SERMONS CRITICISED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 230, 28 September 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

SERMONS CRITICISED.

A MISTAKEN OPINION. The "Church Gazette" refers to the complaint of a correspondent to the London "Times" on his having had to listen for some time to a number of sermons on the League of Nations, social and economic problems, and various current event's, and quotes a sub-leader in "The Times" on the comp'.aint. Here arc extracts from the complaint: "They (preachers such as the writer had heard) are anxious to show how thoroughly in touch they are with everyday affairs, and imagine that the 'topical' sermon is the most likely to interest and influence their hearers. In every way that view is probably mistaken. The average citizcn, if he goes to church on Sunday, hopes to get free for an hour from the thoughts and interests which, as he admits, engross him most of the time. He comes with some real sp'ritual hunger. . . . The members of i'y flock do not in the least want to know what he can tell them about Geneva. Hut they want very much to know anything he can tell them about God.

"Preaching that will make Christ more real; that, in 110 matter how simple a fashion, will help to interpret life; that will reveal a deeper meaning in some familiar passage of the Bible; that will put heart and resolve into men and women for the coming week's ■work—such is the type of preaching which the average hearer values. . . . I

The best work which the pulpit can do is quietly and persistently to emphasise those truths of religion which do not change."

This is admirably put and is wise counsel.