Friday, September 30, 2011

Colleagues List, October 1st, 2011

Vol. VII. No. 8

*****

Wayne A. Holst, Editor

*****

Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/

My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telusplanet.net

*****

In This Issue -

Special Item This Week:

A Personal Reflection
"On Smelling the Roses"
___

Colleague Contributions:

Martin Marty
Jim Taylor
Ron Rolheiser
Jonathon Bonk
Doug Shantz
___

Net Notes:

Normal Mormons
Why Priests are Happy
Dead Sea Scrolls Now Online
Benedict's Listening Challenge
Roman Persecution Rears Ugly Head
Metal Thieves Damage British Churches
Muslim Killed Leaving Prayers in Nepal
Russian Priest Seeks "Pedophile" Book Ban
WCC Posts Online Theology/Ecumenism Library
Anglicans/Lutherans Honour Women's Ordination
___

Global Faith Potpourri:
Eleven ENI Geneva stories.
___

Quotes of the Week:

Brenda Ueland
Richard Foster
Stephanie Paulsell
Garrison Keillor
Fannie Lou Hamer
___

On This Day:

Sept. 24, 1996 -
Many nations sign treaty to end the
testing/development of nuclear weapons.

Sept. 27, 1964 -
The Warren Commission reports Oswald
acted alone in killing Kennedy

Sept. 30, 1938 -
Allied leaders agree in Munich that
Nazi Germany will be allowed to annex
Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland
___

Closing Thought: Ernesto Cardenal

(end)

*****

Dear Friends:

Colleagues Tom Cotrell and Paul Verhoef
have recently reminded me that colleague
Miroslav Volf, recently the author of "A
Public Faith" - introduced a few weeks
ago on Colleagues List - is coming to give
a talk at Ambrose University, Calgary,
on November 18th.

http://tinyurl.com/3arhdhg

---

Barbara Brown Taylor, author of "An Altar
in the World" - introduced last winter on
Colleagues List, will be in town, thanks
to the Wisdom Centre, Calgary, at Christ
Church, Elbow Park on the weekend of
December 2-4th.

http://www.wisdomcentre.ca/events.html

*****

In this issue I offer a personal reflection -
"On Smelling the Roses" - which implies that
Marlene and I are taking a week off at the
beginning of October. It means the next
issue of Colleagues List will be coming
to you dated Saturday, October 15th.
___

Colleague Contributions:

Martin Marty - writes about the changing
nature of "Papal Headlines" in the media.

Jim Taylor - helps us to understand how
music offers another way of knowing.

Ron Rolheiser - reflects spiritually on
unconscious images that influence us.

Jonathon Bonk - takes on the subject of
alternate approaches to interfaith studies.

Doug Shantz - introduces the next Craigie
Lecturer at the U. of C. She speaks on
"Muslim Women and Gender Studies."
___

Net Notes:

"Normal Mormons" - the church of Jesus
Christ LDS is becoming a mainstream faith
(Christian Century)

"Why Priests are Happy" - a recent survey
supports the view that most priests are
happy in their vocation (Publishers Weekly)

"Dead Sea Scrolls Now Online" - these
ancient documents are becoming generally
available study (Huffington-Post Canada)

"Benedict's Listening Challenge" - the
pope's visit to Germany suggests he is
not listening to the German people
(The Tablet, UK)

"Roman Persecution Rears Ugly Head" -
far eastern Christians are not respected
for their faith traditions by the Vatican
(Ucan News)

"Metal Thieves Damage British Churches" -
the theft of metal from UK church buildings
is becoming a concern (Anglican Journal)

"Muslim Killed Leaving Prayers in Nepal" -
Hindu Kingdom demonstrates religious bias
is common to many faith traditions
(Ucan News)

"Russian Priest Seeks 'Pedophile' Book Ban"
- concern about what is considered pedophile
literature in Russia prompts priest's reaction
(The Guardian, UK)

"WCC Posts Online Theology/Ecumenism Library"
- World Council of Churches offers its vast
ecumenical resource library on the web
(ENI and Anglican Journal)

"Anglicans/Lutherans Honour Women's Ordination"
- two Canadian churches celebrate the 35th
anniversary of women's ordination this year
(Anglican Journal)

___

Global Faith Potpourri:

Eleven stories are offered this week
from Ecumenical News International, Geneva.

____

Quotes of the Week:

Brenda Ueland, Richard Foster, Stephanie Paulsell
Garrison Keillor and Fannie Lou Hamer offer their
wisdom.
___

On This Day:

Provided from the archives of the
New York Times -

Many nations sign treaty to end nuclear
weapons testing/development (1996)

The Warren Commission declares Oswald
acted alone in killing Kennedy (1996)

Allied leaders agree in Munich that
Nazi Germany will be allowed to annex
Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland (1938)
___

Closing Thought:

This week, Ernesto Cardenal writes
of the magic of requited love, and
Matthew Fox adds his perspective.

___

Thanks for reading Colleagues List.
I will be back in touch with you
very soon!

Wayne

************************

SPECIAL FALL STUDY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Introducing the Full Program

ST. DAVID'S MONDAY NIGHT STUDY 2011

"Living Ethically Amid Chaos"
 Two Books by Richard Holloway

September 19th - November 28th
TM Room, St. David's United Church
7:00PM - 9:00PM

"Godless Morality"
 Learning how to separate "God says"
 from doing what is right

Information about the book from Amazon.ca
http://tinyurl.com/3d45x3t

---

"Between the Monster and the Saint"
 Spiritual support for pursuing a life
 that seeks above all to be good

Information on the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/4369obx

---

Led by Jock McTavish and Wayne Holst

Registration: $50.00 for class fees,
the two books and special hospitality

Purchase only the books - $35.00

*****

UNIVERSITY TUESDAY NIGHTS

A Study Program Sponsored by:
The Department of Continuing Education
At the University of Calgary

Taught by: Wayne Holst

"God, Atheism and Morality" (ten sessions)
 Tuesday Nights, 7:00PM - 9:00 PM
 September 27th - November 29th

Register:
http://tinyurl.com/2fc7xr4

*****

ST. DAVID'S ACTS MINISTRY AND
THE FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
ON THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY CAMPUS

Welcome to our -

Noon Hour Book Discussions for Faculty,
Staff and Students Autumn and Winter Series
for 2011-12

Series One -

"A Public Faith:
 How Followers of Christ Can Serve the Common Good"
 by Miroslav Volf

Putting your personal faith to work for others.
October 21st - November 25th - six Friday noon sessions

---

Series Two -

"An Altar in the World" by Barbara Brown Taylor

Discovering God in the ordinary experiences of life
March 2nd - March 30th - five Friday noon sessions

Time and Location for all sessions:
12:00 to 1:00PM in the Native Centre Board Room
Located above the Dairy Queen, Mac Hall Student's
Centre

Led by: Wayne Holst,
Coordinator of the ACTS Ministry, St. David's United
and an official U of C Spirituality Centre Liaison

Cost of the books: $15.00 each

---

Join us this year for stiumlating campus discussions!

For more information:  Adriana Tulissi 403-220-5451
Co-ordinator, Faith and Spirituality Centre, U. of C.
artuliss@ucalgary,ca

*****

SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

Contact us at: asdm@sduc.ca (or)admin@sduc.ca
St. David's Web Address - http://sduc.ca/

Listen to audio recordings of Sunday services -
http://sduc.ca/services.htm

*****

STUDY ARCHIVES

A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted
since 2000 can quickly be found at:
http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/

This collection of study resources represents
a decade of Monday Night Studies at St. David's,
plus extra courses too!

You are welcome to use our course outlines,
class notes and resource pages in your personal
and group reflections.

******************************************

SPECIAL ITEM

A Personal Reflection -

"On Smelling the Roses"

Next week, my wife Marlene and I are going
to Ontario - hoping we will see, among other
things, the beautiful autumn-coloured leaves
of that part of Eastern Canada.

In the forty years I have lived in Western
Canada I have rarely been to the east at
this time of year (I was always too busy.)

Marlene, a native Calgarian, has only the
experience of seeing the brilliant fall
yellows, common in this part of Canada.

We decided that we would celebrate our
wedding anniversary (October 8th) and my
completion of all procedures related to
my cancer surgery of last year, with a
brief but adventure-filled time in the
province of my birth.

We hope to visit Gatineau (north of Ottawa)
Algonquin Park, and Muskoka. During that time
there should be at least some good weather
to enjoy the colours. Also, as a memento,
we purchased a print of a Tom Thompson
painting - "The Canoe" set in Algonquin
Park!

When I lived in Ontario, I rarely paid
attention to things like coloured leaves
and art. For most of my time in the west
I was - as already noted - usually too
busy.

I had church staff work to look after...
I had a new congregation to develop...
I had doctoral studies to complete...
I had university courses to teach...

---

I'm sixty-nine now. While I have not slowed
my work pace much, I do find more time to
"smell the roses" and the trip east will be
such an occasion.

What has caused this change of attitude?
Why have I evolved from task orientation
to a more balanced lifestyle? I give you
a few reasons.

Firstly, I seem to have grown less consumed
with myself and my accomplishments.

