DISTRIBUTION

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 80, 5 April 1932, Page 15

DISTRIBUTION

A WORLD PROBLEM CHRISTIANITY THE KEY ■ Special harvest thanksgiving services were held at the Seatoun Presbyterian Church on Sunday, the offerings being received on behalf of the - Wellington Presbyterian girls' and boys' homes. At the evening service the Rev. A. A. Armstrong preached on the subject of "Distribution: The Problem of Today." The text was Luke 9, 13.17: "Jesus said unto them, 'Give ye them to eat.' He gave to the disciples to set before the multitudes and they did eat and were all filled." wonderful action of Christ, whereby He fed about 10,000 people, almost the population of Miramar and Seatoun combined, was, said the preacher, related to the food and finance problem so gravely present with us today. Bead carefully, the narrative indicated the principles by which escape from the problem could. be achieved. No intelligent person needed convincing to-day about the vast revealed and hidden resources of Nature. On every nand'men were telling the story of the abundance of this modern age. So great .was the ability of man to, tap and transform the rich supplies of Nature, that •Bis barns were to-day overflowing with all that was necessary to support i and satisfy the -world's physical needs. His productive advantage had enlarged wonderfully by means of mechanical power, and he- was able to produce more rapidly than he could' use. No one, could deny that the world was in an age of super-abundance. CHRIST-IDEAL OF SERVICE. Yet there still existed the hungry masses. There was a wide demand for the necessaries of life. In New Zealand, as well as elsewhere, crowds of poor people were in a state of semistarvation amid heaped-up abundance. The supreme problem of New Zealand and the world was, that while the supply was equal to the need, the "loaves and fishes" of to-day did not flow out to ■ satisfy the legitimate and Godcreated needs of humanity. What was wrong? What was missing in the present scheme of things that such a breakdown existed? Was it not that, so far, people had not kept the, Christ-ideal of service growing strongly enough to "overcome-the evil power of selfish pro*' fit? The'problem of the world was the removal of this obstruction to distribution. The command of Christ was, "Give ye.them, to eat," so laying on the disciples the responsibility of intelligent i action. They'were enjoined to;organise- the distribution of what God placed-in their hands, and when they mastered the pioblem they found that "they did eat and.were filled." Not only was there a sufficiency for the people—there was a surplus. PRINCIPLE, NOT PROFIT. It was the will of God that man should have a sufficiency for his physi-cal-needs, and it was the truth of Godthat the abundance required was already provided for in Nature. The abundance was released by the spiritual en.-' lightenment of humanity, and when principle, not profit, exerted its Christlike power, then no longer would countless millions be left in privation. Therefore, the supreme task before the world was evangelisation. Spiritual uplift would lead to social emancipation.' It was to the glory of God that men should realise 'that food supplies dependedupon growing faith and intelligence. It was n.6fc,God who withheld, but the .ineffective man-made conditions which;j frustrated. Tho only remedy was for" man to change his methods and so make what he had go: further, and also gain, that sure: increase that came when, with Christ,' hi*- lifted his eyes to Heaven arid, gave' his lifo to the way of service.'.';:;,:[_" :.W' VJGocbhad -in:-' Christianity given the world the key to the problem of life. They wanted, no .new theories, no new laws, but merely a fundamental change, a new life. ' They wanted the leadership of Christy in their midst, a spiritual uplift'that"would place them where man, alone t cpuld find his way out to social deliverance. That would probably mean a:radical.change, new ways whereby the Hindered abundance would be released to;meet tho great demand. Through Christian agencies the new distribution would/become a new evangelism loading the world to recognise in Christ its only" Saviour. "Our task .as Christians and a* a Church is to seek to provide those hearts and those hands whereby shall be made actual and real, the answer to the prayer, 'Give us this day our daily bread,' " said the preacher. "Christianity applied is the key that alone can unlock the closed doors so that the abundance of God may he distributed and so that the hungry ones may be satisfied from the hands of this new emancipation."