Our library in Hewett Centre is open every Sunday after service during Coffee Hour in Hewett Centre, and our Library Team offers related reading lists based on the topic of the Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service featuring Michael Clague, Janet Pivnick and the UN Association in Canada on Sunday, October 19, 2025 at 11 a.m. All are welcome in Hewett Centre after the Sunday service to check out some books, and to have coffee and conversation.
VanU library books related to this Sunday’s sermon:
1. The United Nations: Its History and the Canadians Who Shaped It: Fifty Years of Struggle and Hope, by Desmond Morton, 1995, 341.23 MOR [Gift of Lucy Stewart. From LibraryThing: “For some children, the United Nations is a huge building in New York City. For others, it’s the blue-helmeted soldiers or the huge piles of relief food they see on TV. Or maybe when some kids think of the UN, they picture kids collecting money for UNICEF at Halloween. Whatever a child’s image of the United Nations, this book will explain its history and introduce the people who shaped it”].
2. Intent for a Nation: What Is Canada For? A Relentlessly Optimistic Manifesto for Canada’s Role in the World, by Michael Byers, 2007, 971.07 BYE [From LibraryThing: “In Intent for a Nation, Michael Byers argues that it is time for a clear-eyed appreciation of our strengths and weaknesses, of all we have and all we could be. A whole series of world events-the waning of US credibility; the increasing value of natural resources; the brain-gain; the ever-increasing interdependence of peoples, countries and continents-have combined to put Canada center stage in a new world order. Instead of emulating our increasingly isolated neighbor, we should be advancing the Canadian model, an idealistic, fiscally prudent, socially progressive vision that has never looked so good. Intent for a Nation is a fundamentally optimistic, informed and opinionated overview of where Canada stands in the world and what aggressive public policies are needed to carry the country forward in an ever more competitive and volatile world. …”].
3. Canada’s Global Future – Navigating a New World, by Lloyd Axworthy, 2003, 327.17 AXW [From the hardcover edition: “… As we meet refugees from civil war and drought, child soldiers and landmine victims, the moral imperative is clear: this is a deeply compassionate appeal to confront poverty, war and environmental disaster. Before Lloyd Axworthy entered global politics, “human security” — a philosophy calling for global responsibility to the interests of individuals rather than to the interests of the nation state or multi-national corporations — was a controversial and unfamiliar idea. When put into action, human security led to an international ban on landmines, initiatives to curtail the use of child soldiers, and the formation of the International Criminal Court. Today, with conflict raging across the planet — and building — the need for a humane, secure international governance is more vital than ever. …”].
4. Lotta and the Unitarian Service Committee Story, by Clyde Sanger, 1986, 921 HIT [From CM Archive: “… Lotta’s secure life in Prague was shattered by the war that left her homeless, and ultimately an orphan. In 1942 she arrived in Canada, and almost immediately started trying to alert Canadians to problems of European war victims. The USC, which she organized in Canada, started with European relief work and expanded to relief and rehabilitation programs in Korea, India, the Gaza strip, and Vietnam. Details of the successes and frustrations of Lotta’s efforts reveal a remarkably capable, persistent, and brave individual. … describing the recent shift in emphasis from small projects, with close personal contact, to larger integrated community development schemes. …”].
5. In Search of Progress in a Time of Fear and Disillusionment: Questions from a Life in Community Work, by Michael Clague, 2024, 307 CLA [Written by a UCV member. He writes, “In this time of multiple global crises, notably the coming climate collapse, the burden falls directly on communities. Community work is uniquely suited to mobilizing citizens for informed plans and actions in a democratic society. It offers a life raft of hope by calling on the best of the human spirit to solve these problems or at least survive them”].
6. So, How Have I Been Doing At Being Who I Am?, by Michael Clague, 2023, 921 CLA [Written by a UCV member, and is a gift of the author. Reviews from Amazon.ca: “I do not remember a book that moved me so much as this one.” – Ray Spaxman. Former Director of Planning, City of Vancouver.
“Should be in the library of every school of social work, social planning and planning.” – Gordon Gram. Development industry and environmental and land use public sector planner.
“I liked this book very much. In my career in publishing and philanthropy I’ve read about many inspiring people, and I’m really impressed with his story telling skills. Like a friend sharing some of his life story over a coffee or a beer.” – Karen Theroux. Former writer/editor for the Carnegie Corporation, New York].
7. Transforming Liberalism: The Theology of James Luther Adams, by George Kimmich Beach, 2021, 230 BEA [From LibraryThing: “… “Adams was the most transforming figure in 20th-century Unitarian Univeralism. Having previously edited Adams’s essays, Beach masterfully gives us the master himself… the smiling prophet of liberal religion.” -John A. Buchrens, co-author of A Chosen Faith …”].