GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: wholst@telus.net
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
A REFLECTION ON EAST EUROPE AND RUSSIA
Our St. David's Spiritual Travelers Destination for 2019
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log,
February 3rd, 2019
“Three Stories that Made My Week“
https://tinyurl.com/yan8mywy
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site,
February 4th, 2019
“Ecumenism - The Way Forward“
https://tinyurl.com/y972oh8u
*****
NET NOTES
THE PERSISTANCE OF ANTI-SEMITISM
It Does Not Go Away
New York Times Review of Books
February 3rd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y6wbz53m
--
MR. ZUCKERBERG, MEET MARTIN LUTHER
A Communications Revolution 500 Year Ago
The Christian Century,
February 5th, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/ycdr2p6c
--
WHAT SCIENCE CAN LEARN FROM RELIGION
Antagonism to Faith Can Block Scientific Progress
New York Times,
February 1st, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/y9j6xhsz
--
CANADA TO GET
NEW STATUATORY HOLIDAY
National Truth and Reconciliation Day,
September 30th (Not Yet Officially Announced)
MTL Blog
February 6th, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/y92muu4w
--
MY CHRISTIAN FAITH
IS AN ECUMENICAL MOSAIC
I Traveled a Complex Journey
United Church Observer,
January, 2019
--
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated
refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes
after night, and spring after winter.
- Rachel Carson
--
"Liberty and justice for all" were beautiful words,
but the ugly fact was that liberty and justice were
only for white males.
- Shirley Chisholm
--
Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the
input of everyone who touched your life and
every experience that entered it. We are all
part of one another.
- Yuri Kochiyama
--
It is when we love the most intensely and most
humanly that we can recognize how tepid is our
love for others. The keenness and intensity of love
brings with it suffering, of course, but joy too
because it is a foretaste of heaven. When you
love people, you see all the good in them, all the
Christ in them. God sees Christ, his son, in us.
And so we should see Christ in others.
- Dorothy Day
--
The whole person is a person who is on the one
side open to God, and on the other side open to
other people. It has been said that there is no true
person unless there are two entering into
communication with one another. The isolated
individual is not a real person. A real person
is one who lives in and for others. And the more
personal relationships we form with others, the
more we truly realize ourselves as persons.
- Kallistos Ware
(end)
*****
For those interested:
http://www.mountstfrancis.ca/
Theme: "Who Do You Say That I Am"
Led by Spiritual Director Susan Campbell
Sunday, March 10th, 2019
11:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Cost: $30.
(includes registration, lunch and refreshments)
Restful Reflections and Nature walks, weather permitting...
*****
Total class registrations: 42
***
ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS TOUR, 2019
East Europe and Russia were chosen as our destinations!
We plan a twenty-day tour that combines a focus
on spirituality, culture and the relationship between
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,
Every time our St. David's Spiritual Travelers prepare for a new tour (we have made five, including our next in April, during the last eight years) I write a reflection piece on what the journey might mean for us. This piece is open-ended. Fellow-travelers and colleagues are welcome to assess and contribute to what I have written.
A total of 135 individuals (91 different persons) have made at least one of these five trips, averaging 27. A good traveling community has developed, starting with St. David's but expanding across Canada.
Our planned trip to East Europe and Russia in April-May of this year is open for your comments. I hope you might help us to think about it. That reflection piece is my Special Item for the week.
Please also enjoy the various contributions that other colleagues have made, as well as the Net Notes and Wisdom of the Week I include.
Blessings,
Wayne
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
A REFLECTION ON EAST EUROPE AND RUSSIA
Our St. David's Spiritual Travelers Destination for 2019
Spirituality, by its nature, is a broadly inclusive term and St. David's Spiritual Travelers are expansive in their interests and investigations. During the past eight years we have journeyed to the Celtic Lands, Turkey, the Holy Land and South Africa. This year our destination is East Europe and Russia.
We are not merely sightseers, although we do a lot of that! Our desire is to come to a better understanding of the people and places we visit as well as their impact on us, on Canada and the rest of the world.
During the next two months, we will be thinking a lot about the countries we plan to visit. To help us focus our thoughts, here are three major areas of consideration - history, culture and religion. There are many other themes we might relate to, but these three are a good start!
History
We plan to visit Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and finally, Russia. Until the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, all of these nations except Austria were part of the Soviet Union, with Russia as the dominant power. For the last thirty years all the former Russian satellites have sought to build strong trade and political ties with Europe and North America. It will be interesting to observe how these countries have developed as nations in the past three decades. There will be many opportunities to assess this.
