Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2016 http://colleagueslist.blogspot.ca/

Friday 5 October 2018

Colleagues List, October 7th, 2018

Vol. XIV No. 13

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE


CANADIAN THANKSGIVING EDITION
 
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:

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and I begin my letter to you with a personal reflection.

Marlene and I were away last weekend, enjoying the fall beauty of Waterton and Glacier International Peace Park in Southern Alberta and the state of Montana. That is why no issue of Colleagues List was sent to you. I include some of the best gleanings of the past two weeks.

Please enjoy this issue!

Wayne

*****

SPECIAL ITEM

THANKGIVING: A PERSONAL REFLECTION
At a Special Time of Year to be Grateful

Canada's national Thanksgiving Day falls on Monday, October 8th, and fortunately, it is not particularly a religious feast but a celebration honoured by all Canadians.

The Christian churches of our land capitalize on this day in a way that is unlike Christmas or Easter. These latter are religious festivals taken over by secular society. Thanksgiving is essentially a secular festival supported by the churches. 

Hopefully, you my readers will accept my attempt to offer a reflection on Thanksgiving that might apply to a range of Canadians and others.

--

At this time of year, for what am I grateful? Here are some important gifts given to me:

Family and Friends

When one feels without key family members and the firm support of  friends - as I have felt - the closeness of such people in life is very important.

I have just finished an exchange with a good friend who is currently experiencing a significant loss in her life. I can't replace that loss, but I can try to 'stand by' attempting a strong sense of identification with how she feels right now. I remember when some loving people tried to be family and friends for me when I needed them, and I can attempt to do my best for her too.

When things seemed at their worst, I would never have dreamed that I would have anything to offer others, ever again. I was mistaken.

Surely, many of you understand where I'm coming from. This time of year makes that supportive intention even more important to others who need it.

Teaching and Travel

My pastoral ministry has always been important to me, but the time came in my life when the vocation I thought I had entered permanently was not available to me. I could not serve where my commitments lay, and I was quite certain that transferring my ministry to yet another ecclesiastical body would ultimately be no improvement. Fortunately I was able to transfer skills I had developed in my early ministry to other places of service.

My teaching in both university and church has filled my life with great meaning. And I continue to share what I enjoy doing well into my eighth decade.

One of the joys of an earlier career, namely travel, was something I never thought I would engage in again. But it has been returned to me. So far, my partner Marlene and I have made 19 major and 30 minor trips of great significance to us over the past 16 years. (all of these trips have taken us considerable distance and at least several nights away from home - add to that hundreds of other, shorter projects.)

I have the experience now to support those who feel that their lives have encountered 'permanent' damage. It is possible to live your dreams beyond the imagination.

Responsibility and Rest

I am by nature a person who tends to take responsibilities seriously, as is no doubt true for many of you. But I have gone through times when I felt that no one would ever trust me again.

To experience the trust and endorsement of others is very important to me. I work hard at it, realizing that this gift can be easily compromised.

Thank God that God trusted me when no one else seemed ready to do so! God was faithful, and God's people continued to be there for me, even when I thought they were not.

Because I realized I could begin to "rest" in the support of a Power greater than I, I have been able to give way to that Power and not waste precious energy trying to do it alone.

I still try to be a responsible and faithful person, but I have been granted the gift of trust, so I can rest on "everlasting arms" when I seem to be at the end of my tether.

Gratitude

My response to all I have shared, above, is to be grateful. Every day, I engage life with a prayer of gratitude and a plea for guidance. As much as I can recount many good things as I have above, I realize that much of these blessings could end abruptly.

So at this special time in our nation's annual cycle - Thanksgiving - I join with many others of faith or no formal faith in Canada to count my blessings and to pray for at least one more day.

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Mark Whittall
Ottawa, ON.


