GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: wholst@telus.net
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: wholst@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,
I am a little slow in providing Colleagues List this weekend
as I was waiting for a computer problem to clear up.
Hopefully, most of it has, and please bear with me where
it has not.
My Special Item this weekend is my July column for the
Anglican Journal entitled "Trillium and Wild Rose" - a
reflection on the provincial flowers of Ontario and Alberta
for reasons explained in the column.
I was saddened to learn that AJ editor Tess Sison has
stepped down. She will be missed. Especially by me.
A special thanks to John Horman, a seminary classmate
from the 1960's. I am appreciative of his comments on
the Book of Revelation from a scholarly perspective that
I believe are quite clearly stated.
I provide the regular number of items that normally
appear in an issue, but all of them are new, of course.
Wayne
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
My Anglican Journal Column for July, 2018
"Trillium and Wild Rose"
https://tinyurl.com/ybmdp9ap
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMENT
I am a little slow in providing Colleagues List this weekend
as I was waiting for a computer problem to clear up.
Hopefully, most of it has, and please bear with me where
it has not.
My Special Item this weekend is my July column for the
Anglican Journal entitled "Trillium and Wild Rose" - a
reflection on the provincial flowers of Ontario and Alberta
for reasons explained in the column.
I was saddened to learn that AJ editor Tess Sison has
stepped down. She will be missed. Especially by me.
A special thanks to John Horman, a seminary classmate
from the 1960's. I am appreciative of his comments on
the Book of Revelation from a scholarly perspective that
I believe are quite clearly stated.
I provide the regular number of items that normally
appear in an issue, but all of them are new, of course.
Wayne
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
My Anglican Journal Column for July, 2018
"Trillium and Wild Rose"
https://tinyurl.com/ybmdp9ap
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMENT
July 8th, 2019
John Horman,
Waterloo, ON
Re: Book Notice (Colleagues List, July 8th, 2018)
"Revelation -
For Progressive Christians" by Donald Schmidt
Dear Wayne:
For quite a few years of my life I spent a great deal of
time with the Revelation of John. I don't anymore, since
I have become fascinated with the Gospel of Thomas to
the extent that the Revelation no longer occupies much
of my time. I don't mind sharing some of my conclusions:
*The Revelation does not have a "literal meaning" in the
usual sense of the term. It is, in the words of Austin Farrer,
a "rebirth of images". While many would understand it, in
the model of Daniel, a coded reference to recent history,
this, I believe, is misguided. The problem is that the images
are polyvalent. It is like the parable of the corrupt accountant.
When asked by a prospective employer to add two plus two,
the first said "five" and was rejected, the second said "four"
and was at least considered, but the last, who was hired,
said, "What would you like it to be?" And so it is with the
Revelation, which has been variously interpreted. I believe
that it is most likely an encouragement to martyrdom. All
uses of nikao, "conquer" (in Greek), can be understood as
references to martyrdom. The prototype is the "lion from
the tribe of Judah" who was the lamb "standing as if slain"
in chapter five. But who knows, really?
*The language of Revelation is an imitation of Septuagintal
Greek, and is part of the imagery. The numerous grammatical
irregularities are intentional and add to this effect. Thus God
is "the Being and the Was and the Coming one." It gives the
work a scriptural patina (since up to around 150 the Church's
scriptures were more or less the Septuagint. Numerous
allusions to Scripture are also part of the imagery; it is idle
to ask after the original meanings of the passages to which
the author alludes. Interestingly, while the author forbids any
alteration to his text, Revelation contains more textual
variants per page than any other New Testament document.
*The book is undateable, since its references are all to its
own polyvalent internal set of images.
*The Christian Church has rightly been very ambivalent about
the book. The truth is that it is susceptible to a much greater
variety of interpretations than is comfortable for the average
clergyman. For that matter, it is by no means clear that the
book would make better sense or would have a more
acceptable meaning if the author was available to explain
what he meant. Yet awkwardly it has been included in the
canon. So the dilemma for the Christian clergy is that their
"sheep" will inevitably come up with various accounts, and
therefore will expect an accounting from their "shepherds".
