Spiritual But Not Religious – A Letter to my SBNR Friend (pt. 2) from “Spiritually Speaking”

My Dear SBNR Friend (continued),

The questions I posed yesterday are challenging for me. You cause me to ask myself, “What do I really believe I gain from my practice of church?”

Facing Death #2

Alone awaiting execution in the Plötzensee Prison in Berlin, Helmuth von Moltke seems to have awaited death without fear, even with a spirit of gratitude.

Spiritual But Not Religious – A Letter to my SBNR Friend (pt. 1) from “Spiritually Speaking”

My Dear SBNR Friend,

I am fairly confident there are not many Sunday mornings you wake up and wonder whether you might go to church. Participation in any formal institutional expression of religion simply never crosses your mind.

Facing Death #1

In his last published letters written to Freya on 10 and 11 January 1945, 12 days before his execution in Plötzensee Prison in Berlin, Germany 38-year-old Helmuth James Graf von Moltke tried to prepare his wife for his death.

Syria – Christian Martyr

Frans van der Lugt, a seventy-six-year-old Dutch Jesuit priest was murdered in Syria on 7 April 2014.

“A Christian Nation” eh?

It seems a shocking thing to say in Britain let alone to suggest in Canada.

Nazi Resistance #4

In his final characteristic of German society that allowed the Nazis to reign for twelve years, Moltke points to a subtle and dangerous quality that characterizes all totalitarian societies.

“Dark Thoughts Scatter In The Light of Christ” (from Times Colonist print ed.)

The first time I remember feeling the compelling urge to die, I was fifteen.

Nazi Resistance #3

Helmuth von Moltke’s third factor in German society between 1933 and 1945 contributing to the failure of resistance the Nazis is a stern warning to any human community that hopes to prosper.

Nazi Resistance #3a

Among the tools that kill communication are arrogance, aggression and belligerence.