Pause at the Pool
Pieces to Ponder and Snippets to Amuse
Whatever you are facing in life:
Kia kaha whanau whānui Piri pono
Be strong Be trusting
World Council of Churches Christmas message 2020
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. For see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah. — Luke 2:10-11
The child in the manger, in its vulnerability, is an image of fragile hope, the beginning of a new story…
Celebrations of Christmas in churches and families this year will be tempered by the physical distancing and other restrictions brought on by our concern to protect each other from the coronavirus. People will grieve for the many dead around the world and will express their gratitude for those who care for the sick with great dedication and courage.
The pandemic has everywhere torn the social fabric, causing massive unemployment and even hunger, rending our connections to each other, revealing and exacerbating inequalities, raising havoc and dissent, and threatening institutions of good governance. At the same time, violence and war continue, destroying the livelihoods of people with increasing numbers of refugees and migrants and killing so many men, women and children.
Even under these circumstances, however, there is a sound of angels in the air, proclaiming the birth of Christ with great joy. As Christians, we glimpse in this singular event, the birth of the child Jesus in a desolate village at the margins of the Roman empire, the fragile beginnings of our own redemption.
Read the full text here
This Stillspeaking God Daily Devotional from the United Church of Christ USA came out some time ago and it gets more and more relevant.
Click here
An article from the Boston Review by VAFA GHAZAVI
“We may feel individually powerless to contribute to social transformation. But each of us bears responsibility for helping to create a more just world.”
Can Kierkegaard tell us how to live?
Discussing the book: Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Soren Kierkegaard, by Clare Carlisle. Farrar, Straus and Girous. 468 pages.
From the May 2020 issue of HARPERS Magazine
A comment to me is hopefully true: this was probably going to gather dust on a shelf, but in the situation we are in now, maybe it will be made good use of.
It speaks of the vulnerability of tourism to pests and diseases. Covid-19 has proved the point. The recovery of sustainable tourism is now a livelihood issue that can not be ignored.