It took some major life shocks during my 50's
to cause me to realize that all the work I
was doing was not all that important. I had
compromised my family life, and I had not
endeared myself to many colleagues. I may
have rationalized that I was doing great
things for God, but that is not how many
others seemed to interpret my activity.

Since I have begun to learn important
lessons about relational balance in life,
others seem to relish my accomplishments,
and we can all feel better about them.

I cannot undue the past, but I can live
more wisely into the future.

Secondly, I feel I have grown wiser in
terms of how to invest my energies. Before
rushing into a new direction or project,
I am more inclined to reflect on the
implications of what I am doing. Indeed,
I still make mistakes, but experience has
helped me to avoid some of the wasted
efforts and dead ends previously encountered.

Thirdly, I needed and was granted family
love in my life. When this great gift was
offered to me again, I was determined not
to blow it! Two of the most recent benefits
have been the care and concern I received
during my health challenges. Also, grand-
children provide joy beyond compare. I wish
I had invested more in my children, but
at least I have another opportunity.

---

"If I knew then what I know now" - is one
way of describing my current state. At least
I believe I see things in a maturer way.

I think I am less consumed with myself.
I believe I am a better steward of life energy.
I am convinced that family is invaluable.

Taken together, it should not be surprising
that Marlene and I are heading off for a
week of enjoyment; during a time of year
I would not have considered doing this
previously!

Thanks to people like Jock McTavish who
are covering for me. Thanks also to those
in my classes who are giving me "time off."

If the last rose of summer is no longer
blooming in the Royal Botanical Gardens of
Burlington, Ontario, you can be sure we will
find other flowers to smell!

*****

COLLEAGUES CONTRIBUTIONS

MARTIN MARTY
Chicago, IL

Sightings  9/26/2011

"Papal Headlines"

http://tinyurl.com/6gtmrq9

*****

JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC

September 28th, 2011

"Music: Bypassing the Intellect"

http://tinyurl.com/477vect

*****

RON ROLHEISER
San Antonio, TX

Personal Blog
September 25th, 2011

"Unconscious Images that
 Deeply Influence Us"

http://tinyurl.com/65xg8v5

*****

JONATHON BONK
New Haven, CT.

Editorial
International Bulletin of
Missionary Research
October, 2011

"Religions and the Common Good"

http://tinyurl.com/664pq3y

*****

DOUG SHANTZ
Calgary, AB.

Peter Craigie Memorial Lecture -

"Muslim Women and
 the Jihad for Gender Justice"

Wednesday, October 12, at 7:30 in the Rozsa
Centre on the University of Calgary campus,
Zayn Kassam, Professor of Religious Studies
at Pomona College and Claremont Graduate
University in California, examines how
Muslim women are framed in western discourse
and explores how Muslim thinkers historically
situated in patriarchal contexts interpreted
the Qur’an’s verses dealing with women and
the family for legal and social purposes.
She will explore some of the challenges
facing Muslim women as they struggle for
gender justice and consider how Muslim
gender activists have turned their attention
to reading the Qur’an from a fresh perspective
to ascertain whether it can be read as a
women-friendly document.

Dr. Zayn Kassam holds her Ph.D. from McGill
University and has been honoured with two
awards for Distinguished Teaching. The author
of a reference work on Islam as well as an
edited volume on Women and Islam, she has
lectured on Islam and gender in North America
and in the United Kingdom, and has published
articles dealing with gender, ethics, pedagogy
and philosophy. Professor Kassam is currently
working on a feminist theology in Islam.

*****

NET NOTES

NORMAL MORMONS
A Minority Blends In

The Christian Century
September 26th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/4246e9x

*****

WHY PRIESTS ARE HAPPY
Survey Reveals Contented Clergy

Publishers Weekly
Sept. 28th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3fzoho2

*****

DEAD SEA SCROLLS NOW ONLINE
Once exclusive scholarly
documents now available to all

Huffington-Post Canada
September 28th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3k7l4fy

*****

BENEDICT'S LISTENING CHALLENGE
Reflection on His German Visit

The Tablet, UK
Oct. 1st, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3kslbjy

*****

ROMAN PERSECUTION REARS UGLY HEAD
Rome wants global church to be
much like Southern Europe

Ucan News
September 26th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/6k8xnc2

*****

THIEVES DAMAGE CHURCHES IN BRITAIN
Loss of metal is becoming problem

Anglican Journal
September 30th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3u5welu

*****

MUSLIM KILLED LEAVING PRAYERS IN NEPAL
Killing Stirs Interfaith Concern

Ucan News
Sept. 27th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3bldt9h

*****

RUSSIAN PRIEST URGES BAN ON
BOOKS 'SUPPORTING PEDOPHILIA'
Orthodox Church Crackdown

The Guardian, UK
September 28th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3g85pyd

*****

WCC LAUNCHES ONLINE LIBRARY
FOR THEOLOGY AND ECUMENISM
Documents for universal use

ENI News Report
September 23rd, 2011

WCC launches online library
for theology and ecumenism

Geneva (ENI news) - The World Council of
Churches (WCC) launched on 23 September
the first online digital library covering
theology and ecumenism, called GlobeTheoLib,
saying it will help close the information
gap between North and South. "The time has
come to launch a new model of ecumenical
sharing of theological resources in order
to prepare world Christianity for the 21st
century," said WCC general secretary the
Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit.

---

Anglican Journal
Sept. 23rd, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3wsqbw3

*****

ANGLICANS/LUTHERANS MARK 35 YEARS
YEARS OF WOMEN'S ORDINATION
Celebration of Major Breakthrough
in Ministry Orders

Anglican Journal
September 26th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3pkflh2

*****

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
23 September 2011

South Koreans' visit to North Korea
aims to ease tensions

Tokyo (ENI news) - A four-day visit to
North Korea by representatives of several
South Korean religious denominations is
a sign tensions may be easing between the
two nations, observers said. Led by Roman
Catholic Archbishop Kim Hee-joong of
Kwangju, the 24-member delegation planned
to deliver wishes for peace from South
Korea's faith community, hold talks with
religious counterparts and participate
in joint prayer meetings. Members of the
group represented Buddhist, Roman Catholic,
Protestant, Confucian and other faith groups.
They belong to the Korean Conference of
Religions for Peace and are visiting the
North Korean capital of Pyongyang and
other cities from 21 to 24 September.

_____

Pope's trip to Germany
fails to meet ecumenical hopes

Berlin (ENI news) - Pope Benedict XVI's
visit to Germany on 23 September featured
an ecumenical worship service in the town
of Erfurt that was meant to reach out to
German Protestants, but for many felt like
a missed opportunity. In his sermon,
Benedict said that "there was some talk
of an 'ecumenical gift' which was expected
from this visit Â… Here I would only say that
this reflects a political misreading of faith
and of ecumenism." Many were disappointed
there was no indication that the pope
intended to relax a ban on non-Catholics
taking communion in Catholic churches, or
recognize Protestant denominations as
"true churches" as opposed to
"ecclesiastical communities."

*****

26 September 2011

Suicide bomber attacks
packed Indonesian church

Wellington, New Zealand (ENI) - A suicide bomber
blew himself up on the porch of an Indonesian
church packed with hundreds of worshippers on 25
September, injuring 28 people, some critically.
The bombing of the protestant Bethel Injil
Sepuluh church in Solo, a city in central
Indonesia's Java province, was the latest in
a series of deadly attacks on minorities in
the in the world's most populous Muslim-majority
nation. Witnesses reported hearing the blast 500
meters away. Religious Affairs Minister
Suryadharma Ali strongly condemned the attack
and urged the police to investigate.
_____

Scotland's gay marriage discussion
stirring controversy among faith groups

Edinburgh, Scotland (ENI) - The Scottish
government has begun a 14-week public
consultation, running from 2 September to
9 December, on the question of legalizing
marriage for gay couples, encouraging
individuals and groups such as religious
organizations to take part. Catholic
church leaders have already begun to
criticize the idea. Cardinal Keith
O'Brien, in a homily given in early
September at St. Patrick's Church,
Edinburgh, said "the view of the Church
is clear. No government can re-write
human nature: the family and marriage
existed before the state and are built
on the union between a man and a woman."
_____

Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai
was influenced by faith

Nairobi, Kenya (ENI) - Church leaders in
Kenya paid tribute to Wangari Maathai, the
first African woman Nobel Peace prize winner,
who died on 25 September, as a person who
cared for God's creation through campaigning
for environmental protection. Maathai, who
was a Roman Catholic, died at 71 in Nairobi
Hospital from cancer.

_____

25-year-old Belhar Confession
still relevant for South African churches

Cape Town, South Africa (ENI) - Twenty-five
years after a Christian statement of belief
known as the Belhar Confession was adopted,
the issues it raised are still important,
according to a South African theologian.
"We have not united, we have a lot of
challenges, we do seek authentic church
unity, but issues dealing with restorative
justice have yet to be fully tackled," said
Rev. Thias Kgatla, Uniting Reformed Church
in Southern Africa (URCSA) moderator.

