GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
NEW YEAR 2019 EDITION
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: wholst@telus.net
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
NEW YEAR 2019 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:
Here is my first mailing to you for 2019.
This issue is somewhat shorter than usual but
by next week we should be back to normal.
Thanks for joining me again.
Wayne
****
SPECIAL ITEM
... AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW YEAR
Colleagues List continues to evolve, but some things remain the same. I try to provide a Canadian, progressive Christian perspective through the material I send and am always looking for thoughtful reflections and news items emerging from a wide spectrum of religious and spiritual sources.
Book notices, my columns written for other periodicals, seasonal meditations, news items - all give background to my personal view-point from a wide range of denominational and faith perspectives. I hope to encourage dialogue and clarification of issues, not uniform understandings.
I am always grateful when readers share their own links to books, articles and other communications.
This blog is entering its fifteenth year using various formats - which I hope continue to improve in readability. I begin each issue with an enthusiasm that is hopefully contagious.
Welcome to 2019!!
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
January 5th, 2019
"Lessons for the Journey"
https://tinyurl.com/ybysdslr
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
January 6th, 2019
"No Joking About Bombs"
https://tinyurl.com/ycpkbhjp
--
Ron Rollheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
January 7th, 2019
"Struggling for Sustenance"
https://tinyurl.com/y8toxfd8
*****
NET NOTES
WHERE IS CHRISTIANITY HEADED?
Some Perspective as We Enter 2019
Religion News Service,
January 10th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ya8jhy82
--
COLLEAGUE LAMIN SENNAH DIES AT 76
African Christian Convert from Islam
Honoured Professor at Yale University
Religion News Service
January 10th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/yaloblbv
--
GRATEFUL, EVEN AT THE GRAVE
Seeing the Sacred in the Ordinary
The Christian Century,
January 4th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ycfxg7c3
--
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY -
TOP TEN DISCOVERIES 2018
Social Science in Support
of the Biblical Witness
Christianity Today,
December 27th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y8fht44k
--
KING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN
LISTENS TO CHRISTIANS
He is Twenty Years in Power, and
Committed to Inter-Faith Relations
La. Croix International,
January 7th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/yao4k5zg
--
TURKEY TO GET FIRST
CHRISTIAN CHURCH SINCE 1923
In Support of the Growing
Syriac Community in the Country
La Croix International
January 10th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ybmp65cg
--
TRUMP'S BORDER WALL IGNORES
THE REALITIES OF MIGRATION
Patterns are Deeply Entrenched
America Magazine Online
May 14th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y9dpeld2
--
THOUSANDS OF LAND MINES ARE
BEING REMOVED FROM THE JORDAN
RIVER LOCATION OF JESUS' BAPTISM
Several Churches Reclaiming War Losses
National Catholic Reporter,
January 8th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y7bhrh4e
--
SOME CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALS ATTEMPT
TO DISENTANGLE THEIR FAITH FROM TRUMPISM
Rejection of Their Compromise to His Political Ideology
The New Yorker,
January 6th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y8onqrj2
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners or the Bruderhof online:
Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
- Zora Neale Hurston
--
Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among
people who love poorly.
- Henri J.M. Nouwen
--
Newness happens in the world when long silenced
people get their voice enough to sing dangerous
alternatives.
- Walter Brueggemann
--
Seeds move through their life stages in an endless
cycle of seasons — and the cycle of seasons
reminds us that the journey never ends.
- Parker Palmer
--
Love is what carries you, for it is always there,
even in the dark, or most in the dark, but
shining out at times like gold stitches in a
piece of embroidery.
- Wendell Berry
--
There is no separation, no conflict, no obstruction
between the world and the Divine. All that exists is
penetrated with divinity. Creation, matter, our bodies -
everything is a vast incarnation or manifestation of
Real Presence.
- Sue Monk Kidd
--
Often people think they are lost. They think that
nothing in the world can help them. And then God
looks and says, “It is time.” And all at once everything
looks different.