But the regions we travel through have a long history. Unfortunately, much of it has been bloody and turbulent. Some of the countries we will visit have developed democracies as we have come to understand it in the West. However, what counts most is to learn how these seven nations - in their respective ways - honour their history and envision their future, as well as provide good living conditions for their people today. We do well to learn as much as we can before we get there. It will help us to be better observers and to ask more intelligent questions.
Learning what we can of other countries and regions of the world helps us to better understand our own. We are deeply connected to all seven of these countries because of immigration. Canada is far richer because of the people we have generously welcomed from the areas we visit.
Culture
Culture can mean the way people live as well as the special gifts some of their number contribute to their particular nation and the world. We may speak of German, Czech, Polish, Baltic and Slavic cultures, but we need to be more discriminating. People of various ethnic groups have mixed with each other for millennia in the areas we will visit.
Sometimes the blending has been very positive, and sometimes not. We should not be too quick to judge folk biases. We need to be very discriminating and nuanced in our observation and assessment.
Sometimes the blending has been very positive, and sometimes not. We should not be too quick to judge folk biases. We need to be very discriminating and nuanced in our observation and assessment.
Most of the countries we will visit have a rich history of cultural endeavours - such as in music, art, dance, etc. There is much to be learned about the folk arts of the people and we can attend to more than only the culturally refined arts.
Of one thing we can be certain - if we prepare, investigate and ask questions well - we will come away with a rich treasure trove of experience and growth in our understanding of human endeavour.
Religion
Christianity has been influential for a thousand years or more in the regions we will visit - even though a county like Lithuania is considered to be one of the last parts of Europe to be Christianized. All the countries we see will exhibit much evidence of a long history. There are churches, monasteries, saints and places hallowed by the blood of many martyrs.
The two major Christian traditions we will encounter are the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic. However, modern times have seen the proliferation of many other groups, including Protestants. We should remember that the Czech Republic gave early evidence of the Protestant Reformation before it appeared in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Remember the name Jan Hus from high school history class?
A major question we might take with us is this - how has Christianity survived the secularism of the former Soviet Union once atheistic communism was overthrown? What kind of Christianity has emerged in the post-communist generation?
Another major religious phenomenon is that of Judaism. Most of the countries we will visit had large Jewish populations which evolved over many centuries. The Holocaust and other anti-Semitic movements have plagued this entire region. We all know what the Nazis did to six million Jews and we will visit the Auschwitz death camp. But anti-Semitism is still alive and well and we need to be alert to its existence.
Spiritual travel encompasses history, culture and religion - as well as other major subject areas. We have a wonderful opportunity to engage spiritual themes in its many forms on our tour. This will undoubtedly have a major impact on all of us.
We will not be the same after we return home.
Wayne Holst,
Wayne Holst,
February 8th, 2019
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log,
February 3rd, 2019
“Three Stories that Made My Week“
https://tinyurl.com/yan8mywy
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site,
February 4th, 2019
“Ecumenism - The Way Forward“
https://tinyurl.com/y972oh8u
--
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
February 8th, 2019
February 8th, 2019
*****
NET NOTES
THE EVOLUTION OF SIN
What Does it Mean to Be a Sinner?
What Does it Mean to Be a Sinner?
Religion News Service
February 7th, 2019
February 7th, 2019
--
THE PERSISTANCE OF ANTI-SEMITISM
It Does Not Go Away
New York Times Review of Books
February 3rd, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/ybv9c2am
--
TRINITY WESTERN ADAPTS LBGTQ RULES
Reports that Support for the School is Up
Religion News Service,
February 5th, 2019
--
TRINITY WESTERN ADAPTS LBGTQ RULES
Reports that Support for the School is Up
Religion News Service,
February 5th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y6wbz53m
--
MR. ZUCKERBERG, MEET MARTIN LUTHER
A Communications Revolution 500 Year Ago
The Christian Century,
February 5th, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/ycdr2p6c
--
WHAT SCIENCE CAN LEARN FROM RELIGION
Antagonism to Faith Can Block Scientific Progress
New York Times,
February 1st, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/y9j6xhsz
--
CANADA TO GET
NEW STATUATORY HOLIDAY
National Truth and Reconciliation Day,
September 30th (Not Yet Officially Announced)
MTL Blog
February 6th, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/y92muu4w
--
MY CHRISTIAN FAITH
IS AN ECUMENICAL MOSAIC
I Traveled a Complex Journey
United Church Observer,
January, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/y96nug94
--
FRANCIS TOOK A STEP FORWARD
WHILE IN THE EMIRATES
Equal Dignity Emphasised,
Sacredness of the Human Person
La Croix International
February 5th, 2019
--
FRANCIS TOOK A STEP FORWARD
WHILE IN THE EMIRATES
Equal Dignity Emphasised,
Sacredness of the Human Person
La Croix International
February 5th, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/y8zjfcoywa
--
CANTERBURY IN JORDAN
TO MAP OUT LAMBETH 2020
Rebuilding the Anglican Communion
La Croix International
February 7th, 2019
--
CANTERBURY IN JORDAN
TO MAP OUT LAMBETH 2020
Rebuilding the Anglican Communion
La Croix International
February 7th, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/ycnl3lhx
--
TIME TO RETHINK ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT
WHERE THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION HAPPENS
Seminaries Located in Local Church Until 1565
The Christian Century,
January 31st, 2019
--
TIME TO RETHINK ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT
WHERE THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION HAPPENS
Seminaries Located in Local Church Until 1565
The Christian Century,
January 31st, 2019
http://tinyurl.com/yaykscm4
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.
