friday, January 22, 2021

Colleagues List, January 24th, 2021

Vol XVI. No. 25

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019 http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com

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 - waholst@telus.net

******

Dear Friends:

My Special Item this week is my January column for the Anglican Journal, entitled "First Steps in Knowing God". It deals with faith and reason, religion and science, and I consider it timely.

The remaining material is new and hopefully helpful as well.

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.

******

SPECIAL ITEM

My Anglican Journal Column for January -

"First Steps in Knowing God"

https://tinyurl.com/y424b9y5

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Jim Taylor, Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
January 17th, 2021

"Some Coincidences Defy Credibility"
https://tinyurl.com/y62kaqkg

--

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site
January 18th, 2021

"Grieving Death"
https://tinyurl.com/yybwa347

Mark Whittall,

Ottawa, ON

Sermons and Blog

January 22nd, 2021

"It's Time"

https://tinyurl.com/yyrd9nqy

*****

NET NOTES

HEALING STARTS NOW
New President, New Times

Catholic Register, Toronto
January 14th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/yyej2jwd

--

HEALING AND UNITY? NOT YET
There is Such a Thing as Cheap Grace

Religion News Service
January 19th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/yyndcgjg

--

AMERICAN MUSLIMS BREATHE SIGH OF RELIEF
Trump's Ban on Muslim Lands has Been Lifted

Religion News Service,
January 21st, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y2os4zxo

--

END OF TRUMP'S PRO-CHRISTIAN PRESIDENCY
His Outreach to Evangelicals Wasn't Enough

Religion News Service,
January 19th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y5p5kat6

--

IT TAKES COURAGE TO GO ON FACING THE WINDS
Column by Joan Chittister on These Difficult Times

National Catholic Reporter
January 21st, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/yyojfmyz

--

WANT YOUR KIDS TO FOLLOW IN YOUR FAITH?
Take a Page from Religious Conservatives

Religion News Service
January 19th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y3qncxoc

--

CHRISTIANITY TURNS 500 IN THE PHILIPPINES
An Early Mission Field of European Colonialism

Catholic Register, Toronto
January 20th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y2vryaq3

--

WHY DIDN'T JESUS COME AS A WOMAN?
Gendering of God has Real-World Consequences

Christian Century,
January 13th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y2oc6e37

--

AGORAPHOBIA CLOSES DOOR TO VIRUS SUFFERERS
Fear of Places and People Outdoors Can Harm Sufferers

Broadview,
January 15th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y45sj6u8

--

ANGLICANS AND MORAVIANS SEEK FULL COMMUNION
Canadian Churches Continue Their Ecumenical Pursuits

Anglican Journal
January 1st, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y3awob2z

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK -

Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

Good people of moral courage are called to
inaugurate a society of justice and righteousness
flowing for everyone.

- Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

--

"As long as we keep dividing our lives between
events and people we would like to remember
and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim
the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be
grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything
that has brought us to where we are now and trust
that we will soon see in itthe guiding hand of a loving God."

- Henri Nouwen

--

Freedom is not a thing you can receive as a gift.
One can be free even under a dictatorship on one
simple condition, that is, if one struggles against it.
A man who thinks with his own mind and remains
uncorrupted is a free man. A man who struggles
for what he believes to be right is a free man.
You can live in the most democratic country in
the world, and if you are lazy, callous, servile,
you are not free, in spite of the absence of violence
and coercion, you are a slave.

- Ignazio Silone

--

I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned
about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm
concerned about truth. And when one is concerned
about that, he can never advocate violence. For
through violence you may murder a murderer, but
you can't murder murder. Through violence you may
murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through
violence you may murder a hater, but you can't
murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot
put out darkness; only light can do that.

- Martin Luther King Jr.

--

CLOSING THOUGHT - Martin Luther King, Jr.

An individual has not begun to live until [they] can
rise above the narrow horizons of [their] particular
individualistic concerns to the broader concerns
of all humanity.

(end)

*****

ACTS programs beginning soon at St. David's United, Calgary:

ACTS MINISTRY STUDIES BEGIN IN LATE JANUARY!
This Winter, Our Groups Meet on Zoom

Monday Night Study 7:00PM to 8:30PM (90 minutes)
Ten Online classes run from January 25th to March 29th.
Our Book - "Braving the Wilderness" by Brene Brown
You buy it from Amazon.ca or Indigo
It will be your only cost for the series.