*****

28 September 2011

Lutheran pastor appointed dean
of Anglican cathedral in Canada

Winnipeg, Manitoba (ENI) - In a historic move,
the Anglican diocese of Rupert's Land appointed
a Lutheran pastor, the Rev. Paul Johnson, as
dean of the diocese and incumbent for St. John's
Cathedral in Winnipeg, reports the Anglican
Journal. This is the first time a Canadian
Lutheran pastor has been appointed dean in an
Anglican cathedral in Canada. A dean is the
priest in charge of a cathedral ("mother church")
and occupies a senior position in a diocese.
_____

Asian ecumenical group sees
Philippines as "model" for peace

Manila, Philippines (ENI) - Despite its
protracted and often obstacle-ridden peace
processes, the Philippines is seen as a
"model" for peace building in the region,
says an Asian ecumenical leader. "We look
to the Philippines as a good model for
church leaders actively engaged in supporting
peace negotiations, and we will continue to
monitor developments in that area," said
Carlos Ocampo, executive secretary for
Justice, International Affairs, Development
and Service at the Christian Conference of
Asia (CCA).

*****

29 September 2011

Partisan politics affecting role of faith
groups in U.S., says prominent journalist

New York (ENI) - The role of the diverse US
faith community in debates about the future
of the United States is essentially unsettled
right now due to partisan politics, says a
prominent broadcast journalist and former
White House communications director. Speaking
Wednesday, 28 September, to members of the
National Council of Churches Communications
Commission, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News
said that the Christian religious right is
only one strand of the larger Tea Party
movement, a conservative movement that has
opposed many of the policies of the
administration of President Barack Obama.

_____

Interfaith relief efforts continue
to thrive in Uganda

Nairobi, Kenya (ENI) - Faith leaders in
Uganda are celebrating ten years of successful
inter-faith service to citizens in the east
Africa nation that has rebounded from civil
war and economic catastrophe. Working through
the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRC),
the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox
Seventh Adventists groups together with
Uganda Muslim Supreme Council have delivered
services in health, peace, human rights,
democracy, good governance, and HIV and
AIDS sectors.

*****

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

September 26th, 2011

"I have been writing a long time and have
learned some things, not only from my own
long hard work, but from a writing class
I had for three years. In this class were
all kinds of people: prosperous and poor,
stenographers, housewives, salesmen,
cultivated people and little servant
girls who had never been to high school,
timid people and bold ones, slow and quick
ones. This is what I learned: that everybody
is talented, original, and has something
important to say."

- Brenda Ueland

---

September 27th, 2011

"We have real difficulty here because
everyone thinks of changing the world,
but where, oh where, are those who
think of changing themselves?"

- Richard Foster

---

September 28th, 2011

"The bath of baptism gathers up the
tension between sacredness and
vulnerability, for baptism is not
a pleasant soak in a tub but an
immersion in death. As anyone who
has ever felt the pull of an ocean
undertow knows, water not only has
the power to support and comfort us,
it has the power to destroy us as
well. Waters that close over our
head might never open again. Naked
and unguarded, we are vulnerable
when we bathe."

- Stephanie Paulsell

---

September 29th, 2011

"Some people think it is difficult to be
a Christian and to laugh, but I think it's
the other way around. God writes a lot of
comedy, it's just that [God] has so many
bad actors."

- Garrison Keillor

---

September 30th, 2011

"Christianity is being concerned about your
fellow [people], not building a million-dollar
church while people are starving right around
the corner. Christ was a revolutionary person,
out there where it was happening. That's what
God is all about, and that's where I get my
strength."

- Fannie Lou Hamer

*****

ON THIS DAY

Sept. 24, 1996, the United States and the
world's other major nuclear powers signed
a treaty to end all testing and development
of nuclear weapons.

http://tinyurl.com/3jn9y4x

*****

Sept. 27, 1964, the Warren Commission issued
a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald
acted alone in assassinating President John
F. Kennedy.

http://tinyurl.com/3dn7v5l

*****

Sept. 30, 1938, British, French, German and
Italian leaders agreed at a meeting in Munich
that Nazi Germany would be allowed to annex
Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

http://tinyurl.com/67bvhs3

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT

From "Christian Mystics"

When we feel a person we love requites our love,
this intensifies our own love. Nothing, in fact,
incites our love more than the knowledge that the
beloved returns our love, and any increase of love
on the part of the beloved, intensifies in turn
the love that burns in ourselves.

- Ernesto Cardenal

When another says yes to our love and returns it
to us, love doubles and triples in its presence
and intensity. Love begets love. Love births love.
The burning deepens and goes on and on.

- Matthew Fox

(end)










Friday, September 23, 2011

Colleagues List, September 24th, 2011

Vol. VII. No. 7

*****

Wayne A. Holst, Editor

*****

Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/

My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telusplanet.net

*****

In This Issue -

Special Item This Week:

The Long View -
An Elderwoman's Book of Wisdom
by Donna Sinclair

___

Colleague Comment:

Keith Boeckner, Quebec City
___

Colleague Contributions:

John Stackhouse
Ron Rolheiser
Mark Noll
Jim Taylor

___

Net Notes:

I Don't Do Funerals
Dealing With the Devil
Pope is Visiting Germany
Pope Meets German Muslims
Malcolm X - A Changed Man
Chittister Writes About Fox
Koreans Working in Guatemala
Religious Leaders Visit N. Korea
Breakaway Anglicans Find New Home
Anglicans and Lutherans "Stronger Together"
___

Global Faith Potpourri:
Ten ENI Geneva stories.
___

Quotes of the Week:

Saint Basil
Sadhu Sundar Singh
Mary E. Hunt
___

On This Day:

Sept. 22, 1862 -
Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation
___

Closing Thought: Meister Eckhardt

(end)

*****

Dear Friends:

Welcome to the first of my autumn
issues of Colleagues List which now
come to you weekly.

In this issue I introduce a book
of reflections by Donna Sinclair.
Donna lives in North Bay, Ontario
and has been a leading writer for
the United Church Observer. In
addition, she has written many
books including "The Spirituality
of Bread" (2007) one of a beautiful
series produced by Northstone.

Her current title is:

"The Long View - An Elderwoman's
Book of Wisdom" which, she claims
is directed to woman readers. I
suggest in my comments that perhaps
she is limiting her audience.

___

Colleague Comment:

Last week I shared a comment from
colleague Susan Hutchinson.

Colleague Keith Boeckner of Quebec City
was quick to update me and I try to
clear things up now (see below).
___

Colleague Contributions:

John Stackhouse - (personal blog)
shares an article on public prayer
he recently wrote for the National Post.

Ron Rolheiser - (personal blog)
continues his series on creeds with
an article on "A Sufficient Creed"
he has created for himself.

Mark Noll - is interviewed (podcast) by
Christianity Today on his most recent book:
"A Very Short Introduction to Protestantism"

Jim Taylor - (personal blog) reflects
on the curse of consumerism.

___

Net Notes:

"I Don't Do Funerals" - we are a society
that does not like to talk about death -
especially in many of our mainstream
churches (New Catholic Times)

"Dealing With the Devil" - politics does
not help us cope with the reality of evil,
but then religion is often of little help
either (America Magazine)

"Pope is Visiting Germany" - as noted
here previously, the pope is currently
visiting the land of Luther and contending
with both friends and foes there (Ucan News)

"Pope Meets German Muslims" - a while back,
the pope raised international Islamic hackles
for remarks made in Austria about the Muslim
faith, and he is trying to set the record
straight. We wish him well (Vatican Radio)

"Malcolm X - A Changed Man" - here is a
study on the life of Malcolm X - who was
always going through personal re-invention
(America Magazine)

"Chittister Writes About Fox" - we quote
Matthew Fox frequently on these pages.
Joan Chittister, another favourite, writes
about Fox this week (New Catholic Times)

"Koreans Working in Guatemala" - another
glimpse at the growing internationalization
of the Christian church (Ucan News)

"Religious Leaders Visit N. Korea" - then,
a story about an unusual meeting of global
faith leaders (Ucan News)

"Breakaway Anglicans Find New Home" - during
the summer, we reported the supreme court
ruling against breakaway Anglicans in BC.
Now, a new chapter in that story.
(Anglican Journal News)

"Anglicans and Lutherans "Stronger Together"
- youth leaders from these two mainline
Protestant traditions have recently met to
discuss their on-going collaboration, and
the resulting story is very positive
(Anglican Journal News)

___

Global Faith Potpourri:

This week I share ten news items
from around the world, provided by
Ecumenical News International.

___

Quotes of the Week:

Saint Basil, Sadhu Sundar Singh and
Mary E. Hunt offer insights with us.
___

On This Day:

The archives of the New York Times go back
many years. Here is a story, as it unfolded,
of a key legislative decision enacted by the
government of US President Abraham Lincoln:

Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation (1862)
___

Closing Thought: Meister Eckhardt, who has
had a strong influence on mystical Christian
thought, brings this issue to a close.

___

The crab apples hang red on the tree in our
back yard, inviting me to pick several pails
of them for jelly! Marlene shudders!!

What a beautiful autumn we are experiencing
in many part of Canada this year!

