RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 22721, 7 August 1937, Page 6

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

[By Forward.] God give us wisdom in these coming days And eyes unsealed, that we clear visions see Of that new world that He would have us build, To life’s ennoblement and His high ministry. —John Oxenham. ' YOUTH GETS TOGETHER. Last winter a great gathering of young men and women belonging to the church held a conference in Moray House, Edinburgh. They camo at the invitation of the Presbytery Youth Committee to hear Mr Melyillo Dinwiddle, the director of Scottish broadcasting, speak on the place of young people in the church. He pictured what the church might be if youth were at the helm, and he put a. trame round the picture by reminding his hearers what the church owed to the fidelity of its older members. It’s a queer case that hasn’t two sides to it! The remarkable thirur about the conference was the readiness of its members to speak in the discussion that followed Mr Dinvviddio’s address. The audience was drawn from most of the ' congregations in the city, and the speakers had much to say that was to the point. They were occasionally witty, usually expressed their meaning well, and hit the target more often than speeches sometimes do in meetings where the speakers are older and moro experienced. So many were the varied opinions given that the time for summing up completely disappeared. For a first conference of the kind the gathering was an undoubted success. —About Broadcasting.— It may have been the interest and value of the Presbyterial Youth Conference that suggested to Mr Dinwiddie the similar gathering at 8.8. C. Scottish headquarters on the last Saturday of January. On that stormy, wintry day, in a hall where many a great audience was wont to meet wT.li the famous lecturers of the Victorian age, 300 young men and women from 14 to 18 came by invitation of the 8.8. C. to express freely their views on broadcasting programmes. Among them were a froup of over 30 delegates from Edinurgn Bible classes, and scarcely a type of Scottish youth was left out. The clever organising work of the 8.8. C. staff reaped its reward; for three hours, under the chairmanship of certain of its own number, the gathering debuted kecnly t with very little wandering from the point and with gleams of humour and much common sense, the merits and alleged, defects of wireless programmes. The results of the voting that expressed in figures the views of the conference need not he given here. They expressed opinions with which thoughtful people would for the most part cordially agree. It would; be a surprise if Mr Dinwiddie and his colleagues were disappointed with their experiment. THESE OUTSIDERS. We are told by the public census authorities that the number of people in Scotland whose ages range from 15 to 19 is round about 470,000; almost 10 per cent, of the whole population of Scotland.. Taking the number of ‘ ‘ grown-ups ’ ’ who Are members of the Church of Scotland, wo find that her share:of 15 to 19-year-olds on the same reckoning' would be 180,000. Half of these are in Bltlle classes; some thou-sands-more in various other groups. It looks as if one-third of the young men and women were not being definitely accounted for. They are not yet communicant members—except for a few who wisely have become so in their “ middle ’teens.” What are the 60,000 doing about religion? The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland can claim about 70,000 of this same age group. That church alone knows how many of these are actively related to their church. Add these 70,000 to our church’s 180,000; add as many thousands more as you like for the various other organised churches in Scotland, and the religious bodies which do not claim to be churches—and even at the lowest reckoning you will find anything up to 200,000 youths and maidens from 15 to 19 years, of age to whom church—and too often also religion—mean nothing at all. , A young man in the temple, seeing a vision l of the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, heard the ■voice of the Lord saying, “ Whom shall 1 send, and who will go for us?” And the young Isaiah said, “Here.am I; send me!” Youth calls to youth, as deep unto deep. The fitting ambassadors of the church to the churchless youth of Scotland (and any other land, too) are her own young men and women. Those facts relate to a country overseas, but, if a census were taken of our own New ,Zealand youth, the same startling facts would he revealed, constituting a challenge, alike to all who have , the welfare of our Dominion at heart, and to all who know that the sure foundation of life is based on ■Christiam religion. •

GROWING EXPERIENCE IN WORSHIP. There is no single way of building a worship experience, and there is no single course which the worship experience takes in the lives of Christians. The way in which an individual comes to the fullness of the experience depends both upon 'the technique employed in. the service and upon his own

make-up. There are, however, certain steps which are involved in a complete process: 1. A sense of the Divine Presence. Worship is not a one-sided subjective experienoe. It is communion, of too hitman spirit with, th© Divin©, awareness of God, is basic to genuine worship. 2. An understanding of certain facts. Worship is not primarily a teaching process. But the mind must bo active (except in occasional moments of passive meditation), and it must concern itself with such information _as forms the content of the service. Through the prayer, the hymns, the Scripture, the talk, or the period of silence, certain new ideas should be disclosed, , old knowledge should be. clarified, or facts should be interpreted. Unless the mind as well as the heart is turned God-ward, the service may produce nothing better than an emotional thrill. • . 3. A lifting and sharpening of ideals. The mood; of worship makes it easy for the better side of human nature to come into the ascendency. _ 4. A moral determination. The logical next step is that he shall go beyond an intellectual assent to worthy purposes, that he shall muster his entire personality in a determination to accomplish the highest good. To the “I know-” and the “I ought,” he adds the “ I will.” 5. Reliance upon the source of power. Once the worshipper has resolved to live beyond his present practice, he reaches out for the God who has been revealed to him, and seeks to appropriate that help which comes from no other source. 6. The application in the daily round of duty and opportunity. Any experience of worship, really worthy of the name, is not complete when the public meeting is ended. The value of this corporate process depends, largely upon the degree to which it extends itself into the details of private and social living. Unless the quality of the inner experience affects the life of home and school and store, the process has stopped short of completion. Although sweeping the_ floor clean is not the whole of worship, the fullness of worship cannot be attained unless it affects the spirit in which the floor is swept. —From ‘ Training Young People in 1 • Worship.’