Thursday Morning Bible Study 10:00AM to 11:00AM (60 min.)
We meet January 28th to make our winter study Bible selection
Classes run until the end of March, 2021

We decide on our study agenda during our first class
Invite new friends to join us via Zoom.
If you have questions, contact Wayne at waholst@telus.net

(end)

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Colleagues List, January 17th, 2021

Vol XVI. No. 24

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019 http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com

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 - waholst@telus.net

******

Dear Friends:

Thanks for staying with me as I work to recover from cataract surgery. The good thing about my eyesight for this issue of Colleagues List is that I am functioning entirely on my own. The challenge part is that I can't see to write as well as I would like. My eyes are learning to "coordinate in community" as the book I present to you suggests.

I introduce the title "The Architecture of Hope" and include my own new eyesight for the future as part of that "hope". It keeps me trying!

My Thoughts - on the book are missing this time but will return soon.

Please enjoy what I have prepared for you this week, below.

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.

*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

THE ARCHITECTURE OF HOPE by Douglas Macleod

Wood Lake Publications, Kelowna, BC 2020. 76 pages. $10.36 Paper. $6.34 Kindle ISBN #781773-431741

Publisher's Promo:

Architect and educator Douglas MacLeod offers a stark and immediately compelling glimpse into the future,15 years hence, in which we can live and work together to build better communities for tomorrow.

This insightful and intriguing book imagines the idea of cooperative communities where people can produce more energy than they use; purify more water than they pollute; grow more food than they consume; and recycle more waste than they produce, with technologies that already exist or that will be within our grasp in a few years.

Most important of all, the people of the community own and profit from these resources.

The Architecture of Hope depicts a way of living that is decentralized, re-localized, and regenerative. And possible.

“Our communities are overpriced, poisonous, overcrowded, unhealthy, wasteful energy pigs – not because they have to be but because it suits the vested interests that build, operate, and control them ...”

Strong words spoken by a character in The Architecture of Hope, Douglas MacLeod’s striking glimpse into the near future. And yet this is not, at its core, a work of fiction.

So often the future we imagine is bleak. The environment, the quality of social engagement and cross-cultural relations, food security, education, work ... so much seems in decline. And, in fact, the future will be bleak, if we don’t change our ways of thinking.

As one of the characters notes, “The big idea is that we could restore rather than destroy; we could produce rather than consume; and we could purify rather than pollute – not just the Earth but our bodies and minds as well.”

While this scenario describes how we can use new technologies to achieve these goals, it emphasizes that, most of all, we need to change our thinking. It’s not that our communities can give us hope directly, but they can provide a scaffolding so that we can create full, meaningful and hopeful lives for ourselves, our families, and our neighbours.

Douglas MacLeod, Author

Over the last 30 years, Dr. Douglas MacLeod has been creating visionary projects that have trans- formed the arts, architecture, and education. From pioneering work in virtual reality at the Banff Centre to eduSourceCanada – the country’s largest e-learning initiative to date – MacLeod has led the work that defines our future. A registered architect, he is currently the Chair of the Centre for Architec- ture at Athabasca University, an online program that has quickly grown to be one of the largest and most innovative in the world. Now in his latest work he weaves together architecture, technology, and economics into a compelling vision of how we can live together in the future.

Buy the book from WoodLake: https://tinyurl.com/y5kpvaoh Buy the book from Amazn.ca https://tinyurl.com/y2c6

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Doug Koop, Winnipeg, MC

Winnipeg Free Press January 7th, 2021

"Reflecting on the Demands of the Day"
https://tinyurl.com/y2uc4t8f

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
January 10th, 2021

"Putting Good and Bad Into Perspective"
  https://tinyurl.com/y2ds4966

--

Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.

Sermons and Blog,
January 15th, 2021

"Wonderfully Made"
  https://tinyurl.com/y3pzzhh2

--

Tom Ryan, CSB
Boston, MA

Koinonia,
January, 2021

"Key Players in the Prayer for Christian Unity"
  https://tinyurl.com/yy7h2tjp

--

Ron Rolheiser,, OMI
San Antonio, TX.

Personal Web Site
January 11th, 2021

"What is Love Asking of Us Now?"
  https://tinyurl.com/yxeq56nq

*****

NET NOTES

NOT MY JESUS
Canadian Evangelical Perspective

Christian Week,
January 8th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y5xgqcsd

--

MY CHURCH AS SANCTUARY
Learning to Open Doors for Refugees

Christian Century,
January 8th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y46lspgx

--

WHITE AMERICAN CHRISTIANS SOUGHT TO
ADVOCATE INSURRECTION AGAINST THE USA
On the Wrong Side of American History

Religion News Service,
January 11th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y5tcugeq

--

TRUMP IGNITES A WAR WITHIN THE CHURCH
American Christianity is Seriously Divided

New York Times,
January 14th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y36u7h9s

--

HUMORING THE PRESIDENT WAS NOT HARMLESS
Conservative American Christians Discover the Results

Christianity Today,
January 11th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y58uyqbj

--

A TIME OF CRISIS FOR POLAND'S CATHOLICS
Hierarchy Was Once Liberationiist, but No Longer

National Catholic Reporter
January 15th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y2dw996t

--

IRELAND RELEASES REPORT OF APALING
ABUSE AT MOTHER AND BABY HOMES
Victim List Much Larger than Previously Thought

Globe and Mail,
January 12th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y2utbg93

--

FRANCIS OPENS SMALL BUT SIGNIFICANT
DOOR TO WOMEN IN THE CHURCH
But Not to Ordination, He Makes Clear

Religion News Swrvice,
January 11th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/yyn28sfn

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK - January 14th

Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof

These tragedies have reminded us that words matter,
that the power of life and death is in the tongue.

