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| 'I'VE SEEN WORSE': A BIOGRAPHY OF IAN FRASER, as shared with Ian Cranston – AVAILABLE NOW. For details on how to order, and to read an extract from Ron Ferguson's preface, see here … |
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| An interview with John Bell, from Read the Spirit |
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| EASTER WITNESS FOR PEACE AT THE GATES OF FASLANE, 31st March, 2012 |
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| Latest Iona Community e-bulletin |
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| San Ghan'ny (We Shall Sing): An evening of music for Palestine, in Arabic, English, Scots and Gaelic, Saturday, Feb 4th, Edinburgh. Music from Margaret Bennett, Karine Polwart, Lisa Rigby, Penny Stone – more info here |
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| 'It's time to close the gap between rich and poor': Church Action on Poverty – Poverty Action Sunday – 5th Feb |
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The first e-bulletin of a new year. Lots of activity from the Community: news from America, Edinburgh, India, Palestine, Glasgow …
In this edition:
JAN SUTCH PICKARD'S BLOG FROM YANOUN, AND A POSTCARD
Member Jan Sutch Pickard is working in Yanoun presently. This is the second time she has volunteered with Quaker Peace and Social Witness as an Ecumenical Accompanier, serving on the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). Read Jan's blog from Yanoun, and a postcard.
THE INTERNATIONAL ECUMENICAL PEACE CONVOCATION, JAMAICA, 2011:
A REFLECTION BY ALISON SWINFEN
Community Member Alison Swinfen is part of the Spiritual Life Working Group for the World Council of Churches' International Peace Convocation in Jamaica in 2011, part of the WCC's 'Decade to End Violence'.
MARKET SPECULATION AND WORLD ORDER: A CASE STUDY, by Ian M Fraser
Ian Fraser reflects upon the banking crash of 2008–2009. A short extract to give a flavour:
'… One result of the global financial meltdown of 2008 was that Alan Greenspan experienced a conversion. Former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, he had directed it for eighteen years under four Presidents, and had been the most trusted of financial gurus. On the 23rd October, to the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, he had confessed that he was in a state of ‘shocked disbelief … I found a flaw in the model … That defines how the world works.’ He was not talking of some tinkering with a system, but speaking of a profound change in his understanding of the basis of world order. He was on theological territory but he did not seem to realise it. True, the word ‘conversion’ was not used but the marks were all there. He had been brought up sharp, compelled to face a reality which questioned deeply-held assumptions he had affirmed up to that point. His eyes had been opened. He looked on what he had previously believed and lived by, and found it wanting. He had turned in his tracks. He looked for a new way, based on alternative assumptions concerning ‘how the world works’. There had been consequences for others, whom he had encouraged to adopt the understanding of world order which he now rejected. These were basic features which also marked St Paul’s conversion! …'
More
HAITI EARTHQUAKE APPEAL, Christian Aid
The United Nations is now calling this the worst disaster it has ever dealt with.
DROP HAITI'S DEBT, Christian Aid
THE KAIROS PALESTINE DOCUMENT LAUNCHED
A group of Palestinian Christians representing a variety of churches and church-related organisations have issued an animated and prayerful call for an end to occupation of Palestine by Israel. Referred to as 'The Kairos Palestine Document' the call echoes a similar summons issued by South African churches in the mid-1980s at the height of repression under the apartheid regime. That call served to galvanise churches and the wider public in a concerted effort that eventually brought the end of apartheid.
BLOCKADE ALDERMASTON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010, Trident Ploughshares
The Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston is in the process of building a new generation of nuclear bombs for the UK. Trident already endangers us all, encourages proliferation and undermines international law. We don't want new nukes we want disarmament now. Please come and join in the blockade …
BANKING ON JUSTICE: CHURCHES INVESTING FOR A FAIRIER FUTURE: A CONFERENCE
This conference is being organised jointly by ECCR (the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility) and the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland (Convener Ian Galloway; General Secretary Ewan Aitken). The Iona Community and a number of other Scottish church-based organisations (SCIAF, Christian Aid Scotland, ACTS, the Centre for Theology and Public Issues) are supporting the event in a variety of ways.
The first part of the conference will consider global finance and justice issues in the light of recent world events, particularly in the banking sector, while the afternoon session will introduce delegates to the variety of ethical and responsible investment options available to individuals and churches.