Wayne

************************

SPECIAL FALL STUDY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Introducing the Full Program

ST. DAVID'S MONDAY NIGHT STUDY 2011

"Living Ethically Amid Chaos"
 Two Books by Richard Holloway

September 19th - November 28th
TM Room, St. David's United Church
7:00PM - 9:00PM

"Godless Morality"
 Learning how to separate "God says"
 from doing what is right

Information about the book from Amazon.ca
http://tinyurl.com/3d45x3t

---

"Between the Monster and the Saint"
 Spiritual support for pursuing a life
 that seeks above all to be good

Information on the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/4369obx

---

Led by Jock McTavish and Wayne Holst

Registration: $50.00 for class fees,
the two books and special hospitality

Purchase only the books - $35.00

*****

UNIVERSITY TUESDAY NIGHTS

A Study Program Sponsored by:
The Department of Continuing Education
At the University of Calgary

Taught by: Wayne Holst

"God, Atheism and Morality" (ten sessions)
 Tuesday Nights, 7:00PM - 9:00 PM
 September 27th - November 29th

Register:
http://tinyurl.com/2fc7xr4

*****

ST. DAVID'S ACTS MINISTRY AND
THE FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
ON THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY CAMPUS

Welcome to our -

Noon Hour Book Discussions for Faculty,
Staff and Students Autumn and Winter Series
for 2011-12

Series One -

"A Public Faith:
 How Followers of Christ Can Serve the Common Good"
 by Miroslav Volf

Putting your personal faith to work for others.
October 21st - November 25th - six Friday noon sessions

---

Series Two -

"An Altar in the World" by Barbara Brown Taylor

Discovering God in the ordinary experiences of life
March 2nd - March 30th - five Friday noon sessions

Time and Location for all sessions:
12:00 to 1:00PM in the Native Centre Board Room
Located above the Dairy Queen, Mac Hall Student's
Centre

Led by: Wayne Holst,
Coordinator of the ACTS Ministry, St. David's United
and an official U of C Spirituality Centre Liaison

Cost of the books: $15.00 each

---

Join us this year for stiumlating campus discussions!

For more information:  Adriana Tulissi 403-220-5451
Co-ordinator, Faith and Spirituality Centre, U. of C.
artuliss@ucalgary,ca

*****

SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

Contact us at: asdm@sduc.ca (or)admin@sduc.ca
St. David's Web Address - http://sduc.ca/

Listen to audio recordings of Sunday services -
http://sduc.ca/services.htm

*****

STUDY ARCHIVES

A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted
since 2000 can quickly be found at:
http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/

This collection of study resources represents
a decade of Monday Night Studies at St. David's,
plus extra courses too!

You are welcome to use our course outlines,
class notes and resource pages in your personal
and group reflections.

******************************************

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice:

THE LONG VIEW
An Elderwoman's
Book of Wisdom
by Donna Sinclair

Northstone/Wood Lake Publishers
Kelowna, BC. 2011
$16.00 CAD. 333 pages.
ISBN #978-1-55145-595-2.

Publisher's Prom:

"The Long View" is all about finding
and offering hope. It’s about claiming
the full meaning of eldership and knowing
that elderwomen have much to offer.

This collection of 365 daily reflections
offers elderwomen (and younger women who
wish to listen in) an opportunity to nourish
the wisdom and deep knowing that comes from
life experience. It also holds out the
potential for growth, the opportunity to
waken to different perspectives that can
lead to rich possibilities and courageous
actions.

This is territory Donna Sinclair knows well.
Retired from a 35-year career as a respected
journalist, Donna has found plenty of life
and purpose to carry her forward. In
particular, she has come to realize the
important role elderwomen can play in our
society – remembering the past, speaking
out against injustice, seeking to restore
the balance of creation.

Donna also knows that in order to accomplish
these difficult yet essential tasks, elderwomen
need to nourish their inner life. The challenges
we face today are so enormous, so threatening,
it is easy to fall into despair. For this reason
especially, elderwomen need to seek hope and
offer it generously.

---

Author's Words:

(Younger women and perhaps men too, ed.)
might want to know if there is life as an
elder woman.

I had to experience life as an elder for a
few years before I could answer that question.

I am pleased to report that there is plenty
of it. While elder women still face many of
the issues they experienced as middle-aged
women, they have more freedom to consider
them. I am still working, for example, to
understand the emotional legacy of my
parents, especially my mother. My elder
years gave me time to do that.

I have also come to realize the importance
of the elder women. One major job is to
remember the past. The world has changed
remarkably in the last decade. Social
networking means that everyone can be in
touch every minute. Vast amounts of data
and the latest news can be available at
the click of a mouse. This is both very
convenient and world-altering. It means
that, as individuals or nations, we find
ourselves faced with rapid change and with
having to make quick, hard decisions.

Elder women can help because we have a
long, and often practical view...

We can contribute by speaking out.

In order to accomplish these tasks of
our old age we need to strengthen our
own inner life... It is our task as
older women to seek hope and offer it
generously...

I find abundant hope in children and
spouse and friends, in the wit and
meaning of dreams... in the hard and
necessary work of envisioning a
community full of beauty...

This book is about all these things.

---

My Comments:

This is a book of 365 meditations - the
kind of year-long collection I like to
introduce to others on Colleagues List.

This is not a book with prominent biblical
passages and a special meditation punch-
line taken from the Christian tradition -
like many I have recommended here.

It is essentially a book about life, and
the lessons a thoughtful Christian woman
has learned over many years of devotion
to her faith and to living the spiritual
way as she has known it.

---

Here is Donna's reflection for March 9th:

Time Is Short

My sense of purpose, as an elder, is
heightened and intensified by my knowledge
that the time remaining in which to be
useful is short. There is no way around
this. We receive the wisdom of age hand
in hand with the knowledge that life is
short, and getting shorter.

I embarked with a like-minded group to
travel an historic portage. The weather
was a fine mix of sun and cloud. We saw
a deer. Despite my increasing age, I
paddled and hiked and proudly carried
a pack. Only one moment - kneeling with
others for a simple photo - nearly killed
me. My knees hate that now.

Elder-work includes the ability to pretend,
as long as possible, that we can live as
if nothing hurts.

---

Her reflection for April 22nd:

Earth Day

It's a wonderful idea and responsible
for a multitude of good things, including
international pressure by ordinary
citizens to act on climate change.

But isn't it a bit like bringing Mom
breakfast in bed on Mother's Day and
letting her clean the toilets by herself
the rest of the year?

Shouldn't every day be Earth Day?

---

Some might say - why promote this as
a spiritual book? It does not contain
a lot of the familiar Christian terms
or messages. It has themes, however,
with which many people might identify -
like encroaching old age and how to live
creatively with it.

It is also a book with which I as a male
might identify. For many years I have
sought to understand female perspectives
and spirituality because this has given
me insight into my own life and relations.

Reading this book - in spite of the
author's suggestion that it has been
written primarily for women - is an
exercise I would suggest that men could
also profitably undertake.

Like me, Donna comes from an era and
a Canadian experience, when women were
not treated as equals. Much has changed
and I find that a lot of my younger female
students do not express chagrin with the
same issues as their mothers or grandmothers.

We elders need to listen to the voices of
the young (as well as the young to the old)
because this provides us all with very
important intergenerational perspectives.

My caution, then, is that Donna remain
open to the voices of sensitive males
and younger women, because her issues
may not always be their's.

Still, it is obvious that older women
have a wisdom - simply because they
are older women - that deserves our
attention. That gift is obvious in
this collection, and I am pleased to
celebrate it with you here.
___

Buy the Book from the Publisher
http://tinyurl.com/454cy3u

Buy the Book from Amazon.ca
http://tinyurl.com/4x5loen

*****

COLLEAGUE COMMENT

From Keith Boeckner
Quebec City

September 17th, 2011

Hi Wayne:

Just a note about Susan Hutchinson.
She WAS in the Diocese of Quebec in the
Gaspe, but as she mentions in her note,
she moved to BC in 2008 and is with
Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior.

http://www.apcionline.ca/cariboo_deanery.html

Cheers,
Keith

---

Keith:

Corrections to my Colleagues List blog
issue for September 17th have been made.

Thanks for pointing this out.

Wayne

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

JOHN STACKHOUSE

Not Every Event Calls for Prayer

The National Post,
September 16th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3z9wce3

-----

RON ROLHEISER

Personal Blog
September 18th, 2011

"A Sufficient Creed"

http://tinyurl.com/3gkjk85

*****

MARK NOLL

PROTESTANTISM: 

A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION


Oxford University Press:
http://tinyurl.com/4ybo67z


---

Christianity Today Podcast
September 20th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3dyxtb2

*****

JIM TAYLOR

Personal Blog
September 21st, 2011

"Cursed By Consumerism"

http://tinyurl.com/44kaxg5

*****

NET NOTES

I DON'T DO FUNERALS
We're a Death Denying Society

New Catholic Times
September 19th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3b9qknv

*****

DEALING WITH THE DEVIL

"Political Evil"
 What it is and how to deal with it
 by Alan Wolfe

America Magazine Review
October 3rd, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3urf5te

*****

POPE IS VISITING GERMANY
Serious Challenges Confront Church

Ucan News
September 22nd, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3jbt3yp

*****

POPE MEETS GERMAN MUSLIM LEADEERS
Text Provided from Vatican

Vatican Radio
Sept. 23rd, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3rhvbyy

*****

MALCOLM X - A CHANGED MAN

Review of new book:
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention

America Magazine
September 26th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/44rc6jj

*****

CHITTISTER WRITES ABOUT FOX
Joan Chittister on Matthew Fox

New Catholic Times
September 19th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3eh4pyr

*****

KOREANS WORKING IN GUATEMALA

Ucan News
Sept. 22nd, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3hj7nd9

*****

RELIGIOUS LEADERS VISIT N. KOREA
First Gathering of its Kind

Ucan News
September 21st, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3f8nxph

*****

BREAKAWAY ANGLICANS FIND NEW HOME
Alliance Church Provides Facility

Anglican Journal
September 22nd, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3c9t5o9

*****

'WE'RE STRONGER TOGETHER' SAY
ANGLICAN AND LUTHERAN YOUTH LEADERS

Anglican Journal News
September 23rd, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3zwqjcd

*****

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
19 September 2011

Lutheran church seeks global context
for homosexuality discussion

Nairobi, Kenya (ENI news) - The worldwide
Lutheran church is seeking to address the
issue of homosexuality and the church
within a global context, said the Rev.
Kenneth Mtata, Lutheran World Federation
study secretary for Lutheran theology and
practice, at an international theological
consultation. The issue "has to be dealt
with as it appears in different contexts
... the Lutheran Church is managing [it]
very carefully in different parts of the
globe so that an appropriate response can
be found," Mtata told journalists at a news
conference in Nairobi after a 9-14 September
consultation for Lutheran theologians on
contemporary Bible interpretation.

