INTERCESSION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 44, 21 August 1939, Page 10

INTERCESSION

REFUGEE PROBLEM

PRAYERS OFFERED

ANGLICAN CHURCH

REFERENCES

Prayers, for refugees were offered in; Anglican churches throughout the •"Wellington Diocese yesterday, in accordance with the decision of the Diocesan Synod last month. The manifesto issued by the Diocesan Refugee Committee urging the taking of practical steps to assist those who were the victims of persecution and tyranny v>as read in all the churches. The sermon at the Cathedral Church of-St. Paul last evening was preached .by, the /Rev. A. F. Collard-Scruby. After, dealing with the pax-able of the unjust steward, Mr. Collard-Scruby said' that if they cast their eyes towards. Europe they couJa sec a nation which had been built out of the wreck-age-Jeft in 1918. Some twenty years afterwards they had forcsd upon them thefaet of a rejuvenated Germany. Those; people who .were .starving in 1918 were a world force and px-obably, they thought, under Hitler a world menace. Hitler had used all the possible means, in his power to secure a unified Germany and he had succeeded. The few who protested were the older ones, daily growing less and less in nunjber. and the persecuted, who were impotent, were also growing less,- If tliey -were as earnest and as eager to strengthen- God's people. His Holy Nation, His Kingdom, could chey do less than Hitler had done for Germany? The- cause of the Kingdom of God was right, and truth should be winning its victories in a measure and degree differently from the way it was Instead..of haying people betrayed into the hands of the powerful Reich, they should have the Holy Catholic Church annexing .'the realms of the indifferent. Instead of having a partisan . Chris* tianity they should have a unified Christendom.. If they thought that because they were "the children of light" they could sit back' in their armchairs and let-God work His will in anyway he could, but without their co-operation, they were mistaken. If they were to begin to earn the title "the children of light" 'they had to realise that they were the Church militant, and therefore! do their utmost to fight evil and sin'and wrong-doing. "We have been asked*to reserve this/particular day for intercession on .behalf of• the refugees," said Mr. Collard-Scruby. "Shall we go away from this church with a- determination Ho turn that■ intercession" into something {Very practical? We all have certain opportunities and certain power. Let': us- use them tor good, truth.-and 'the Kingdom of God." ■■"•' . SACRIFICE «OK STARVING. Preaching" at St. Peter's Church, the Key. F. C. Long asked whether, with a true. Christian outlook towards their less fortunate human beings. New Zealanders "could adhere lo their cherish ed policy of, isolation, which, was on all -fours.; 'with..'' " the : White Australia policy,, and' whether the time was- not ripe for a modification of that policy New Zealand claimed to have the highest^ standard, of living, in the. world. The question should be thrashed out whether we should . ot. seek, to make some sacrifice for those who. were starving. These were problems which could .largely be .olved by real arid sincere prayer, .-aid Mr. Long. First it ■wras necessary to create an enlightened public opinion and one. that was inspired by the highest Christian motives. ."""'■ ~ A CHRISTIAN DUTY. "Humanity is Christianity," declared the. Rev. J, E., Ashley-Jones, vicar of Northland, when preaching at St. Anne's. Church last night. Mr.: Ashley Jones/referred to. the terrible persecution of the.Jews in Germany, the separation of. husbands from. .their wives, and of children from their parents. The freatment oi the children, he said., was ■ really heartbreaking Christ .was always full,'of. pity tor th? distressed, snd -his example must oc fallowed in the matter oi'-ths refugees. "I Was a stranger and ye'.topk Me in/ "Inasmuch as ye have. clone it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto Me." Those words of Our Lord should bt borne /.n rijjnd by all. Christians 'when they were thinking of the refugee problem. dark days, full of upcertai'nty'i" ,'th*e" preacher continued. No one^ .knew, but that in a or .two w.e 'might, be thrown' into a . terrible War..' British statesmen were, carrying a. heavy load of. responsibility, and; for that reason he deprecated derogatory remarks being.- rr}ade. about what they were/ doing.. Men . like Lord Halifax, the F.oreign Secretary, who was a good Christian man, could be trusted to : -do '\yhat x was right. In the. matter o| receiving , refugees, however, the British" Empire, had not done a .very £reat' deal yet, whereas Belgium.. Hol^ land, and France .had done much. In these sparsely-populated land? of the Pacific ;ther.e was^a duty-iq take in re* ftigees. As for the fear of increasing ■unemployment, if had' been pointed out/that ' good- service given an employer by a refugee would have the effect' of, ihcreasihg that employer's busine's^/ thereby'creating a demand for the'ern,plpyment of more labour.. In any event, it'was their Chr,istian duty to .help their neighbour. To the question, ."Who is my .'neighbour?" the answeV had been very appropriately given. "Who" my neighbour \~." and refugees were .their neighbours. "The Arsslican ■'Church in this "diocese was caIJJDg, upon, all church people to salve practical help in alleviating the plight of, the. refugees, and if they called themselves Christians" they must read our Lord's words as contained in the latter part :■ of the 2qtb chapter of St. Matthew and act as they were therein told.' . A WORLD-PROBLEM. -."Throughput the,ages, from the time of ■■the.' exodus of the Israelites from Egypt,there have been repeated movements- of refugees—sometimes very large movements." said the Rev G. M McKerizie. preaching at St. Michaels and, All Angels Church. Kelburn. yesterday! "In more recent times we have seen -the escape of tv- Flemings to Great Britain, of the Huguenots from France, of the Puritan Fathers from England, of the United Empire Loyal-, istg from the United States of America, and so on. In every case the refugees have been assimilated in their coun-. tries pf refuge, to the lasting advantage off; the countries concerned. The immediate post-war years saw move- j ments. of. refugees, on a large scale, their number being greatly in excess' o£ the .refugees of today. Greece alone I received no fewer than 1.300,000. nearly Qije-third-,of her. population at that time. Th.es.e refugees have been assimilated and now play no small part in i lie economic prosperity of Greece. Other' countries received smaller grpups, in all some four million people being'taken into new countries. It is well ■to have this in mind when we study today's refugee problem. Four ; million - refugees-were: a. live .problem.!