Fortunately, as a Unitarian, I don't have that problem...
Good luck to those who do.
.
John
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
"Thai Cave Rescue a Study in Ethics"
https://tinyurl.com/ybfu4emj
--
Elfrieda Schroeder,
Winnipeg, MB.
In Transit,
July 11th, 2018
"Oh the Places I've Been"
https://tinyurl.com/y8xaxqof
--
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
July 6th, 2018
"Accept or Reject"
https://tinyurl.com/ycm3qpyq
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX.
Personal Web Site
July 9th, 2018
"Consecrated Celibacy - An Apologia"
https://tinyurl.com/y8q2j9ul
--
Martin Marty,
Chicago, IL
Sightings,
July 9th, 2018
"The Morality of Mr. Rogers"
https://tinyurl.com/y7fml882
*****
NET NOTES
FAITH AND IMMIGRATION -
New Canadians Rely on Religious
Communities for Material, Spiritual Support
Angus Reid Institute
July 12th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/ybm8l7ew
--
THE TUTUS ON FORGIVENESS
Total of Three Books Suggested
United Church Observer,
July 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y99yzsms
--
DAVID AND BATHSHEBA IS A #ME TOO STORY
Woman Not a Seductress, but Abused by King
Conservative Female Seminary Prof. Suggests
The Christian Post,
July 13th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y7ajm7jv
--
HOW FACEBOOK IS TRANSFORMING RELIGION
How Electronic Media Influences Modern Faith
Sightings,
July 12th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y7x7jxe4
--
HOW AMAZON HAS MADE MONEY OFF RACISM, HATE
Giant Online Bookseller Has a Dark Side
Huffpost,
July 6th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y9o5cu9q
--
LESSONS IN COMPASSION FROM THAI CAVE RESCUE
This Was Essentially an Eastern, Not Western Operation
La Croix International
July 14th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y7tmr4us
--
INDIA'S TOP COURT MULLS
LEGALIZING SAME-SEX UNIONS
Western Gender Trends Influencing India
UCA News
July 10th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/ycwz2xlu
--
IN PLAINS GEORGIA, AN EVANGELICAL
POLITICIAN LIKE NO OTHER
Carter Gives Southern Evangelicalism a Good Name
Christian Science Monitor
July 11th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/ybffe97c
--
MARTIN LUTHER LETTER - CRITICAL
OF JEWS - IS UP FOR AUCTION
Famous Flaw of the Reformer
Religion News Service
July 10th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/yd8b5lh8
--
MONT SAINT-MICHEL AS SPIRITUAL
OASIS FOR SECULAR TIMES
French Pilgrimage Site a Special Place
National Catholic Reporter,
July 1th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/ycrbctz6
--
MERTON'S "SEVEN STORY MOUNTAIN"
PUBLISHED SEVENTY YEARS AGO
Review of Book as it Appeared in 1948
America Magazine,
July 11th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y9cqwpud
*****
MOMENT IN TIME
July 12th, 1966
Medical Care Act introduced in the House of Commons
When the Medical Care Act was introduced on this day in
1966, Liberal health and welfare minister Allan MacEachen
described the bill’s animating principle this way: “Health
is not a privilege tied to the state of one’s bank account,
but rather a basic right which should be open to all.” Canada
already had (mostly) universal coverage for hospital care,
but Lester Pearson and his minority government wanted to
go one big step further, offering to foot half the provincial
and territorial bill for physicians’ services outside hospitals.
In exchange, the provinces would have to make coverage comprehensive, publicly administered, portable and available
to all, regardless of ability to pay. Four years earlier,
Saskatchewan had touched off a bitter doctors’ strike when it
adopted something similar. The Canadian Medical Association
fought Ottawa’s bid to take the Saskatchewan experiment
national, arguing governments would be better off limiting
state health-care to the poor. But the concerns of the medical profession paled next to their patients’ enthusiasm for medicare.
The act ultimately passed the House with near-unanimous
support. The main knock against it was that it wouldn’t take
effect fast enough to mark the country’s 100th birthday.
- Kelly Grant
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
From Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
There must be repentance. We must acknowledge
that to be silent is to agree, to be complicit.
- Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis
--
Love is the ultimate revelation, the final sanctuary.
- Toyohiko Kagawa
--
Once I had asked God for one or two extra inches
in height, but instead he made me as tall as the sky,
so high that I could not measure myself.
- Malala Yousafzai
--
The person who is coldly hostile will always find the
way closed. But one who can burn with enmity can
also burn with love for God.
- Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak of Lublin
--
We deafen God day and night with our words, “Lord,
thy will be done.” But then when God’s will does
happen, we are furious and don’t like it a bit.
When our will becomes God’s will, that is certainly
good; but how much better it would be if God’s will
were to become our will…
- Meister Eckhart
--
I am not afraid of being thought a sentimentalist when
I say that I believe natural beauty has a necessary
place in the spiritual development of an individual or
a society. I believe that whenever we destroy beauty,
or whenever we substitute something manmade and
artificial for a natural feature of the earth, we have
retarded some part of our spiritual growth. -
- Rachel Carson
--
In making a choice it is not so much a question of
choosing the right as of the energy, the earnestness,
the passion with which one chooses. This is how
personality is consolidated. Even if a person chooses
the wrong, he will nevertheless discover precisely by
reason of the energy with which he chose, that he
has chosen the wrong.
- Søren Kierkegaard
--
Here is a letter we received today: “I took a gentleman
seemingly in need of spiritual and temporal guidance
into my home on a Sunday afternoon. I let him have a
nap on my bed, went through the want ads with him,
made coffee and sandwiches for him, and when he left,
I found my wallet had gone also.” I can only say that
the saints would only bow their heads, and not try to
understand or judge.…These things happened for
our testing. We are sowing the seed of love, and we
are not living in the harvest time. We must love to the
point of folly, and we are indeed fools, as our Lord
was who died for such a one as this.
- Dorothy Day
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - Oswald Chambers
We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or
for the other beautiful attractions in life — those are
simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are
made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and
that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength.
(end)
*****
For those interested:
ST. DAVIDS ADULT SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT/ACTS MINISTRY
FALL PROGRAM BEGINS TO TAKE SHAPE
ST. DAVID'S ACTS MONDAY NIGHT FALL BOOK STUDY
A Ten Week Series September 17th - November 26th, 2018
Monday Evenings, TM Room 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
"THE BOOK OF JOY"
Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
Authors: Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
Registration/Hospitality and Book: $60.00.
Book only: $25.00
35 copies of the book will be available for sale.
Registration and Book Sale begins Sunday, August 26th
Background information on the study book will be
provided here during the next weeks of summer:
--
Other background:
During the 2017-2018 fall/winter two session-term -
Total class registrations: 70
Total books sold: 75
Our best year ever, since we started in 1998!
***
ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS TOUR, 2019
East Europe and Russia have been chosen as our destinations!
This will be our fifth Spiritual Travelers Tour, with a
group emerging from St. David's but very open to others.
The Tour is entitled: "From Vienna to Moscow"
We plan a twenty-day tour that combines a focus
on spirituality, culture and the relationship between
religion and politics. The tour will run from the end
of April through the beginning of May, 2019.
A beautiful brochure with trip cost, itinerary, and
many helpful travel hints will soon be published.
A beautiful brochure with trip cost, itinerary, and
many helpful travel hints will soon be published.
Our trip sale will begin (with early bird registration
benefits) beginning in September, 2018
Our Canadian tour company is Rostad Tours, Calgary.
Contact Rostad Tours: http://www.rostad.com/
Contact Rostad Tours: http://www.rostad.com/
Follow these notices for weekly updates.
***
ST. DAVID'S ACTS THURSDAY MORNING STUDY
Ten Sessions September 13th- November 22nd, 2018
Biblical book(s) to be studied this autumn will be
determined by the class at their first meeting on
Thursday, Sept. 13th with ten sessions following.
Gathering at 9:30 AM in the St. David's TM Room
and meeting 10:00 - 11:00 AM.
No charge
Study resource -
"The DK Complete Bible Handbook"
Edited by John Bowker
http://tinyurl.com/odxlv7q
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment