Monthly Archives: August 2012

My soul bowl

Posted on August 27, 2012 by donald

On my dining-area table there reposes a beautiful ceramic bowl, which I call my soul bowl. It’s the second bowl to hold that title. The first one was a beautiful blue bowl, made by potter Kathleen Murphy, which held the … Continue reading →

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If Jesus were a Republican …

Posted on August 25, 2012 by donald

A recent archaeological dig at the very lowest level of Wall Street, in New York City, recently turned up an ancient manuscript, which was discovered to have an alternative version of Jesus’ encounter with the paralytic and his four friends … Continue reading →

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The tacit contract

Posted on August 22, 2012 by donald

On August 21, The Globe and Mail printed five letters about the United Church’s decision to take “economic action” (read: boycott) against exports from occupied Palestine misleadingly labelled as “Made in Israel” or “Produce of Israel.” Three opposed the United Church’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel & Palestine | 3 Comments

The United Church and Israel: what happened at GC41?

Posted on August 18, 2012 by donald

Those of us for whom the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, going on in one form or another since 1947, is a major concern, have followed the debates on that issue leading up to the UCC’s 41st General Council, recently concluded in Ottawa, … Continue reading →

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David and Bathsheba–or not

Posted on August 18, 2012 by donald

On two summer Sundays in 2012 (July 29 and August 5) I filled in at the Church of St Francis in the Wood in West Vancouver. The readings from the lectionary for each of those two Sundays offered the preacher … Continue reading →

Posted in Citizenship challenges | 2 Comments

Christian churches risk poisoning relations with Jews?

Posted on August 13, 2012 by donald

This morning I got a request from Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (cjpme.org) to respond to a very misleading article in The Ottawa Citizen. Below you will find the hyperlink to the article, and below that, … Continue reading →

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Hats off to Sister Megan Rice

Posted on August 11, 2012 by donald

Letter to The Globe and Mail (not published) Hats off to Sister Megan Rice, a quiet, 82-year-old revolutionary (Barbed wire, armed guards don’t stop octogenarian nun’s anti-nuclear activism–Aug. 11). On July 28, she and two colleagues broke into the Oak Ridge … Continue reading →

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Letter to the National Post

Posted on August 4, 2012 by donald

The letter below I wrote to the National Post (with a copy to B’nai Brith, bien sur) in response to the full-page ad they placed in today’s paper (page A10). We can expect to see many more media items on the … Continue reading →

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A dream …

Posted on August 3, 2012 by donald

I am in a rustic lodge of some kind, giving a talk on Thomas Merton to a group of people which includes Merton scholar Lawrence S. Cunningham, whose anthology, Thomas Merton, Spiritual Master (New York: Paulist, 1992) I regularly recommend to … Continue reading →

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Spiritose e loquaci

Posted on August 3, 2012 by donald

I don’t give any real credence to astrology, although of course, like everyone else, I read the horoscopes in the Georgia Straight. But once in a while something clicks, such as what my page-a-day Italian calendar told me this morning. Every … Continue reading →

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