Sermons and Blog,
October 4th, 2018


“Why Do We Worry?" (Thanksgiving, 2018)
 
https://tinyurl.com/ybnmu6jc

--

Jim Taylor.
Okanagan, BC


Personal Web Log,
September 30th, 2018


“Sexual Predators, Incapable of Hearing 'No'“
 
https://tinyurl.com/y9aphtdk

--

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX.


Personal Web Site,
October 1st, 2018


“The Search for an Indubitable Truth“

  (Assessing Jordan B. Peterson's Book -
   “Twelve Rules for Life
)
   
     https://tinyurl.com/ycajzamw 

*****


NET NOTES

RICHARD FOSTER RETIRES
"Celebration of Discipline" Made Him Famous

Christianity Today,
September 20th, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/ybtaqmwp

--

WHAT’S AHEAD FOR WILLOW CREEK?
Megachurch Model Faces Uncertain Future

Religion News Service,
October 2nd, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/y9dd3sbe

--

I WAS SEXUALLY GROOMED AS A CHILD
"Now, I am Speaking Out"

United Church Observer,
September, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/y789j259

--

FIRST-TIME CHINESE BISHOPS ATTEND ROMAN SYNOD
Resulting from Recent Agreement Between Vatican and China

UCA News,
October 4th, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/y85enyv9WA

--

THE POWER OF CHRISTINE BLASEY-FORD’S TESTIMONY
And People Like Her Have Spoken - How Will We Respond?

The Christian Century,
October 2nd, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/y9rvprr9

--

CONFIDENCE IN FRANCIS FALLS SHARPLY IN THE USA
Deep Concern Expressed About His Handling of Sexual Abuse

La Croix International,
October 3rd, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/yahu8sty

--

RUSSIANS THREATEN TO SPLIT
FROM ORTHODOX COMMUNION
They Object to Recognition of Ukranian Church

Religion News Service,
October 1st, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/ycflvjcd

--

EGYPT’S PERSECUTED COPTIC CHRISTIANS
NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
First Ethno-Religious Group Given That Honour

The Christian Post
September 27th, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/y98g7scb

--

48% OF WHITE AMERICAN EVANGELICALS SUPPORT
JUDGE KAVANAUGH EVEN IF ASSAULTS WERE TRUE
Franklin Graham Downplays the Immorality

Vox,
September 27th, 2018

https://tinyurl.com/yaa2q6lw

--

URSULINE SISTERS LEAVE THEIR
QUEBEC MONASTERY AFTER 400 YEARS
Pioneer Educators of Women in North America
No Longer Able to Support Their Programs

The Catholic Register, Toronto, October 1st, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y92cegt9


Globe and Mail Story (July 25th, 2018)
https://tinyurl.com/yahwtvfl

Wikipedia - The Ursuline Order in Quebec
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursulines_of_Quebec

*****


WISDOM OF THE WEEK

From Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.

- Ida B. Wells-Barnett

--

If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.

- Shirley Chisholm

--

No person is your friend who demands your silence
or denies your right to grow.

- Alice Walker

--

If we can share our story with someone who responds
with empathy and understanding, shame can't survive.

- Brené Brown

--

Christianity is, really, when you take away all the pomp
and circumstance, it’s about hope and possibility.

- Tarana Burke

--

One of the most profound teachings I believe that
Christianity offers is that in Christ we have someone
who suffers with us and on our behalf, but does not
justify the suffering that is inflicted at the hands of
those who wish to do harm to us.

- Elise Edwards

--

Principles invite us to clean up our act, to become
intolerant of moral laxity and compromise and cowardice
and the turning away from what is upsetting: that secret
gnawing of the heart that tells us that what we are doing
is not right.

- Susan Sontag

--

We are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside;
but that will be only an initial act. One day the whole Jericho
road must be transformed so that men and women will not
be beaten and robbed as they make their journey through
life. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar;
it understands that an edifice that produces beggars needs
restructuring.