- Fannie Lou Hamer
--
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated
refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes
after night, and spring after winter.
- Rachel Carson
--
"Liberty and justice for all" were beautiful words,
but the ugly fact was that liberty and justice were
only for white males.
- Shirley Chisholm
--
Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the
input of everyone who touched your life and
every experience that entered it. We are all
part of one another.
- Yuri Kochiyama
--
It is when we love the most intensely and most
humanly that we can recognize how tepid is our
love for others. The keenness and intensity of love
brings with it suffering, of course, but joy too
because it is a foretaste of heaven. When you
love people, you see all the good in them, all the
Christ in them. God sees Christ, his son, in us.
And so we should see Christ in others.
- Dorothy Day
--
The whole person is a person who is on the one
side open to God, and on the other side open to
other people. It has been said that there is no true
person unless there are two entering into
communication with one another. The isolated
individual is not a real person. A real person
is one who lives in and for others. And the more
personal relationships we form with others, the
more we truly realize ourselves as persons.
- Kallistos Ware
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - Jean Vanier
It is quite easy to found a community. There are always
plenty of courageous people who want to be heroes, are
ready to sleep on the floor, to work hard hours each day,
to live in dilapidated houses.
plenty of courageous people who want to be heroes, are
ready to sleep on the floor, to work hard hours each day,
to live in dilapidated houses.
It’s not hard to camp – anyone can rough it for a time.
The problem comes in living with brothers and sisters
whom wehave not chosen but who have been given to
us, and in working ever more truthfully towards the goal.
A community is only being created when its members
accept that they are not going to achieve great things,
that they are not going to be heroes, but simply live
each day with new hope, like children, in wonderment
as the sun rises and in thankfulness as it sets.
(end)
*****
For those interested:
ANNUAL ST. DAVID'S LENTEN RETREAT
Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre
Cochrane, AB
Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre
Cochrane, AB
http://www.mountstfrancis.ca/
Theme: "Who Do You Say That I Am"
Led by Spiritual Director Susan Campbell
Sunday, March 10th, 2019
11:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Cost: $30.
(includes registration, lunch and refreshments)
Restful Reflections and Nature walks, weather permitting...
*****
ST. DAVID'S ACTS WINTER MONDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY
A Ten Week Series January 14th - March 18, 2019
Monday Evenings, TM Room 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
"THE GREAT SPIRITUAL MIGRATION"
Monday Evenings, TM Room 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
"THE GREAT SPIRITUAL MIGRATION"
How the World's Largest Religion is
Seeking a Better Way to be Christian
Author: Brian D. McLaren
Registration/Hospitality and Book: $60.00.
Book only: $20.00
Seeking a Better Way to be Christian
Author: Brian D. McLaren
Registration/Hospitality and Book: $60.00.
Book only: $20.00
45 copies of the book were made available for sale.
All but 2 are now sold. Total on-site registrations: 40
(plus 3 on-line participants). Grand Total: 43
Here are power point notes from each session:
https://tinyurl.com/ycz5wf72
Book Description - https://tinyurl.com/ybeaaceq
(plus 3 on-line participants). Grand Total: 43
Here are power point notes from each session:
https://tinyurl.com/ycz5wf72
Book Description - https://tinyurl.com/ybeaaceq
--
Some stats:
Autumn, 2018 Program -
Some stats:
Autumn, 2018 Program -
Total books sold: 57
Autumn and Winter Series (2018-19) -
Total class registrations: 85
Total books sold: 100
***
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 reached an important milestone
as 38 persons registered, helping us to surpass
our
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 reached an important milestone
as 38 persons registered, helping us to surpass
our