THE CHALLENGE OF EASTER, 1940

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1940, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CHALLENGE OF EASTER, 1940

WHY the emphasis on 1940? Simply because of the overshadowing clouds of war. It is so much harder to be a Christian apologist while His laws are being so flagrantly disobeyed. Candidly, I feel that if Easter represents merely the annual commemoration of an historic event, then it is as meaningless as the landing of Julius Caesar in Great Britain can be to a savage in Equatorial Africa. Tf, in addition to this, it also comprises man's first evidence of the triumph of life over dcntli, then it is not a great deal mure Important in tlie light of unr present need. Very few lives are worth repeating, cither here <>r in tlie hereafter. I do not. wish to belittle the -feat truth which underlies litis aspect of the resurrection message, but 1 do wish to reaffirm that in the light of to-day's happenings i almost fail to see how anything In the realm of human nature as wc know it- is worthy of perpetuation. No one short of a Divine licdeemcr can straighten out our twisted lives. If, in addition to all this, Easter represents God's most unconquerable determination to sec that wrong shall not triumph, although right seems to he so often worsted, then the sooner the spirit of Easier shines forth amidst our black night of despair the sooner shall wc have the courage to build the worthier and

By — TheReO.C.W. Chandler

more lasting structure of a nobler civilisation upon the wreckage of our present failure. Over one of the archways of the new structure which contains the fa us sound shell oil the waterfront at Napier are bohllv graven llarric's famous words: ••Courage is the thing all goes if courage goes." In the same enclosure is a scpiaro tablet of stone upon which in raised capitals tire the following words: "I never understood how man could watch a citv shaken to the ground, to feel the t relets, hear the tragic sound of houses twisting, crashing everywhere, and not be coiupieicd bv a sick despair. Although his biiildimrs crumble to a mound of worthless ruins, man has always found the urge to build a stronger citv there Within mv soul I made mv* towers liij.li; thev lie in ruins, vet i have begun to build again; now planning to restore what life has shaken to tl nrtli. And I. in faith, shall build mv towers Inwards the sun —a stronger city than wa.s there before." No author's name is given In ath this inscription, which embodies somethin- of the indomitabililv of Easter. When once a man or a nation becomes imbued with this Divine spirit—this spirit of Jnviclus —there can be no such thing as defeat. Despairing counsels talking as loudlv. as they like about the end of civilisation, cannot convince me that what has been

so amply demonstrated on a verv small scalp in our own beloved New Zealand, at Napier, cannot and will not be less amply demonstrated in that new world which, phoenix-like, is going to rise out of all that remains of love after the present war is over. Of course, it must he .mauled that building in the terms of character and regenerated humanity is a far more co>tly, slow and difiieult process than rearing st ,„c upon stone in a material cdilice. War plavs havoc will, morals. Spiritual degeneracy spreads like a plague in davs like these. Kvcu so, as surely as lilies grow on dung hills, wo are going to see something beautiful emerge from this Cavalry of sacrifice and pain. Not faith onlv, but just ordinary liuman reason compels us, in the light of what, has already been achieved' in the realm of human progress, to believe, that as on (hat first Easter Day the stone was rolled away, and the Saviour arose triumphant over death, so all our poor, frustrated hopes will break forth into victory, Those who do not believe this arc of all men the most suicidal. The shortest road to oblivion is the best road for those to travel on who are conquered liV despair. The greatest atheist —the most deeply-dyed unbeliever, if he is still possessed of reason, cannot fail to find ill the heart of the Master message that kernel of truth which is the very mainNo sacrifice when nobly undergone can ever he in vain. For every debit there is a credit. "Double entry" is the only system that operates in the Divine accountancy. Time is on our side. Goodness never fails. That is the message of Master.