- Martin Luther King Jr

--

Christ said, “Go and give all you have to the poor and
become the servant of all,” for if you do that, you’ll become
a thousand times richer because your happiness won’t be
made just of good food, rich clothes, satisfied vanity, and
appeased envy. Instead it will be built on love, love
multiplied by love without end. And then you will gain
not just riches, but the whole world!

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

--

Allow children to make mistakes and to joyfully strive for
improvement. Children love laughter, running about, and
playing tricks. If your own life is like a graveyard to you,
leave children free to see it as a pasture. If you witness
a child’s happiness in all its intensity, then you cannot fail
to notice that the highest level of joy results from having
overcome some obstacle – from a goal attained or a
mystery solved. -

- Janusz Korczak

--

Venture to give all your possessions to the poor and you
will certainly experience the truth of Christ’s teaching.

Venture once to make yourself completely vulnerable for
the sake of the truth, and you will certainly experience the
truth of Christ’s word. You will experience how it alone can
save you from despairing  from succumbing, for you will
need Christ both to protect yourself against others and to
maintain yourself upright when the thought of your own
imperfection would weigh you down.

- Søren Kierkegaard

--

When God speaks he speaks so loudly that all the voices
of the world seem dumb. And yet when God speaks he
speaks so softly that no one hears the whisper but yourself.
Today, perhaps, the Lord is turning and looking at you.

Right where you are, your spirit is far away just now, dealing
with some sin, some unbearable weight; and God is teaching
you the lesson himself – the bitterest, yet the sweetest lesson
of your life, in heartfelt repentance. Stay right where you are.
Don’t return into the hustle and bustle of life until the Lord has
also turned and looked on you again, as he looked at the thief
upon the cross, and until you have beheld the “glory of the

love of God in the face of Jesus.”

- Henry Drummond

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - M. Scott Peck

Community requires the confession of brokenness. But
how remarkable it is that in our culture brokenness must
be “confessed.” We think of confession as an act that
should be carried out in secret, in the darkness of the
confessional, with the guarantee of professional priestly
or psychiatric confidentiality. Yet the reality is that every
human being is broken and vulnerable. How strange that
we should ordinarily feel compelled to hide our wounds
when we are all wounded! Community requires the ability
to expose our wounds and weaknesses to our fellow
creatures. It also requires the ability to be affected by
the wounds of others. But even more important is the
love that arises among us when we share, both ways,
our woundedness.

With remorse, confession becomes a joy.

(end)

*****


For those interested:

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


(No class on Thanksgiving Monday)

"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
 
Registration and Book Sale began Sunday, August 26th
45 copies of the book were available for sale.
All are now sold. Total on site registrations: 42
(plus 3 on-line participants). Total: 45

Hardcover edition - https://tinyurl.com/yd849r6g
 
Background information on the study book will be
provided here during the weeks of the course.

--

Some annual stats:

During the 2017-2018 fall/winter two term series -
Total class registrations: 70
Total books sold: 84

Our best year ever, since we started in 1998!

***

ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS TOUR, 2019
East Europe and Russia were 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 April 26th
through May 16th, 2019.

https://tinyurl.com/y834742f

A beautiful brochure with trip cost, itinerary, and
many helpful travel hints has been published.


https://tinyurl.com/y7j55gym

Our trip sale has just reached an important milestone
as 29 persons have registered, helping us to surpass our
optimal goal of 28 passengers (all have earned early bird
registration benefits). A waiting list has been set up to
continue receiving applicants to replace any drop-outs 
and with special $300. savings to November 15th.
 
Our Canadian tour company is Rostad Tours, Calgary.
Contact Rostad Tours: http://www.rostad.com/

Phone 1-800-361-8687 or 403-238-4090.

Follow these notices for weekly updates.

***


ST. DAVID'S ACTS THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
 
Our theme this autumn: Hebrew Wisdom Literature -
 
"A Study of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon" -
 
Ten Sessions - September 20th-November 22nd, 2018

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

*****

 

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