YOUTH WORKERS’ INSTITUTE

Evening Star, Issue 22379, 1 July 1936, Page 2

YOUTH WORKERS’ INSTITUTE

FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING The second series of meetings at the fourth annual Youth Workers’ Institute, conducted by the Otago branch of the Council of Religious Education, was held in the Knox Sunday School last night. Mr A. L. Haddoii director of the Otago School of Religious Education, presided over a fair 'attendance, and conducted the opening worship. “ METHODS OF DEVOTION.” The Rev'.: R. G. M'Dowall delivered a "econd.italk' On .‘ The Devotional Life of the 1 Worker,’ his theme for the evening . being ‘ Methods of Devotion.’. He urged the 'necessity for. greater active service and practical interest. Personal church attendance was vital; it was not sufficient merely to listen to a radio broad-cast.-The reading of the Bible was another important aid to the worker, anti the speaker outlined some useful guides to fruitful study. The third method was through regular prayer, in which truth and . reality were the essentials. The devotion period was the very core of the life of the. worker. It was the period of.^preparation. GOD IN THE- PSALMS. 'The principal address of the evening was delivered" by Professor S. F. Hunter oh, a second aspect of the Psalms. ‘ The Conception of God in the. Psalms. “ There is a wide range of subjects in the. Psalter,*’ said the lecturer,“ but all are based on the psalmist’s thought of God. ; We must also remember that the psalms express the religious experience of many men of divers temperaments and varied situations over. a period of'perhaps 1,000 years, during which religion was growing .as the divine revelation was progressively received. We have not in. the Psalter the one dead level of religious thinkThe religion of Israel, he continued, was'the greatest miracle in all human history. The Israelites were a small group of clans, politically insignificant. In all the 1,500 years of their residence in Canaan only 400 years or so did they spend as a free nation.. They were harried, destroyed, yet their God was recognised by Jew, Moslem, and Christian to-day as the only God, the living God. The gods of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome were cast into musty sepulchres, to be dragged to the light ns crumbling mummies, or merely dim memories by students, but the God of the Hebrews was the God on Whom millions and millions called to-day. . ■ The speaker then showed that God, to' the psalmists, was anthropomorphic and anthropopathic. He was invested with the appearance and with the feelings of a man. He dealt in some detail with the various types of psalms —psalms of adoration,%ot reflection, of thanksgiving, psalms for historical deliverances, for celebration of worship, psalms of history emphasising the unfaithfulness of Israel and the continuing love of God, imprecatory psalms, penitential psalms, .petitions, psalms of kingship, and psalms concerning. the universal reign of Jehovah. He illustrated with quotations each of these types. “ The God of the psalmists,” he said in conclusion, “ is the living God, the only God. He is personal, and is perfectly just and merciful. He is Eternal, Omnipresent, All-knowing. He is. the Creator of the universe and the Universal Sovereign. He is the King who will some day come and judge the -irth, become King in very deed, r tablish a kingdom. The psalmists t of a perfect Israelite kingdom wu.i Dayidio Messiah as the. heart of God’s kingdom, but this thought was fulfilled ■ more wonderfully in Jesus, who • was Son of God rather than of David, and whose throne, is not in Jerusalem, but in the hearts -of men of all nations.” ~ section x al MEETINGS. Sectional meetings were then held, addresses being given to the Bible class leaders on ‘ Conducting the Bible Class Section ’ by Mrs H. A. Mitchell, and to the Bible class members on ‘ The Members’ Preparation,’ by Miss G. Paul. Classes for primary, junior, and intermediate scholars were also conducted. The closing devotions were conducted by students of the School of Religious Education.