CHURCH REBUKED

Evening Star, Issue 22033, 20 May 1935, Page 8

CHURCH REBUKED

FAITH HOT AW.IED A strong rebuke to the Christian Church to-day for failing to apply the faith which it professed to social and international problems, was contained in *a sermon delivered by Bishop WestWatson at the cathedral yesterday morning (says the Christchurch ‘Press’). Yesterday was the special day of .prayer for the relief of distress and deliverance from the danger of war. observed" by, the Church of England throughout the dominion, in response to ;an appeal by Archbishop Averili, Primate of New Zealand. _ “ W© pray to-day not as asking God to relieve us of our responsibilities, said Bishop West-Watson, “ and to show us an easy way out of our difficulties. I think that some of the lookers-on think that such a ,day of prayer is a‘ kind of morkl cowardice or abdication. We pray rather as men who feel God calling them to face a great decision. We pray as those who feel something of the dread possibilities Of Getnsemane, who'feel that God’s answer to their .prayer may be the .vision of a cross of witness and sacrifice, of loss -of friend and reputation,' of giving themOlves so that the world may be saved from the horror which threatens it.

RESPONSIBILITIES NEGLECTED. “It is we Christians who should be the first to acknowledge our failings,’ said the bishop. “We profess that the essence of our religion is to love God with all our hearts and our neighbour as ourselves. . And we have neither done it nor tried to do it. The 'cost of loving Japanese and Chinese and Germans as we love New Zealanders has been too great for us to afford. As Christians we have professed to live up to Christ's standard, but as citizens we have lived down to the prejudice and selfishness of popular opinion. We have been afraid of being different from others or disloyal to our own group. And instead of pointing the world to salvation through love and by our willingness to suffer for our faith, we are being herded along with the rest like sheep to the slaughter. ■ “It is little wonder that so' many thoughtful meu think cheaply of our faith when we are ready to soli it for a mess of pottage. On the one hand 1 see a world heading for war, suffering, and ruin, as .the only and natural climax of national folly and shamelessness. Oh the other hand I see a different possibility, of a church refusing to say, like the false prophets, ‘ Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper,’ which suffers for its refusal, but wins the world by its suffering to a new and better way, saving it from the appalling prospect before it. OBSERVANCE LOCALLY Yesterday Anglican churches in Dunedin observed the special day of prayer inaugurated - by the Primate, addresses from the pulpits making special reference to such scourges as war and unemployment.