_____

Palestinian, Israeli students
use art to bridge differences

Jerusalem (ENI news) - Though their leaders
may be at political odds with each other, a
group of Israeli and Palestinian students
learned that they can communicate through
art. "Before I saw art as a hobby, now I
see that art can even connect between people
who have preconceived ideas and prejudices
against one another," said Israeli student
Noga Zer, 14. Zer was among 50 eighth and
ninth graders at the Israeli Hebrew
University High School, the Palestinian
Al-Quds High School for Girls and the Ibn
Khaldoun Junior High School for Boys who
participated in the two-year "Through the
Window" project.

*****

20 September 2011

Group calls for greater
religious freedom in Egypt

Berlin (ENI news) - As Egypt prepares for
parliamentary elections expected to take
place in November, religious freedom is
coming under pressure, a German human
rights organization said on 20 September.
The human rights situation in Egypt since
the end of Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship
is "worrying," Martin Lessenthin, a
spokesman for the Frankfurt-based
International Society for Human Rights
(ISHR), told reporters in Cologne Tuesday
during a press conference focusing on the
plight of Egypt's Christian minority.

_____

Muslims helping to rebuild
Christian school in Kashmir

Bangalore, India (ENI news) - Muslims in
Kashmir, in the northwest of the Indian
subcontinent, are supporting the re-building
of a Christian school that was destroyed by
fire during anti-Christian violence one year
ago. "What happened here is certainly wrong
and it should not have happened. I can assure
you that our people will not allow it to
happen again," Munshi Mukhtar Ahmed, a Muslim
teacher in a government school in the town
of Tangmarg, told ENInews on 20 September.
On 13 September 2010, the Tyndale Biscoe
School was the target of Muslims protesting
a reported desecration of the Quran in the
U.S. that marked the ninth anniversary of
the 11 September 2001 terror attacks. The
school is in the town of Phulwama and is
run by the Church of North India (CNI),
the dominant Protestant denomination in
North India.

*****

22 September 2011

Religious dialogue helped release
of U.S. hikers in Iran

Washington, D.C. (ENI news) -The 21 September
release of U.S. hikers Shane Bauer and Josh
Fattal from an Iranian prison "affirms the
importance of the role of religious dialogue
and its end product in this case, public
diplomacy, as we seek ways to define common
ground between our two countries," said
Episcopal Diocese of Washington Bishop John
Chane, who returned from a weeklong visit
to Iran on 19 September. Chane and a
delegation of Christian and Muslim leaders
had traveled to Iran at the invitation of
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad;
one objective was to seek the release of
the hikers on humanitarian grounds, reports
Episcopal News Service.

_____

The 'Protestant Ethic' still works
for Americans, and American politics

Washington, D.C. (ENI news) - In 1905, Max
Weber's landmark treatise on "The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" argued
that a Calvinist belief in God's plan for
the saved was crucial to the rise of
capitalism because it inspired individuals
to work hard and earn money as a sign of
divine blessing on their lives. More than
a century later, new research shows that
whatever its merits, the Protestant ethic
is thriving among American believers,
Religion News Service reports. That's
especially true among evangelicals who
are driving today's economic conservatism,
and the idea goes a long way toward
explaining the political disputes that
are dividing the country and shaping
the presidential campaign.

_____

Death toll climbs past 100
in Himalayan earthquake

Bangalore, India (ENI news) A pastor's wife
was killed and churches and schools destroyed
in the 18 September earthquake that killed
more than 100 people in several countries in
the Himalaya mountains north of India. Among
the six dozen dead in the Indian state of
Sikkim was 28-year old Nirmala Tamang, wife
of a pastor of the Believers Church. "The
young woman died when the church wall
collapsed on her," the Rev. B. Rokken,
coordinator of the Believers Church, told
ENI news from the shattered capital of Gangtok.
The 6.9-magnitude quake hit mountainous,
remote regions of Bhutan, Tibet, India and
Nepal and the death toll on 22 September was
reported to be as high as 120.

_____

Hungarian church welcomes return
of properties, warns of hardships

Warsaw, Poland (ENI news) - A Hungarian
church leader has welcomed the fulfillment
of state pledges to restore properties to
religious communities, six decades after
they were confiscated by the country's
communist regime. "This is the only area
of church-state relations which has gone
well in recent years. The process was
transparent and well-managed," said
Zoltan Tarr, general secretary of the
Hungarian Reformed church. "However,
while it's been important spiritually
and emotionally for local communities
to get back buildings they constructed
with their own money, they weren't well
looked after and the vast majority are
now in poor shape. Refurbishing them ...
will pose a heavy burden on the churches."
_____

Zambia's faith leaders
call for peace after voting

Nairobi, Kenya (ENI news) Faith leaders
in Zambia are calling for unity and peace
as the southern African nation awaits the
outcome of the presidential election held
on 20 September. The election pitted
Michael Sata, the main opposition and
the leader of the Patriotic Front, against
Rupiah Banda, the incumbent president and
the leader of the Movement for Multi-Party
Democracy.

_____

Pope meets with Jewish
representatives in Berlin

Berlin (ENI news) - Pope Benedict XVI's
meeting with Germany's Jewish community on
the first day of his four-day state visit
to his homeland was marked by both goodwill
and honest criticism. Addressing rabbis from
across Germany, Benedict said that the two
faiths, "hold in common a not insignificant
part of their essential traditions." Dieter
Graumann, head of the Central Council of
Jews, welcomed Benedict. "It is nice to be
able to see clearly that the relationship
between the Catholic Church and Judaism has
dramatically improved in recent decades,"
Graumann said. "And we are highly aware
that you in particular have personally
always considered reconciliation with
Judaism to be important, in fact an absolute
matter of the heart."

*****

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

September 19th, 2011

"I cannot persuade myself that without
love to others, and without, as far as
rests with me, peaceableness toward all,
I can be called a worthy servant of
Jesus Christ."

- Saint Basil

---

September 22nd, 2011

"A silkworm was struggling out of the cocoon
and an ignorant man saw it battling as if in
pain, so he went and helped it to get free,
but very soon after it fluttered and died.
The other silkworms that struggled out without
help suffered, but they came out into full
life and beauty, with wings made strong for
flight by their battle for fresh existence."

- Sadhu Sundar Singh

___

September 23rd, 2011

 "A commitment to love and justice demands
the transformation of social structures as
well as of hearts."

- Mary E. Hunt

*****

ON THIS DAY

Sept. 22, 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln
issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation,
declaring all slaves in rebel states should be
free as of Jan. 1, 1863.

http://tinyurl.com/3wlxgh2

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT

We sink eternally from letting go
to letting go into God

- Meister Eckhardt

Life is a series of letting go moments:
from when we leave the womb to the hour
of our death and our final leave-taking.

Since life is about letting go, it's good
to develop the habit now and with a smile
on our faces!

- Matthew Fox in "Christian Mystics"

(end)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Colleagues List, September 17th, 2011

Vol. VII. No. 6

*****

Wayne A. Holst, Editor

*****

Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/

My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telusplanet.net

*****

In This Issue -

Special Item This Week:

Book Notice:

"The Messenger
Friendship, Faith and
Finding One's Way"

by author/colleague Douglas John Hall
___

Colleague Comment:

Susan Hutchinson

___

Colleague Contributions:

Faith and Spirituality Centre
Reginald Stackhouse
Margaret Somerville
Doug Shantz
Jim Taylor
Ron Rolheiser
___

Net Notes:

God is Not One
A State of Their Own
A Sibling's Strength
Dr. Williams' Dilemma
Anglican Delegation Visits China
The Limits of Self-Made Religion
Irish Bishop Calls for End to Celibacy
Islamists Emerge as New Force in Libya
Global Evangelicals Urge Unity re 9/11
Victims Say Charges Against Pope No Stunt

___

Global Faith Potpourri:
Fifteen ENI Geneva stories.
___

Quotes of the Week:

William Blake
Thomas Aquinas
Simone Weil
Wendell Berry
Marianne Williamson
Meister Eckhart
Madeleine L'Engle
Helen Prejean
___

On This Day:

Sept. 3, 1976 -
unmanned U.S. Viking 2 craft lands on Mars

Sept. 5, 1972 -
Palestinian terrorists attack Israeli Olympians

Sept. 7, 1940 -
Luftwaffe begins WWII blitz on London

Sept. 9, 1976 -
Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung dies in Beijing

Sept. 15, 1963 -
Four black girls killed by bomb in Birmingham
___

Closing Thought: Julian of Norwich

(end)

*****


Dear Friends:

Since the last issue of Colleagues List
appeared on Saturday, September 3rd, I
have completed the last step of a cancer
journey that began in January 2010.