less than twenty years ago. Today they present few points of difficulty.

"The. present refugee problem, has arisen mainly from the so-called racial policy of the Nazi Government in Germany, which has led to the withdrawal of the common rights ot citizenship from non-Ai-;;ans. -A nonAryan is defined in German law as a person one or more of whose grandparents are a Jew by 'cp.ee.' Life in Germany has, for such people, almost a million in all, become impossible; not intolerable, but: impossible. The position of these people is made even worse by the refusal of ]other countries to allow them entry as immigrants. It ill behoves any nation to condemn German methods in this matter, until it is prepared to do its'share in alleviating the suffering. The pre-wa:-world was largely a world open to all. Today every country, witn the sole exception of China, has stringent immigration laws. The would-be immigrant must, have a passport and a vis--, in many cases a permit to enter a new land, and often a guarantee that h. wi.ll not be a burden on public institutions. Nothing, perhaps, more reveals the dehumanisation of /modern civilisation -th-h the fact that a man today is recognised as .a human being only when he can. show passports, visas." and other papers to frove the obvious fact.. And even if a refugee manages to land in a country, it is. an ordinary condition in many of them, as in Great Britain, that he must not. accept employment, paid />r unpaid. : "Looking at the refugee problem as! merely a problem, we find it nard to know what to do about the matter. But it is just because we regard it in the light of a problem that we are in difficulties. We must begin to think of it in terms of human beings, in terms of brother Jin ess ?.nd brotherhood. The position is that a million of'our Tealowrren are in lands where -ue has. for them, become intolerable owing to unimaginable political cruelty. We cannot stand idly by and hope for the best. If we do. we forfeit our title to be a Christian country; Wuatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, that do ye also unto them.' That teaching is just as. binding on us in regard to the refugees as it is in connection with any local difficulty."