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

Friday 22 February 2019

Colleagues List, February 24th, 2019

Vol. XIV No. 32

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
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:
 
This issue of Colleagues List brings you the opportunity
fo learn more about one of Canada's leading writers
and critics - Northrup Frye. He is now dead for almost
30 years, but his work lives on. Thanks, in this case,
to Don Collett who writes "Universal Spirit" - a book
coming out this week that blends the literary, the
psychological and the spiritual.
 
Many of the "Net Notes" you can read here this week
have the stench of scandal associated with them, but
these are stories we need to know about.
 
May the Spirit guide your reading.
 
Wayne

*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

UNIVERSAL SPIRIT
The Seasons of the Christian Year
in the Company of Northrop Frye,
Written by Don Collett

Wood Lake Publishing, Kelowna, BC.
March 1st, 2019. 186 pages
Softcover edition $20.00 CAD
Kindle edition $12.50 CAD
ISBN #978-1-77343=034-8

Publisher's Promo:

To a church that increasingly addresses itself to
biblically illiterate people, to people who may have
little or no church experience, and to those who
simply call themselves spiritual-but-not-religious...

Don Collett’s look at the Christian year inspired
by the work of the great Canadian scholar
Northrop Frye offers a priceless gift.

“Frye conceived of a world beyond the normal
confines of Christian doctrine and theology”
writes Collett, “and then found a place for
Christian doctrine and theology to provide
the hope this world needs.”

This movement, says Collett, allows us to
“begin conversations that seem wholly secular” –
conversations that happen in “language” most
familiar to people today, both inside and outside
the church – “and arrive at the vocabulary of
the spiritual life.”

--
 
Author's Words:

My Life With Norrie
An Introduction to the book, by Don Collett

To his friends he was Norrie... He was an august and holy
presence at (Victoria University, University of Toronto).
More often, one might pass him by chance on the way to
class (even as I attended Emmanuel College for my
seminary training nearby)....

We were quite taken by his books like The Great Code and
Words With Power but that didn't mean we could ask intelligent questions about them...

(I remember the day he died, and heard the news on CBC.
I cannot remember any similar impact of the death of a
person so affecting a large (church) meeting like I was
attending at the time).

Everyone knew he was our greatest. We had a sense that
a legend had passed. He was perhaps the last giant left
in the land in the waning years of mainline Protestantism
in Canada. He was the very best our tradition had produced
and perhaps ever would produce...

(The author then describes something of his life as a minister)
The great theologian Walter Brueggemann called  my kind
"a poet of the gospel."

For fifty years, Frye had a pulpit, but it was not in a church.
His pulpit was his classroom. He witnessed without preaching,
to testify but never confess. He felt it highly unethical to
share his faith stance with his students. Nevertheless, the
breadth of his faith shone through in his passion as a teacher
and a critic. He considered his witness to be the articulation
of form to culture. Christianity and its texts were inextricably
tied into that culture. In the tradition of the United Church,
to find a connection between Christian faith and culture is
perhaps the highest calling and in some ways fits the larger
purpose of the denomination itself. (Frye remained United).

A year before he died, Frye wrote The Double Vision: Language
and Meaning in Religion. In this book we could see him in all his penetrating insight and wisdom.
         

(The author had access to Frye's papers after his death and
found great riches that the man had never published.)

Frye offered vision among the smoke and the ashes of 
human life.

(Frye viewed the Bible as a lens thru which the whole is seen.
He saw beyond doctrine but realized that good theology
needed doctrine for people to return to after they had
searched for meaning beyond it. He realized that he could have
thoroughly secular conversations and still be speaking the
language of faith.)

For a person like me, Frye's insights have been a lifeline. I
realize this when dealing with people who are curious about
spirituality but not confined so much to the doctrine of any
particular faith. I seek to help such people live their lives
with an unconfined hope. I find in Frye a man with a vision
that filled out my own vision and my commitment to a wider
spiritual life.

This is partly because the biblical texts - always intriguing to
Frye - not only form the basis of mainline Protestant faith but
have the potential to open up the spiritual life to all people.

--

What follows in this book is a spiritual year in the company
of Northrup Frye. A year that now borders on me for 25 years.
It is the work of a struggling seeker trying to make sense of
the seasons of the church year. It think the way Christianity
has tried to organize its thinking about these seasons is
actually quite helpful. I call this drawing together of these
insights from the annual cycles a "universal spirit" - spiritual
truths that may be applied to the course of a person's
everyday life.