- Barry C. Black, Senate chaplain

--

There is no moving on to healing and restoration
without giving full expression to the grief and the
trauma that we feel.

- Rev. Jason Coker

--

White Christians should be leery of our own judgments;
we are primed by culture to oppress and primed by
religion to think God is on our side.

- Caroline McTeer

--

If humans are to fully attain their destinies, so far as earthly
development permits this – if they are to become truly whole,
unbroken units – they must feel and know themselves to be
one, not only with God and humanity, but also with nature.

- Friedrich Fröbel

--

Music is not the product of unintentional forces, but of souls.

When we hear it, we know that we hear it because someone

first felt, thought, wrote, and played it. In it, we recognize

notonly the movement of another soul, but also the intention

which devised the system and the ordering power that

created the possibility of harmony. It suggests to us that the

universe is not – could not be – cold and indifferent, but is

shot through with intention, feeling, and purpose.

- Nathan Beacom

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Henri J.M. Nouwen

To be grateful for the good things that happen
in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of
our lives – the good as well as the bad, the
moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow,
the successes as well as the failures, the rewards
as well as the rejections – that requires hard spiritual
work. Still, we are only truly grateful people when we
can say thank you to all that has brought us to the
present moment.…Let us not be afraid to look at
everything that has brought us to where we are
now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding
hand of a loving God.

(end)

*****

ACTS programs beginning soon at St. David's United, Calgary:

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Colleagues List, January 10th, 2021

Vol XVI. No. 23

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019 http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

NEW YEAR FIRST 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 - waholst@telus.net

******

Dear Friends:

Welcome to 2021 and all that it has in store for us! How unaware we were of what would lie ahead of us just one year ago.

I offer as my Special Item for this issue a book we have decided to use in our church study this winter. How enriched our spiritual exercises can be when we approach books like "Braving the Wilderness" with mutual respect for both science and faith.

Other regular features of a CL issue are included here as well.

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.

******

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

BRAVING THE WILDERNESS
The Quest for True Belonging
and the Courage to Stand Alone

by Brene Brown
Random House Canada, 2017
Paperback Edition 2020.

$18.00 paper. $14.00 Kindle

ISBN #978-0-8129-9584-8

Publisher's Promo::

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A timely and important book that challenges everything we think we know about cultivating true belonging in our communities, organizations, and culture, from the #1 bestselling author of Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection

Look for Brené Brown’s new podcast, Dare to Lead, as well as her ongoing podcast Unlocking Us!

“True belonging doesn’t require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are.” Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives—experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. With her trademark mix of research, storytelling, and honesty, Brown will again change the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to true belonging.

Brown argues that we’re experiencing a spiritual crisis of disconnection, and introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge everything we believe about ourselves and each other. She writes, “True belonging requires us to believe in and belong to ourselves so fully that we can find sacredness both in being a part of something and in standing alone when necessary. But in a culture that’s rife with perfectionism and pleasing, and with the erosion of civility, it’s easy to stay quiet, hide in our ideological bunkers, or fit in rather than show up as our true selves and brave the wilderness of uncertainty and criticism. But true belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others; it’s a daily practice that demands integrity and authenticity. It’s a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts.” Brown offers us the clarity and courage we need to find our way back to ourselves and to each other. And that path cuts right through the wilderness. Brown writes, “The wilderness is an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it’s the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand.”

Author's Bio:

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation–Brené Brown Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. She is also a visiting professor in management at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. Brown has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, and her latest book, Dare to Lead, which is the culmination of a seven-year study on courage and leadership. She hosts the Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead podcasts, and her TEDx talk, “The Power of Vulnerability,” is one of the top five most-viewed TED talks in the world with more than 50 million views. She is also the first researcher to have a filmed lecture on Netflix. The Call to Courage special debuted on the streaming service on April 19, 2019. Brené Brown lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Steve. They have two children, Ellen and Charlie.

