RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 22572, 13 February 1937, Page 4

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

[By Forward.] In all our homes and all our hearts, In all our schools, our churches, marts, Through all the year— In all our thoughts and all our ways, Controlling all, through all the days, Let Christ be first. ... . GUIDE POSTS FOR THE NEW . YEAR. “To be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to. love and to work and to play.and to look up at the stars; to be satisfied with your possessions, hut hot contented with yourself until you have made the best of them ; to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and:to fear nothing except cowardice; to be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts; to covet nothing that is your neighbour’s except his. 'kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends, and every day of Christ; and to spend as much time as you can with body and with spirit in God’s out-of-doors—.these are little guide posts_on the footpath of. peace.”—Henry Van Dyke. THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR. Once again the • vacation ;time has passed, this year under the shadow of an epidemic that has threatened our boys and girls. ']lVith grateful hearts we realise that the epidemic has abated, and that soon our Sunday schools will reopen and workers will once more be . faced with the problems that confront them each year. How are w© going .to meet those problems P With a firm determination that we can splvo them iii the wisdom and strength of Him who calls us to His service? Can, we learn. from, the failures of tlio past, and go forward into the future with strong faith and courage? The New Year is alwoys a time of new beginnings, and in our church Work there is much to learn from the mistakes and the successes of the past. IVhat is this year going to bring forth in the religious education of the children and young people in our midst ?_ Have we made up our minds that it will see great things . attempted for God, and great things expected of God? This column is compiled with the object . of helping those who undertake the work of Christian education among the children and young people of the community. In order that it may prove of value to all workers, readers are asked to help by sending contributions. in the way of interesting items concerning the problems and the successes of their work. Your problems may be the problems of others, and vour solutions or successes may help others. Send them along and make vour contributions towards more ethcient Christian education in our midst. Articles should be sent cafe P-O. Box 117, Dunedin, not later than Tuesday of each week. , ~ „ At the beginning of-the year, as wo plan and prepare for the reopening of our schools, it will be good for ns to do a little stocktaking so that we may go forward with the experiences of the past to guide us. ’Does our work for the past year stand the scrutiny of our Master, -and have we kept clearly before us the great aim of all our work,the winning of boys and girls, _ young men and women for the Kingdom of God, and the building in them of true Christian character? It. is so .important to have a good aim. Let us fesblve that'we, shall not. forget this aim What kind of service have we given? Has it been ungrudging, unselfish, and joyous service?- Have we learnt the secret of success in Christian service through spending time in His presence, or have wo been so busy doing good that we have neglected this most important part of our preparation ?. Then with regard to our teaching, have we prepared as thoroughly as wo should ? Have we attended preparation class regularly, and have we reached forward to higher ideals as the days have gone by ? Have our pupils learned from our example as well as our precept, and are they nearer to God for the past year’s work? Have wo tried to gain the interest and cooperation of the parents by every

means in onr-power ? . Did we see results in this direction, and could more be done this year? ■ - Wherein have we come'short, in ourselves or in our service? Let us find this out and loam from our experience, whether good or bad, so that in tho now year opening up before us, our service may, by God’s help, be, more worthy of the high calling which is ours. Thus may we, like St. Paul, while learning the lessons of the past, forget the things which are behind and “ press-, toward the .mark for the prize of the- high calling of . God in. Christ rlesus.” OF TWO METHODS—WHICH ? “ Give me a new generation of children, fresh’ from their mothers’ breasts; let me take them to a happy garden, where they shall bo free from all the evil heritage and the customs of the old bad years; and I will show you what a beautiful world I can make.” These words are .from Plato. They present his idea as to making a better world than the one around him. He believed that it could be brought into existence. He declined, to seek refuge from the facts of life inthe coward’s castle of “ You-never-can-change-fauman-nature,” or of “ have-always-been-and-they-will-always-be.” He sought to reform the;world while forming it. . And yet, if the mothers of ’Athens had taken Plato at bis word, and suddenly populated his house and grounds with all their infants-in-arms, the intrepid old thinker would soon have discovered to his distraction, that it is much easier to make a beautiful' world in a hook than in the nursery!He could never take a whole generation of children, unspoiled, into a! “happy garden.”. He .could not interfere with the ordinary affairs of life to that extent. Even if he could, would he be certain not to carry '-.-to that garden with the children some of the “ evil heritage and customs of the old had years?” Would we? There was another, later than Plato,; who also dreamed of a better world.He, too, faced the effect upon hims; f and upon his followers of “ the vil heritage of the old bad years.” Ha offered this prayer: “I-pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” We recognise that in the long .-an the improvement of the - individual and of society must. go along together. But even when we have done much to improve society, Plato’s hope for a “ happy garden ” is largely a hopeless dream. We will never have a human society that will not lag behind »h» best individuals in it. Personal ideals will. always buffet something in tha outside world. The. religious educator is definitely committed to the faith and method that are revealed in the utterance of Jesus; He deals with a new generation of children, children- who must grow up, not in some-happy garden, but in the everyday world. It is his task, as parent or teacher, to.snrroflnd that growing life with such influences hat out of it there will be forged, the material of. “ a beautiful world.”. Every person who ever lived a high and noble life did so because he lived in the “ happy garden ” of his' own pure thoughts and lofty ideals. Ha was protected by inner resources that kept him from surrendering to the evil influences of the world. He had the inner resources of his own wellbuttressed purpose, of his secret, but unshamed intentions, of his unflinching. “ good will’,” of his, pure desires, of his worthy, motives, of his own habit •of acting rightly, under all ; circumstances, "and of his abiding - consciousness of God, His habitual .thought and action, his customary’ decisions, were all pre-empted in his soul in favour of the good life. He learned tha moral value of “ whatever is true, whatever is worthy, whatever is . ’.st, whatever is pure, whatever is attractive, whatever is all excellence, all merit.” The Christian educator is the one who helps to create these qualities in the soul and to rib human character in such fashion that no evil force can overthrow it.—‘ International Journal of R.E.’