I underwent laproscopic surgery at Foothills
Hospital, Calgary on September 6th and am
now running again on my own internal plumbing.
system for the first time in fifteen months!
It's great to be living with the degree of
independence not possible for some time.
Long waiting lists for such non-emergency
surgery was the reason for the time lag.

---

Last weekend, we presented our Celtic Tour
"report to the congregation" at St. David's,
Calgary and it was a great opportunity to be
together again, as well as to share our many
experiences, pictures, music and food!

Jock created a lovely 3,700 photo collection
of tour pictures from seventeen or our trip
photographers. He included music from five
of our choral performances at places like
Iona, Armagh, Dublin, St. David's and
Tintern Abbey, in Wales. This is a wonderful
memento that all tour members and a few
others received gratis and will treasure!

The tour group met one last time on Monday
evening and plans for new spiritual travel
destinations are in the works. Stay tuned!

---

Special Item:

My special offering this week is an introduction
to a new book by colleague Douglas John Hall of
Montreal. The book is entitled "The Messenger -
Friendship, Faith and Finding One's Way"

I looked forward to receiving and reading this
small volume after Doug informed me about it.
Now, I pass on my discoveries to you.

---

Colleague Comment:

Susan Hutchinson, a priest of the Anglican
Church in Canada, serving in Central BC, tells
us a bit about herself and about why she reads
Colleagues List.

---

Colleague Contributions:

A new "Faith and Spirituality Centre" was
officially opened at the U of C this week.
A number of our colleagues are chaplains on
staff there and I have been designated an
official 'liaison' to help as needs arise.

Reginald Stackhouse (Toronto) - writes
fond reflections of his relationship with
the late Canadian Cardinal Archbishop
Ambrozic who died several weeks ago.

Margaret Somerville (Montreal) - continues
to comment on ethical issues relating to
live and death.

Doug Shantz (Calgary) - announces two
upcoming Chair of Christian Thought lectures
on the 400th anniversary of the publication
of the King James Bible.

Jim Taylor (Okanagan) - takes up the theme
of punishment in our penitentiary system.

Ron Rolheiser (San Antonio) - considers the
value of personal creeds, as compared to the
formal creeds of the church.

---

Net Notes:

"God is Not One" - a review of a recent book
by Stephen Prothero on eight contemporary
world religions (National Catholic Reporter)

"A State of Their Own" - the Palestinian
people are requesting the UN to endorse their
desire for nationhood and Christians should
support them (America Magazine)

"A Sibling's Strength" - a heart-felt story
from the 9/11 disaster, ten years ago
(America Magazine)

"Dr. Williams' Dilemma" - the Archbishop
of Canterbury faces yet another challenge
in his upcoming visit to Zimbabwe
(The Tablet, UK)

"SAnglican Delegation Visits China" -
Anglicans from non-Western nations visit
China in a gesture of ecumenical solidarity
(Ucan News)

"The Limits of Self-Made Religion" - at
a time of cafeteria-style religious selection,
some reflection on inherent problems
(The Christian Century)

"Irish Bishop Calls for End to Celibacy" -
an acting Irish bishop calls on his church
to change a longstanding policy because of
what he sees went wrong in Ireland
(The Guardian, UK)

"Islamists Emerge as New Force in Libya" -
as freedoms emerge in Libya, a new form
of Islam is also emerging (New York Times)

"Global Evangelicals Urge Unity re 9/11" -
to mark a solemn moment in human history,
evangelical leaders from around the world
speak on the theme of 9/11 (Christian Week)

"Victims Say Charges Against Pope No Stunt"
- the pope will be named in a law suit that
is currently being proposed in international
courts of justice (Anglican Journal)

---

Global Faith Potpourri:

Sixteen stories from Ecumenical News
International, Geneva, appear this week.

---

Quotes of the Week:

Provided by Sojourners Online:

William Blake, Thomas Aquinas, Simone Weil,
Wendell Berry, Marianne Williamson,
Meister Eckhardt, Madeleine L'Engle, and
Helen Prejean share their wisdom.

---

On This Day:

Provided from archives of the New York Times:

Unmanned U.S. Viking 2 craft lands on Mars (1976)
Palestinian terrorists kill Israeli Athletes (1972)
Luftwaffe begins WWII blitz on London (1940)
Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung dies in Beijing (1976)
Four black girls killed by bomb in Birmingham (1963)

---

Closing Thought:

Julian of Norwich writes of sensuality and
godliness, with a comment by Matthew Fox.

---

A new season of learning awaits us. Join me!

Blessings,

Wayne


**************************


SPECIAL FALL STUDY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Introducing the Full Program

ST. DAVID'S MONDAY NIGHT STUDY 2011

"Living Ethically Amid Chaos"
Two Books by Richard Holloway

September 19th - November 28th
TM Room, St. David's United Church
7:00PM - 9:00PM

"Godless Morality"
Learning how to separate "God says"
from doing what is right

Information about the book from Amazon.ca
http://tinyurl.com/3d45x3t

---

"Between the Monster and the Saint"
Spiritual support for pursuing a life
that seeks above all to be good

Information on the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/4369obx

---

Led by Jock McTavish and Wayne Holst

Registration: $50.00 for class fees,
the two books and special hospitality

Purchase only the books - $35.00

*****

UNIVERSITY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHTS

Two Study Programs Sponsored by:
The Department of Continuing Education
At the University of Calgary

Taught by: Wayne Holst

Recommended books:

"God, Atheism and Morality" (ten sessions)
Tuesday Nights, 7:00PM - 9:00 PM
September 27th - November 29th

Register:
http://tinyurl.com/2fc7xr4

---

"Paul the Apostle" (ten sessions)
Wednesday Nights, 7:00PM - 9:00PM
September 28th - November 30th

Register:
http://tinyurl.com/mh2dto

*****

ST. DAVID'S ACTS MINISTRY AND
THE FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
ON THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY CAMPUS

Welcome to our -

Noon Hour Book Discussions for Faculty,
Staff and Students Autumn and Winter Series
for 2011-12

Series One -

"A Public Faith:
How Followers of Christ Can Serve the Common Good"
by Miroslav Volf

Putting your personal faith to work for others.
October 21st - November 25th - six Friday noon sessions

---

Series Two -

"An Altar in the World" by Barbara Brown Taylor

Discovering God in the ordinary experiences of life
March 2nd - March 30th - five Friday noon sessions

Time and Location for all sessions:
12:00 to 1:00PM in the Native Centre Board Room
Located above the Dairy Queen, Mac Hall Student's
Centre

Led by: Wayne Holst,
Coordinator of the ACTS Ministry, St. David's United
and an official U of C Spirituality Centre Liaison

Cost of the books: $15.00 each

---

Join us this year for stiumlating campus discussions!

For more information: Adriana Tulissi 403-220-5451
Co-ordinator, Faith and Spirituality Centre, U. of C.
artuliss@ucalgary,ca

*****

SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

Contact us at: asdm@sduc.ca (or)admin@sduc.ca
St. David's Web Address - http://sduc.ca/

Listen to audio recordings of Sunday services -
http://sduc.ca/services.htm

*****

STUDY ARCHIVES

A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted
since 2000 can quickly be found at:
http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/

This collection of study resources represents
a decade of Monday Night Studies at St. David's,
plus extra courses too!

You are welcome to use our course outlines,
class notes and resource pages in your personal
and group reflections.

******************************************

Appearing this week:

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

THE MESSENGER
Friendship, Faith and
Finding One's Way,
by Douglas John Hall
Cascade Books, Wipf and Stock
Eugene, OR. 2011. 168 pages.
Paperback. $18.50
ISBN #978-1-61097-317-5.

Publisher's Promo:

This is a book about the importance of
mentors in the lives of the young. But
rather than developing the theme of
mentoring theoretically, Douglas John
Hall demonstrates its significance quite
personally, autobiographically. In his
twentieth year and hoping to study music
professionally, Hall met a young minister
whose "different" Christianity both
surprised and intrigued him.

In the end, this friendship altered the
course of his life.

The book traces the story of this friendship
of more than half a century, and the impact
of the times upon the lives of its two
principal figures.

---

Author's Words:

This is a book about a friend - but a friend
who was also more than a friend; a friend who
was a messenger...

Friends enhance one's life; messengers change
one's life. Or, more accurately, one's life
is changed by the messages they bring...

The messenger in some way embodies the message
(so that) even after more than sixty years, I
cannot quite separate the message from the one
who first conveyed it to me in a convincing way.

So this little book is about him - Bob Miller.

