THE CHRISTIAN WAY

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 152, 26 December 1945, Page 6

THE CHRISTIAN WAY

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

CHRISTMAS SERMON APPEALS

There were large congregations in the Wellington churches for me Christmas services. The theme of more than one sermon was the importance of individual responsibility in the preservation of peace, and in endeavouring to golve the difficult problems which have arisen out of the war. It was only as man accepted the power released in the world by the event of the first Christmas, said the Bishop of Wellington (the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe" Holland)^ preaching in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul yesterday, that he had any hope of making the power released by the splitting of the atom a benevolent and not a diabolical possession that would lead inevitably to destruction. Human need was so desperate, and human personality so muddled and besmirched by sin'that desperate solutions had to be found, and the birth of Christ was God's desperate remedy. Just as atomic energy had been released in Japan, said Bishop Holland, so had Divine energy been released on that first Christmas Day in Bethlehem, and one of the greatest joys of Christmas was that it reminded mankind of the eternal youthfulness and vigour of the Christian faith: The; coming of Christ upon e*arth was a fact, an event, which people at this particular moment could truly appreciate, "for we can now see." he said, "that the incarnation had a significance inextricably linked with ' the atomic "God has said, in effect: 'Will men let Me come and share their life with them, revealing ■to them the one secret—the ■ secret of love—that can alone transform the jungle into a family and expel the tiger and the donkey from the human heart? Will they take My hand? Will they accept the offer of a friendship between Myself and them, which. can strengthen them, first to dethrone the evil, selfishness, pride, and greed of power and wealth that ruin every human relationship, and then replace them with the love under whose direction alone can science become the servant, and not the juggernaut, of humanity?'" Like the fact of the atomic bomb, said the bishop, so did the fact of Christ's coming confront mankind with the great question: "What are you going to do about it?" God would never deprive man of the power of choice: otherwise men would become automatons. Christ pointed the way. The way of love, the way of the child who was born in the manger at Bethlehem, and of the Man. who died on the Cross, was the only way that could shape a happy future. v In that way alone, he believed, could science be made safe for humanity. .

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan (Archbishop O'Shea), who presided at midnight Mass at St. Mary of the Angels, said that not by increasing armaments would freedom be achieved among the nations, but only by following the commandments of Christ. "Will the world swing uncertainly between one extreme and the other?" he asked, "or will the pendulum come to rest, thanks to the work of wise rulers with principles and policies which do not run contrary to the laws of God and do not offend the Christian conscience?" For more than a century, continued the Archbishop, the Popes had been warning the world -of the disastrous results that would certainly follow the apostasy of western civilisation. It had been impossible to separate the cause of civilisation from religion. When nations decided policies in a purely secular spirit the inevitable result wa? a society devoid of truth and without law. "May God. who came down as a child among men on that first Christmas morn." he said, "once again take pity on His creatures, and may He send the help that is necessary to bring our poor war-shaken world back to r>eace and order." The first portion of the service at The Terrace Presbyterinn Church was taken by the Rev. Lan K. Ryburn. The Rev. Harold Taylor delivered -the sermon, and communion w»s administered by the Rev. A. B. Kilroy.