THE AGE OF STUPID – A SHOWING OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE FILM IN GLASGOW
An invitation from Member Norman Shanks
LAWRENCE FREEMAN AT THE MIDDLE EASTERN FESTIVAL OF SPIRITUALITY AND PEACE
RUN THE EDINBURGH MARATHON FOR CHRISTIAN AID
THE IONA COMMUNITY'S 2010 ISLANDS PROGRAMME
THE GROWING HOPE APPEAL – THE HOME STRETCH
LESS ARK, MORE CORACLE
A wee news item from Member Carolyn Smyth, taken from The Church Times.
More
A PRAYER FOR THE BEGINNING OF LENT, by John Harvey
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD IS SHINING, Rachel McCann
… We placed candles on a map
one on each spot:
for the bridge builders in Belfast
and the soul healers in Sarajevo
for the young women of Washington Heights
for the earth carers of Kerala
and the life-lovers of Liverpool
for the students in Maputo
and for the tree-planters in Johannesburg
for the sister in San Francisco
and the believers in Beijing
for the friendship in Recife
and the mystic in Chiapas …
More
THE NEW WORLD FOUNDATION ON FACEBOOK!
News from President of the NWF, John Dillon
SCOTTISH CROSS – WHAT IS IT?
Scottish Cross is an annual pilgrimage across the Western Highlands that culminates in Iona Abbey on Easter Sunday. Folk walk through Holy Week, making our way across the Highlands and islands of Scotland, through glen and by loch and across clifftop, until they arrive on Iona to celebrate Easter. Find out more – maybe you'd like to take part!
THE GLOBAL HOUSE CHURCH MOVEMENT SUMMIT IN INDIA
Members Ian Fraser and Liz Gibson attended this conference. Ian will be writing about his experience in an upcoming Coracle. Meantime, read a report by the Steering group of this important gathering.
JUSTICE AND PEACE JOIN HANDS
Images from autumn Community Week on Iona
EDINBURGH–MUNICH TWINNING VISIT
News from Associate Jenny Martin about an upcoming visit and an ecumenical partnership that has been running very successfully for the last 30 years.
EX-ABBEY MUSICIAN ANDY MOSS IS ORDAINED
SACRED GEOMETRY IN IONA ABBEY
Friend of the Community, architext Robert Chambers, sent the e-bulletin this very interesting information, based on his research on Iona Abbey a few years ago.
IONA DAWN: THROUGH HOLY WEEK WITH THE IONA COMMUNITY
This e-bulletin's Book of the Month.
Plus:
POVERTY & MONEY: READINGS, PRAYERS AND OTHER LITURGICAL RESOURCES
A new download from Wild Goose Publications on a concern close to the heart of the Iona Community. A rich resource with many voices and contributors.
WILD GOOSE PUBLICATIONS SPECIAL OFFERS!
Check out the current Wild Goose special offers!
TWO ESSENTIAL COLLECTIONS FOR LENT AND EASTER: Stages on the Way, by the Wild Goose Resource Group; Eggs & Ashes, by Ruth Burgess and Chris Polhill
A DIFFERENT KIND OF RANDOMNESS, by Erik Cramb
'The utterly random nature of so much of life is about the only certainty we have between birth and death. It is a futile debate to ask why life is random, for we can only be sure that it is. It is futile to speculate about what life would be were there no such things as earthquakes, tidal waves, droughts and other vagaries of the awesome power of nature … Life as we know it has a random power beyond our controlling. There is also a different randomness of our human making which we call sin and which cumulatively, through the greed and wickedness of some, condemns others to a lifetime of unwarranted and unavoidable poverty and fragility …'
More
Find out what John Bell is up to in the first part of 2010, about Holy City worship events, about Peter Macdonald's work and about other Community events and gatherings …
More
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The Iona Community is a charity registered in Scotland No SC003794.
All banner photos © David Coleman, except 'Calendar', taken by Neil Paynter, and 'Words, Words, Words …', which is a photo by David Coleman of an artwork by Robert Overman Hodgell (1922-2000); Hodgell image copyright the artist or assignee.
Views expressed in the 'Iona Community e-bulletin' are not necessarily the policy of the Iona Community, but the Community seeks the exchange of thoughts and ideas as a basis for finding common ground.
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