Messages are not only conveyed by someone,
they are intended for someone. The messenger -
is a wonderful metaphor, and one that shows up
in many cultures. Think of Mercury-Hermes! It
is prominent in the Bible. There, sometimes
messengers are called straightforwardly
messengers; but sometimes they are called
angels... usually, in biblical literature,
they are human beings...

But this little book is not just about the
messenger, who was also my friend, and me, the
receiver of the message, whose who life was
turned around because of it.

It is also about the times during which my
friend and I lived (it would be more accurate
to say during which he lived since he has died
and I am still alive.) To be quite specific,
that means between the years 1919 and 2003.

(These were the times following the Great War,
the Depression, World War II, its aftermath,
and the sixties.)

These then are the main points of focus in
this story: the life of the Messenger, the
life of the one receiving the message, and
the times in which this giving and receiving
occurred. "The Moment" as Kierkegaard might
have said.

But the hidden theme of the story is the
message itself.

- from the Preface

---

My Comments:

If you have read books or have in other ways
been influenced by Douglas John Hall, a
prolific writer and one of Canada's most
notable international theologians, this book
should do for you what it did for me.

It introduces you to the key personality who
appealed to the author as a young, impressionable
man in search of vocational direction. It also
traces a bit of the context from which Hall has
emerged as one of our leading theological
luminaries of the past half century.

The two most important Canadian theological
influences on my young life - growing up in
southern Ontario, studying and working
internationally, then moving permanently to
western Canada - were Lutheran churchman
William Hordern and United churchman Douglas
John Hall. Both have added much to my way
of interpreting the world as a Christian.

Interestingly, both men also gave me a healthy
and open-ended exposure to the theology of
Martin Luther. Both stripped Luther of the
idolatry with which I had been raised but
replaced that with some wonderful tools to
understand the Reformer in modern, ecumenical
clothing. And for this, I am very grateful.

---

As I read the pages of this book (and I have read
at least ten of Hall's titles over the years) I
continue to see how indebted I am to the author for
taking large themes and applying them to the context
of my own life and ministry.

This was no small feat, because I and most of my
contemporaries had always relied on the 'borrowed'
theologies of European and American theologians.
Taking that last step, and applying great truths
to my immediate Canadian situation was what Hall
offered us.

---

Here, we learn something of how Hall was himself
influenced to begin making Canaldian contextual
applications so that he could pass them on to us.

In addition to the personal theological application
I sense a second level of insight provided to us
here.

Hall provides us with a view of an era of Canadian
cultural and religious history when our emerging
visions were opening to the world. The times were
the mid-nineteen century, and much of the focus
of those times was admittedly Central Canada. In
the last fifty years, that too has changed.

He writes of SCM - the Student Christian Movement,
and the CTSA - the Canadian Theological Students
Association. I played a role in the latter
organization during the sixties. It was a time
when - as a group of theological student
representatives from schools in the Toronto area -
we planned conferences that became truly national,
ecumenical and bilingual in scope.

---

All of this is something that I bring to the book.
What Hall conveys in four chapters, is how he
came under the influence of a slightly older
and more-traveled Bob Miller. How that friendship
developed and fed his own spiritual and theological
development makes for intriguing reading.

The book helps any reader to recognize how all of us
are drawn to particular mentors at crucial stages of
our lives. Now, at a time of assessment and personal
stock-taking, it is possible to trace themes and
variations that could not possibly have been
understood at the time.

---

If you are interested in learning more about how 

an influential Canadian theologian was himself 
influenced at an impressionable period in his life, 
you will not be disappointed in this book.

Thanks for writing it, Doug!

*****

Buy the Book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/3p4euwf


*****

COLLEAGUE COMMENT

SUSAN HUTCHINSON
Central British Columbia

9/10/2011

Hi Wayne,

I'm an Anglican priest in the Anglican Parishes
of the Central Interior. This is a second career
for me -- the first was in politics and business.
I've been ordained coming up on 12 years. I spent
the first 8 years in the Diocese of Quebec,
serving in Gaspe and Quebec City/the Mauricie.

I moved to BC in 2008. When I started theological
school at Trinity College in Toronto in 1993, the
internet was beginning to come into its own. I got
involved with various church email discussion groups
and was an early supporter of Anglican's Online and
am a longtime subscriber to Midrash and Magdalen.

When I moved out to Gaspe at the time of my
ordination I found that the internet provided access
to lots of materials and ideas not available in our
little outpost -- 8 hours driving time from the
closest English language bookstore and 12 hours
from the closest church bookstore.

I enjoy your List because it gives lots of short
reviews and leads to information/material I can use.

blessings,
Susan

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

NEW FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
OPENS ON THE U of CALGARY CAMPUS

With a number of our colleagues like
Klaus, Paul and Kelly on staff

September 15th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3q7golq

*****

REGINALD STACKHOUSE

"I Remember Cardinal Ambrozic"

Globe and Mail
September 9th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3lyj7w8

*****

MARGARET SOMERVILLE

"When Death Loses its Moral Context"

EFC Web News
September 7th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3zxyjzx

*****

DOUG SHANTZ

The Chair of Christian Thought
at the University of Calgary presents:

The Bentall Lectures in Christian Theology with
Professor Gordon Campbell, Leicester University (UK)
Monday, September 19, 2011 7:30pm

“The King James Bible Then and Now: How a 1611
Translation has impacted the English language”

Scarboro United Church, 134 Scarboro Ave SW, Calgary

---

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 12:30pm

“The History of the King James Bible as Literature and
Sacred Text”

CIBC Hub Room, Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary

Everyone is welcome to join us for these free events!

*****

JIM TAYLOR

"Irrevocable Acts -
A Reflection on Punishment"

http://tinyurl.com/3fbzpkv

*****

RON ROLHEISER

Personal Blog
September 11th, 2011

"Some Personal Mini-Creeds"

http://tinyurl.com/3cnm3k8

*****

NET NOTES

GOD IS NOT ONE
by Stephen Prothero

Review of a book on the Eight
Rival Religions of the World

National Catholic Reporter
September 13th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/42gr2pf

*****

A STATE OF THEIR OWN
Palestine a Nation in Waiting

America Magazine Editoral
September 26th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3pek83z

*****

A SIBLING'S STRENGTH
Coping with 9/11

America Magazine
September 19th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3z2va9z

*****

DR. WILLIAMS' DILEMMA
Rowan and Zimbabwe

The Tablet, UK
September 17th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/5ucm3a9

*****

ANGLICAN DELEGATION VISITS CHINA

Ucan News
September 7th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3kvlzo6


*****

THE LIMITS OF SELF-MADE RELIGION

The Christian Century
September 1st, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3o6k9xl

*****

IRISH BISHOP CALLS FOR END TO CELIBACY

The Guardian, UK
September 13th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/43x5tt5

*****

ISLAMISTS EMERGING AS
NEW FORCE IN LIBYA
Repressed under old regime

New York Times
September 15th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3bqve42

*****

GLOBAL EVANGELICALS URGE
UNITY AROUND 9/11

Christianweek.org
September 9th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3f9yamv

*****

VICTIMS SAY CRIMINAL CHARGES
AGAINST POPE ARE NOT A STUNT

Anglican Journal
September 14th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3lps2mm

*****

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
6 September 2011

In a secular Europe, churches see need
to work together

Warsaw, Poland (ENI news) - Europe's churches
can withstand secularization and make progress
in mission work if they pool resources and co-
operate more closely, according to a top
ecumenist. "We haven't tried to plan long-term
objectives, just to be realistic and see what
needs to be done," said Viorel Ionita, interim
general secretary of the Conference of European
Churches (CEC). "But there's a strong feeling
real chances exist for effective mission, and
for winning back some of the ground lost by
churches in Europe." The Romanian theologian
was speaking after a consultation of CEC's
Churches in Dialogue Commission in Budapest
on 29-31 August.

_____

Faith leaders take HIV prevention message
to African sports tournament

Nairobi, Kenya (ENI news) - Faith leaders are
taking HIV and AIDS prevention messages to the
10th All-Africa Games, Africa's largest multi-
sports tournament, currently underway in Maputo,
Mozambique. The leaders arewarning of increased
vulnerability to HIV infections during the 3-18
September tournament.
_____

11 September marked crucial turn
in Vatican-Muslim relations

Vatican City (ENI news) - A few weeks after the
terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, Pope John
Paul II invited Muslim leaders to an interfaith
prayer summit in Assisi, Italy, the site of a
dramatic interreligious peace gathering he had
hosted 15 years earlier. John Paul said the world
needed to hear that "religion must never be a
reason for conflict, hatred and violence,"
Religion News Service reports. Catholic-Muslim
dialogue took on a new intensity and sense of
urgency.

_____

In Indonesia, church runs afoul
of Islamic street name

Wellington, New Zealand (ENI news) -In a test case
of religious intolerance in the world's largest
Muslim-majority country, an Indonesian mayor is
defying court rulings by pushing for a decree to
block Christians from opening churches on streets
with Islamic names. Members of the Taman Yasmin
Indonesian Christian Church in the West Java town
of Bogor are, after three years, still forced to
worship on the sidewalk outside their building,
protected by police. The administration of Bogor
mayor Diani Budiarto revoked the church's building
permit and sealed the building as the street had
an Islamic name.