What I share with you is the biblical tradition as understood
through both Frye and myself. Frye provides the centre from
which I focus, or the point from which I jump off.  At times I
wonder where he leaves off and I begin!

I am happy to attribute this whole book to Frye. My mistakes
may be everywhere in evidence, but they are mine and mine
alone.


- liberties have been taken by Holst with this Introduction
 
 --
 


Author's Bio:

Don Collett is a Clinical Fellow of the American
Association for Marriage and Family Therapy,
and a Registered Clinical Counselor with the
British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors.
He provides therapeutic services to a broad spectrum
of individuals, couples, and families from every walk
of life and with various mental health concerns.

He has worked in a wide range of mental health
settings including employment centres and First
United Church in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
Currently, he is under contract to provide therapeutic
assistance to employees of Vancouver Coastal Health.
As a minister with the United Church of Canada for
over 35 year years, he brings his faith and theology
to these various contexts when it is appropriate. He
conducts workshops on various mental health issues
and now specializes in addressing the particular
challenges front line municipal workers face when
encountering mental health issues in the community.
He is the current President of the BC Association
for Marriage and Family Therapy and sits on the
Board of the Canadian Association for Marriage
and Family Therapy.

--
 
Wikipedia Bio for Northrup Frye:
--

My Thoughts:


I like books that attempt to plum for us the rich
heritage of the mainline Protestant tradition in
North America. This is a volume that does just that,
and it offers hope for our contemporary Christian
situation. It is a still small voice among some of
today's ecclesiastical giants, but it also stands
apart from many big, scandalous noises that encircle 
us today.

Another reason I like this book is that it grounds
its message in the ancient seasons of the church year -
from Advent through Pentecost. Too many current
church leaders have abandoned the classic cycle
because it seems not to speak to the modern
human condition. I think this is an arrogant mistake,
because it assumes that the human condition today
is different, and that people need modern wisdom.

A final reason I like this book is that it respects a
Canadian voice that too many of us know too little
about. Indeed, I respect the writings of Margaret
Atwood, the esteemed Canadian author and student
of Frye. With Collett, who writes this book, however,
we have a theologian and psychologist who interprets
Frye for contemporary spiritual readers.

I am pleased that Woodlake Publishers has given
us this treasure. It is a primer on Northrup Frye, and
will also provide me with many hours of critical literary
and spiritual satisfaction.
______

Buy the book from:
Wood Lake Publishing:
https://tinyurl.com/y28r3v6k
 
Amazon.ca book sale not yet available.

*****

COLLEAGUES CONTRIBUTION

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
February 20th, 2019

"Faith in Something, Not Only Someone"
  https://tinyurl.com/y6m629c8

--

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site
February 18th, 2019

"An Honorable Defeat"
  https://tinyurl.com/yy9xv4lv

*****

NET NOTES

THE BIBLE AS/AND LITERAGTURE
What Robert Alter's New Hebrew
Bible Translation Can Teach Us

Sightings
February 12th, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/y5eg3n3y

--

CANADIAN MISSIONARIES
RETURN SAFELY TO CALGARY
Twelve Nurses Escape Conflict in Haiti

CBC.ca
February 17th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/y6bumlhm


--

DISMANTLING ANTI-JEWISH READINGS
OF THE GOSPEL PASSION NARRATIVES
Jewish Theologian Assesses the Texts

The Christian Century,
February 13th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/y6bumlhm

--

SAME SEX SPOUSES  NOT INVITED
TO MAJOR ANGLICAN CONFERENCE
Lambeth Concerned Over Giving Offense to Some

The Christian Post,
February 20th, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/y2ypqb4s

--

FRANCIS OPENS SEX ABUSE SUMMIT TO
"CONFRONT THIS EVIL AFFLICTING THE CHURCH"
The World Watches to See What Will Transpire

The Christian Post,
February 21st, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/y5b2oq4p

--

NEW BOOK "IN THE CLOSET OF THE VATICAN"
PRODUCES TOXIC CLOUD OF SUSPICIAN
Claims Many Cardinals are Homosexual

America Magazine,
February 20th, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/y39ghsj5