Everything comes into a different light, and all at once
you see that all is not lost, but won. Remember this,
all is not lost in his eyes. “The lowly shall be lifted up,
the first shall be last.”
- Ger Koopman
--
We are all going to die, and I suppose whether it is
sooner or later makes little difference in eternity, for
eternity is total is-ness, immediacy, now-ness. Living
in eternity is, in fact, the way we are supposed to live
all the time, right now, in the immediate moment, not
hanging on to the past, not projecting into the future.
The past is the rock that is under our feet, that enables
us to push off from it and move into the future. But we
don’t go bury ourselves in the past, nor should we
worry too much about the future.
- Madeleine L’Engle
--
What does a person need – really need? A few
pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six
feet to lie down in – and some form of working
activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.
That’s all – in the material sense. And we know it.
But we are brainwashed by our economic system
until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of
time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry,
playthings that divert our attention from the sheer
idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The
dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked
in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we
know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the
answer? In choice. Which shall it be bankruptcy
of purse or bankruptcy of life?
- Sterling Hayden
--
Although the scribes could explain where the
Messiah should be born, they remained quite
unperturbed in Jerusalem. They did not
accompany the Wise Men to seek him.
Similarly we may be able to explain every
article of our faith, yet remain spiritually
motionless. The power that moved heaven
and earth leaves us completely unmoved.
What a contrast! The three kings had only
a rumor to go by. But it spurred them to set
out on a long, hard journey. The scribes,
meanwhile, were much better informed, much
better versed. They had sat and studied the
scriptures for years, like so many dons. But
it didn’t make any difference. Who had the
more truth? Those who followed a rumor,
or those who remained sitting, satisfied with
all their knowledge?
- Søren Kierkegaard
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - T. S. Eliot
You will never attract the young by making
Christianity easy; but a good many can be
attracted by finding it difficult: difficult both to
the disorderly mind and to the unruly passions.
*****
For those interested, our ACTS program
for 2019 will appear here next week.
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
Here is my first mailing to you for 2019.
This issue is somewhat shorter than usual but
by next week we should be back to normal.
Thanks for joining me again.
Wayne
****
SPECIAL ITEM
... AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW YEAR
Colleagues List continues to evolve, but some things remain the same. I try to provide a Canadian, progressive Christian perspective through the material I send and am always looking for thoughtful reflections and news items emerging from a wide spectrum of religious and spiritual sources.
Book notices, my columns written for other periodicals, seasonal meditations, news items - all give background to my personal view-point from a wide range of denominational and faith perspectives. I hope to encourage dialogue and clarification of issues, not uniform understandings.
I am always grateful when readers share their own links to books, articles and other communications.
This blog is entering its fifteenth year using various formats - which I hope continue to improve in readability. I begin each issue with an enthusiasm that is hopefully contagious.
Welcome to 2019!!
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
January 5th, 2019
"Lessons for the Journey"
https://tinyurl.com/ybysdslr
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
January 6th, 2019
"No Joking About Bombs"
https://tinyurl.com/ycpkbhjp
--
Ron Rollheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
January 7th, 2019
"Struggling for Sustenance"
https://tinyurl.com/y8toxfd8
*****
NET NOTES
WHERE IS CHRISTIANITY HEADED?