_____

7 September 2011

In U.S., interfaith worship doubled
since 11 September

Washington, D.C. (ENI news) - Interfaith worship
services have doubled in the decade since the 11
September attacks, according to a new study
released 7 September, even as more than seven in
10 U.S. congregations do not associate with other
faiths. The survey by an interfaith group of
researchers found that about 14 percent of U.S.
congregations surveyed in 2010 engaged in a joint
religious celebration with another faith tradition,
up from 6.8 percent in 2000, Religion News Service
reports.

*****

8 September 2011

In New Zealand, Anglican diocese sees
no bar to gay ordination

Auckland, New Zealand (ENI news) - Anglicans in
New Zealand's biggest city have declared that
people in same-sex relationships should not be
excluded from any church office, including
ordination. The motion, which passed by a two-
thirds majority on 3 September at the Diocese of
Auckland's synod, says that a current moratorium
by bishops on gay ordination should cease. Next
year, the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New
Zealand and Polynesia is due to hear further
recommendations on the subject at its
General Synod in Fiji.
_____


In recession-hit Hungary,
churches take over state schools

Warsaw, Poland (ENI news) - Local government
officials in Hungary are handing state-owned
schools over to churches, unable to afford
their upkeep during the economic recession,
according to church sources. "Churches are
entitled to run schools in Hungary as public
service providers, receiving the same taxpayers'
money as public sponsors," said Balazs Odor,
ecumenical officer of Hungary's Reformed Church.

_____

After Fukushima, faith groups
ponder nuclear power

Tokyo (ENI news) - The disaster at Japan's
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following
the 11 March earthquake and tsunami is causing
a worldwide re-evaluation of nuclear power and
renewing debate within faith groups on the
subject. Participants at the World Council of
Churches' International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation in Kingston, Jamaica, last May
stated emphatically that "the nuclear catastrophe
of Fukushima has proved once again that we must
no longer rely on nuclear power as a source of
energy." However, opposition to nuclear power is
by no means a consistent theme even within a
denomination.

*****

9 September 2011

U.S. clergy denounce anti-Muslim bigotry

Washington, D.C. (ENI news) - Three days before
the tenth anniversary of the 11 September terrorist
attacks, religious leaders gathered to remember
the victims, foster interreligious unity and speak
out in defense of religious freedom. The event was
held on 8 September by Shoulder to Shoulder, a
national coalition of 26 faith groups formed a year
ago in response to a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment
following debates over an Islamic center near the
former site of the destroyed World Trade Center
in lower Manhattan and a Florida pastor's threats
to burn the Quran. "If we cower in the face of
fanatic minorities, we are lost. This is true
for Muslims and it is true for us all," said Rabbi
Eric Yoffie, the outgoing head of the Union for
Reform Judaism, Religion News Service reports.
_____


In Zimbabwe, Anglican mission seized
and bishop robbed

Harare, Zimbabwe (ENI news) - Turmoil in the
Anglican Diocese of Harare continued this week
as a renegade former bishop evicted staff from
a mission outpost in an ongoing dispute over
church property and the current bishop, Chad
Gandiya, was robbed of communications equipment.
A diocesan spokeswoman, Precious Shumba, told
ENInews that Nolbert Kunonga took control of
the Daramombe Mission about 180 km south of
Harare. In a separate incident, Gandiya and
his family were the victims of robbers who took
a cellphone, laptop computer and money.

_____


Book tells stories of
11 September transformations

New York (ENI news)- Among the most profound
effects of the 11 September terrorist attacks
in the United States were the spiritual changes
undergone by people who witnessed the disaster
or responded in the aftermath. Wendy Healy,
former director of communications for Lutheran
Disaster Response of New York, tells one dozen
of those stories in her new book Life is Too
Short: Stories of Transformation and Renewal
After 9/11. A slim volume and a fascinating read,
Healy's profiles gracefully capture the unique
qualities of each individual and what made 11
September a driving force for change in each
person's soul.
_____

12 September 2011

In New York, three faiths mark 11 September

New York (ENI news) - In a ceremony commemorating
the tenth anniversary of the 11 September terrorist
attacks, a minister, a rabbi, and an imam took part
in an interfaith bell-ringing ceremony at St. Paul's
Chapel in lower Manhattan. The 245-year-old Episcopal
church, located just one block from the destroyed
World Trade Center, in 2001 became for months a
respite center for rescue workers. The bell-ringing
took place on the evening of 11 September, after a
day marked by a ceremony at a new memorial plaza on
the site of the former twin towers, attended by
families of 11 September victims, President Barack
Obama and other leaders. Thousands of commemoration
services took place in the U.S. and around the world
to mark the day on which nearly 3,000 people lost
their lives in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

_____

Japan quake anniversary met with prayers, chanting

Tokyo (ENI news) - People of faith in Japan on 11
September marked the six-month anniversary of the
11 March earthquake and tsunami with prayer services,
bell ringing and chants, many at 2:46 p.m., the time
when the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck. About
20,000 people are dead or missing, with an estimate
400,000 people displaced, according to the Japanese
Red Cross.

_____

15 September 2011

Raphael's twin Madonnas reunited for
pope's visit to Germany

Berlin (ENI news) - To mark Pope Benedict XVI's
visit to Germany later this month, an exhibition
in Dresden has reunited two of the Renaissance's
most important Madonna and Child paintings for
the first time in almost 500 years. Raphael, a
key figure in Renaissance art, completed the
Madonna di Foligno in 1512. The artist was
commissioned by Pope Julius II to create the
Sistine Madonna in the same year. The two
altarpieces are thought to have stood side-by
-side in Raphael's workshop but were separated
for centuries. They are now the centerpiece of
an exhibit in Dresden on representations of the
Madonna and Child.
_____

Lutherans seek greater unity
ahead of 2017 observance

Nairobi, Kenya (ENI news) - Lutherans are
exploring strengthening ties among member
churches of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) as the 500th anniversary of the
Protestant Reformation approaches in 2017,
theologians and leaders said. A six-day
international conference held in Nairobi
from 9 to 14 September on contemporary Bible
interpretation was the first in a series of
biblical consultations seeking to promote
unity in the 70 million-member worldwide
communion ahead of 2017. "For us now, the
challenge is to ask what we have in common
as the Lutheran community. Lutheranism is no
longer [only] a northern European Church,"
said the Rev. Craig Koester, a professor at
Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

*****

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Selected from Sojourners Online:

September 6th, 2011

"Why stand we here trembling around/
Calling on God for help, and not ourselves,
in whom God dwells,/Stretching a hand to
save the falling [human]?"

- William Blake

---

September 7th, 2011

"Every truth without exception -- and whoever
may utter it -- is from the Holy Spirit."

- Thomas Aquinas

---

September 8th, 2011

"The love of our neighbor in all its fullness
simply means being able to say, 'What are you
going through?'"

- Simone Weil

---

September 9th, 2011

"One cannot be aware both of the history of
Christian war and of the contents of the gospels
without feeling that something is amiss."

- Wendell Berry, from his introduction to
"Blessed are the Peacemakers"

---

September 12th, 2011

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond
measure. It is our light, not our darkness that
most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to
be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child
of God … It is not just in some of us; it is in
everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we
unconsciously give other people permission to do
the same."

- Marianne Williamson, from "A Return to Love:
Reflections on the Principles of
"A Course in Miracles"

---

September 13th, 2011

"Do not think that saintliness comes from occupation;
it depends rather on what one is. The kind of work we
do does not make us holy, but we may make it holy."

- Meister Eckhart

---

September 14th, 2011

"If you're going to care about the fall of the
sparrow you can't pick and choose who's going
to be the sparrow. It's everybody."

- Madeleine L'Engle

---

September 15th, 2011

"Allowing our government to kill citizens
compromises the deepest moral values upon
which this country was conceived: the
inviolable dignity of human persons."

- Helen Prejean C.S.J.

*****

ON THIS DAY

Sept. 3, 1976, the unmanned U.S.
spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars
to take the first close-up, color
photographs of the planet's surface.

http://tinyurl.com/3db83zr

*****

Sept. 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists
attacked the Israeli Olympic team at
the summer games in Munich; 11 Israeli
athletes and coaches, five terrorists
and a police officer were killed.

http://tinyurl.com/43xsdkf

*****

Sept. 7, 1940, the German air force began
its blitz on London during World War II.

http://tinyurl.com/6gq3bbz

*****

Sept. 9, 1976, Communist Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung
died in Beijing at age 82.

http://tinyurl.com/3kuom3l

*****

Sept. 15, 1963, four black girls were killed when a
bomb went off during Sunday services at a Baptist
church in Birmingham, Alabama, in the deadliest
act of the civil rights era.

http://tinyurl.com/6huo7u9

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT

Our sensuality is the beautiful city in which our
Lord Jesus sits and in which he is enclosed...

In our sensuality, God is.

- Julian of Norwich

---

By honoring the nearness of God in our sensuality,
Julian takes on all those ascetic teachers who say
we must run from our senses to experience Divinity.

God is present in our sensuousness, and this
sensuousness ends the Platonic dualisms - the
body versus soul warfare - that have haunted
patriarchal religion and philosophy for more
than twenty-five hundred years.

- Matthew Fox

(end)