--

US CATHOLIC CHURCH IS SUFFERING, BUT
CANADIAN CHURCH SEEMS IN CONTROL OF CRISIS
Leadership Had to Choose Between Openness or Cover-up

La Croix International,
February 20th, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/yxf5sfcm

--

ONE IN THREE IN THE UK SAY
ISLAM THREATENS BRITISH CULTURE
Fear More Immigration from Islamic Countries

Religion News Service,
February 18th, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/yyysvnmn

--

IN THE#METOO ERA WHY DO WHITE EVANGELICAL
WOMEN CONTINUE TO SUPPORT TRUMP?
They Fear the Democrats More Than the President

Sightings,
February 21st, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/y6odgs55


--

ZIMBABWEAN PASTOR WHO HELPED OUST MUGABE
RETURNS TO PROTESTING -- AND TO JAIL
Nation Continues Down Dangerous Path

Religion News Service
February 19th, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/yyo844cc

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK
From Sojourners and the Brudrhof online:

Faith is a force for good particularly when people
are feeling beleaguered and in need of hope.

- Margaret Atwood

--

Lots of people tell me I must have thick skin
 doing what I do. That is not my hope.
I strive to grow tender hearted.

- Tweeted by Brian McLaren

--

What I have learned is I cannot please everyone.
And that's been a gift my writing life has given to
my personal life.

Christianity did not begin with a confession.
It began with an invitation into friendship,
into creating a new community, into forming
relationships based on love and service.

- Diana Butler Bass

--

Accept surprises that upset your plans,
shatter your dreams, give a completely
different turn to your day and – who knows? –
to your life. Leave the Father free himself
to weave the pattern of your days.

- Dom Helder Camara

--

We’re just a drop in the bucket, and that’s meaningless.
But we say, “No, wait a minute. If you have a bucket,
those raindrops fill it up very fast. Being a drop in the
bucket is magnificent.” The problem is we cannot see
the bucket. Our work is helping people see that there
is a bucket. There are all these people all over the
world who are creating this bucket of hope.

And so our drops are incredibly significant.

- Frances Moore Lappe

--

If we want to support each other’s inner lives, we must
remember a simple truth: the human soul does not want
to be fixed, it wants simply to be seen and heard. If we
want to see and hear a person’s soul, there is another
truth we must remember: the soul is like a wild animal -
tough, resilient, and yet shy. When we go crashing
through the woods shouting for it to come out so we
can help it, the soul will stay in hiding. But if we are
willing to sit quietly and wait for a while, the soul may
show itself.

- Parker J. Palmer

--

January and February are those months when winter
 seems interminable and vitality is low. In the face of
world events, in the face of the mystery of suffering,
of evil in the world, it is a good time to read the Book
of Job, and then to go on reading the Psalms, looking
for comfort – that is, strength to endure. Also to
remember the importunate widow, the importunate
friend [Luke 18:1-8; Luke 11:5-8]. Both are stories
which Jesus told. Then to pray without ceasing as
Paul urged. And just as there was that interpolation
in Job – that triumphant cry – “I know that my
Redeemer liveth,” so we too, can know that help
will come, that the good will triumph. Bitter though
it is today with ice and sleet, the sap will soon be
rising in those bare trees down the street from us.  -

 Dorothy Day

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Mary Oliver

Instructions for living a life. Pay attention.
Be astonished. Tell about it.

(end)

*****


For those interested:
 
Current ACTS Ministry Activities at
St. David's United Church, Calgary
 
--
 

ANNUAL ST. DAVID'S LENTEN RETREAT
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"
  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
 
45 copies of the book were made available for sale.
All are now sold. Total on-site registrations: 42
(plus 3 on-line participants). Grand Total: 45

Here are power point notes from each session:
https://tinyurl.com/ycz5wf72

Book Description - https://tinyurl.com/ybeaaceq
 
--

Some stats:

Autumn, 2018 Program -
 
Total class registrations: 42
Total books sold: 57
 
Autumn and Winter Series (2018-19) -
 
Total class registrations: 87
Total books sold: 102

***

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 optimal goal of 30 passengers.

30 travelers had paid their trip fare as of the deadline:
January 15th, 2019. This will be our travel group.

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 winter: Hebrew Biblical History -
 
"I and II Kings"  

Ten Sessions - January 24th-March 28th, 2019

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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