Some Perspective as We Enter 2019
Religion News Service,
January 10th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ya8jhy82
--
COLLEAGUE LAMIN SENNAH DIES AT 76
African Christian Convert from Islam
Honoured Professor at Yale University
Religion News Service
January 10th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/yaloblbv
--
GRATEFUL, EVEN AT THE GRAVE
Seeing the Sacred in the Ordinary
The Christian Century,
January 4th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ycfxg7c3
--
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY -
TOP TEN DISCOVERIES 2018
Social Science in Support
of the Biblical Witness
Christianity Today,
December 27th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y8fht44k
--
KING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN
LISTENS TO CHRISTIANS
He is Twenty Years in Power, and
Committed to Inter-Faith Relations
La. Croix International,
January 7th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/yao4k5zg
--
TURKEY TO GET FIRST
CHRISTIAN CHURCH SINCE 1923
In Support of the Growing
Syriac Community in the Country
La Croix International
January 10th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ybmp65cg
--
TRUMP'S BORDER WALL IGNORES
THE REALITIES OF MIGRATION
Patterns are Deeply Entrenched
America Magazine Online
May 14th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y9dpeld2
--
THOUSANDS OF LAND MINES ARE
BEING REMOVED FROM THE JORDAN
RIVER LOCATION OF JESUS' BAPTISM
Several Churches Reclaiming War Losses
National Catholic Reporter,
January 8th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y7bhrh4e
--
SOME CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALS ATTEMPT
TO DISENTANGLE THEIR FAITH FROM TRUMPISM
Rejection of Their Compromise to His Political Ideology
The New Yorker,
January 6th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y8onqrj2
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners or the Bruderhof online:
Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
- Zora Neale Hurston
--
Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among
people who love poorly.
- Henri J.M. Nouwen
--
Newness happens in the world when long silenced
people get their voice enough to sing dangerous
alternatives.
- Walter Brueggemann
--
Seeds move through their life stages in an endless
cycle of seasons — and the cycle of seasons
reminds us that the journey never ends.
- Parker Palmer
--
Love is what carries you, for it is always there,
even in the dark, or most in the dark, but
shining out at times like gold stitches in a
piece of embroidery.
- Wendell Berry
--
There is no separation, no conflict, no obstruction
between the world and the Divine. All that exists is
penetrated with divinity. Creation, matter, our bodies -
everything is a vast incarnation or manifestation of
Real Presence.
- Sue Monk Kidd
--
Often people think they are lost. They think that
nothing in the world can help them. And then God
looks and says, “It is time.” And all at once everything
looks different.
Everything comes into a different light, and all at once
you see that all is not lost, but won. Remember this,
all is not lost in his eyes. “The lowly shall be lifted up,
the first shall be last.”
- Ger Koopman
--
We are all going to die, and I suppose whether it is
sooner or later makes little difference in eternity, for
eternity is total is-ness, immediacy, now-ness. Living
in eternity is, in fact, the way we are supposed to live
all the time, right now, in the immediate moment, not
hanging on to the past, not projecting into the future.
The past is the rock that is under our feet, that enables
us to push off from it and move into the future. But we
don’t go bury ourselves in the past, nor should we
worry too much about the future.
- Madeleine L’Engle
--
What does a person need – really need? A few
pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six
feet to lie down in – and some form of working
activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.
That’s all – in the material sense. And we know it.
But we are brainwashed by our economic system
until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of
time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry,
playthings that divert our attention from the sheer
idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The
dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked
in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we
know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the
answer? In choice. Which shall it be bankruptcy
of purse or bankruptcy of life?
- Sterling Hayden
--
Although the scribes could explain where the
Messiah should be born, they remained quite
unperturbed in Jerusalem. They did not
accompany the Wise Men to seek him.
Similarly we may be able to explain every
article of our faith, yet remain spiritually
motionless. The power that moved heaven
and earth leaves us completely unmoved.
What a contrast! The three kings had only
a rumor to go by. But it spurred them to set
out on a long, hard journey. The scribes,
meanwhile, were much better informed, much
better versed. They had sat and studied the
scriptures for years, like so many dons. But
it didn’t make any difference. Who had the
more truth? Those who followed a rumor,
or those who remained sitting, satisfied with
all their knowledge?
- Søren Kierkegaard
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - T. S. Eliot
You will never attract the young by making
Christianity easy; but a good many can be
attracted by finding it difficult: difficult both to
the disorderly mind and to the unruly passions.
*****
For those interested, our ACTS program
for 2019 will appear here next week.
(end)
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