CHURCH'S TASK

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 60, 12 March 1937, Page 9

CHURCH'S TASK

IN MODERN SOCIETY

THE WORSHiP OF GOD

MUCH CONFUSION

The responsibilities that the organised Church had to face ' in modern Christian society were outlined in the presidential address given by the Rev. H. W. Newell, M.A., 8.D., in the Terrace Congregational Church last evening, following his induction as chairman of the Congregational Union of New Zealand.

Mr. Newell prefaced his remarks by referring to the loss sustained by the death of Mr. R. H. Fisher, of Auckland, who was to have been chairman of the Congregational Union for 1937.

Mr. Newell" said he invited them to consider afresh what was the proper place of the organised church in the modern world. There was much confusion. Many people, even those of a religious turn of mind, thought that its day was over. Our universities gave no facilities for the study of theology, and there was no degree in that science. Almost any wandering lecturer could get up and put forward his own theories of salvation in contemptuous disregard of the teachings of the Christian Church. People would prefer to believe any fantastic and absurd theory of the interpretation of the Scripture,'without any inquiry as to the authoritative interpretation of the Church. Even religious-minded people showed an impatience for and complete lack of understanding of the discipline of Church worship. Many went from church to church, rather priding themselves on being more "broadminded" than those who shouldered the responsibilities and sought to enter fully into the discipline of the organised Church. CHANGING CONDITIONS. "People say, 'The Church no doubt had its place in former days, but now we have our wireless, our social clubs, our philanthropic societies, our opportunities for lofty music, our psychological stunts, to help us get our inner life in good trim—the Church is outmoded,'" said Mr. Newell. "Now it is no use denying that changing conditions have made of less value many of the Victorian appurtenances of Church organisation. But all the more do they show up the true place of the organised Church. Baron yon Hugel said, 'Religion is adoration.' If you think this unduly limits the scope of religion—cuts it off from life and activity—you are wrong, and have not understood the deep and fundamental pathos of the human heart. For man is never great when he thinks he is. He is only great when he knows he is little and doomed to fail. It is wonder, awe; fear that are the springs of all that is noble in man. Sin is always, vulgar, for sin is self-centred-ness. And man is not really wise until he opens his heart to the wisdom 'from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits.' CHANGELESS WISDOM. "The Church lives to minister to each generation of this changeless wisdom from above. Its task is to witness to the divine fact which is the only ultimate motive for man's adoration, through which his true wisdom comes to him. That is the first thing in the Church's task—to tell men of a fact, namely, that God has come down to man just at that point where man is frustrated and beaten. For man is a tragic figure. He is made so that he must ask' questions, but he has not been equipped with the power to answer his own questions. Man is made with a love of life and beauty, but those things he needs must love are snatched from him before ever he has grasped them. He is made to aspire to be noble and good, but the more he tries the more aware he is that he is a failure. But if is just here, in his frustration and defeat, that God comes in. The Church ever lives to witness this —man's terrible frustration, and God's coming to man through that frustration." ' EIGHT WAY TO WORSHIP. Mr. Newell went on to speak of the task of the organised Church as being, secondly, to provide'to every generation the right way to worship. Man needed to be taught to pray aright. He then dealt with the threefold chord that true worship must strike —feeling, thought, and action. Heartless brain was worthless, but so also was thoughtless praise, and most of all words without deeds. Religions might be merely sentimental, or merely intellectual, or merely fussy. It would fall into these errors unless they made it their business to see that heart and mind and will were stirred to bless God. j "One of our great dangers is that we think too little," said Mr. Newell. "We, say we are tired on Sunday, and we want our preachers to amuse rather than to instruct. But no truth is really yours until it has been discovered for yourself by toil and trouble. God is never revealed to the mentally indolent.

"Christianity is meant also to be a practical thing—that is, as much a part of your worship as is the adoration given in the Church itself. In a world filled with sickness, the expression of religion is.to fight disease; in a world full of wrong, to secure justice. In a world full of poverty and distress, the Christian sets himself to be rid of evil. And so we come back to the high and noble calling of the Christian Church, to which God has committed the work of reconciliation between God and man, and between men and men."

THE FLYING MAIL