Wikipedia Bio: https://tinyurl.com/y5ltwolw

Author's Words:

Two Short TED Talks - by Brene Brown

The Power of Vulnerability

https://tinyurl.com/wudrolrby

Listening to Shame
https://tinyurl.com/ngtbqqp

My Thoughts:

An important task for anyone leading

a study group for religious folk and using

this book is to demonstrate how insights

contained here can fit within a Christian

(Jewish, Islamic, etc.) frame of reference.

To do this, a leader would need some awareness

of working in the social sciences and discerning

those discoveries that can be helpful to people who

are attempting to apply scientific discoveries to

a given faith tradition.

The sciences, as represented here by Brown,

can become a great asset to a person's faith

journey.

We are using this book among intelligent

faith-seekers who are spiritually discerning.

Thanks to Ms Brown for helping us in this quest.

Buy the book from Amazon.ca:

https://tinyurl.com/yymadf25

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Elfrieda Schroeder,
Winnipeg, MB

In Transit Blog
January 6th, 2021

"Shadow-Land"
  http://ens-intransit.blogspot.com/

--

John Griffith,
Calgary, AB.

What Was I Thinking? blog
January 7th, 2021

"On Telling the Truth"
  https://tinyurl.com/y538syvo

--

Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.

Sermons and Blog
January 8th, 2021

"Moments that Change Everything"
  https://tinyurl.com/yxcny9my

--

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site
January 4th, 2021

"What is Your Practice?"
  https://tinyurl.com/y5ervjem

*****

NET NOTES

ASSAULT ON US CAPITAL SHOCKS THE WORLD
A Tragedy Long in the Making

Catholic Register, Toronto
January 7th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y4gy2swh

--

BROADVIEW'S TOP TEN POSTS FOR 2020
Most Popular Articles for Canadian Readers in 2020

Broadview UCC Magazine
December 23rd, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y4bj3x7o

--

THE AGORA IS ONLINE NOW
Christians Find New Meeting Place

Anglican Journal,
December 7th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y5a93nnr

--

HOW TO MAKE A PILGRIMAGE INTO 2021
Beginning a New Year With New Plans

Religion News Service,
December 31st, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yxqvcltd

--

WHAT JESUS MEANS TO ME AS A MUSLIM
Jesus Has Meaning for People beyond Christianity

Religion News Service,
December 24th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y5alngyo

--

CHRISTIANITY REMAINS AN "IN PERSON" RELIGION
Even During Pandemic this Remains True

Religion News Service,
December 24th, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/y4m3efgq

--

C.S. . LEWIS ON 'THE LAST BATTLE'
IS A NARNIA TALE FOR OUR TIMES

Religion News Service
December 31st, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yyw8wojg

--

AMERICANS NEED CANADIAN PRAYERS
THEY ALSO NEED CANADIAN ACTION
by Matthew Townsend, Anglican Journal Editor

Anglican Journal
January 7th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y4ra6bjn

--

WHEN WORSHIP BECOMES ENTERTAINMENT
DOES IT CONTINUE TO BE REALLY ESSENTIAL?
A Modern Challenge for Christians

Religion News Service,
December 3rd, 2020

https://tinyurl.com/yy9r8yz4

--

AFRICAN SPIRITUALITY OFFERS BLACK
BELIEVERS A DECOLONIZED CHRISTIANITY
A Blend of Traditional Faith and Christianity

Religion News Service,
January 5th, 2021

https://tinyurl.com/y5bunerm

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.

- Saint Augustine

--

America is a work in progress. So is democracy.

- Margaret Atwood

--

The birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way
of understanding life but a new way of living it.

- Frederick Buechner

--

The right things to do are those that keep our violence
in abeyance; the wrong things are those that bring it
to the fore.

- Robert J. Sawyer

--

Love pulls people back to their feet. Bodies and souls
are fed. Bones and lives heal. New blades of grass
grow from charred soil.

- Anne Lamott

--

As Christians, we are called to love our neighbors
and our enemies and prioritize protecting the most
vulnerable while advancing the common good.

- Jim Wallis

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Maya Angelou

History, despite its wrenching pain / Cannot be unlived,
but if faced / With courage, need not be lived again.

(end)

*****

ACTS programs beginning soon at St. David's United, Calgary:

Bio

I have spent the first half of my career as a pastor of the church, and the second half as a teacher in the university and the church. I experience much satisfaction working in both worlds. As I engage in ongoing research to support my third activity which is writing, I am constantly finding many interesting items on the net and from friends which I edit and share on my Colleagues List. That way, you too might enjoy information from the worlds of religion and culture. As of December 2019, this profile has received almost 2,500 hits. Thanks for your interest! .

Friday, January 22, 2021

Colleagues List, January 24th, 2021

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Colleagues List, January 17th, 2021

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Colleagues List, January 10th, 2021

Colleagues List, July 24th, 2022