RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 22775, 9 October 1937, Page 6

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

[By Forward.l

“ The world cannot bury Christ. The earth is not deep enough tor His tomb; . , The clouds are not wide enough for His winding sheet ; He ascends into the heavens, But the heavens cannot contain Him. He still lives in the church which burns unconsumed with His love; In the truth that reflects His image;! In the hearts which burn, as Ho talks with them by the way.” i • THE RELIGIOUS LEADER—AND GOD. ’ By religious work we mean imparting to others that devotion to God .• which, gives peace, courage, and ardent . participation in the highest striving of !the race. God is - that actuality, whatever its nature, which carries highest pos-' sibilities of value. To be devoted to, God is to seek, adore, and give all oncls life in service of this - actuality. Oho may do it quite blindly and dumbly, not claiming to know, with any adequacy ;what God and His ways may be, but: using what .meagre' beliefs he can find to guide him in his. experimental venture. ’ Or again -one may feel that he : , knows quite. completely and .adequately'just'what God is and how to live in conformity to Him, But this difference in knowledge, or assumed knowledge, need make no difference in the measure of devotion. There is a love for God which is not dependent upon knowledge or belief or intellect. The more knowledge we have the better, but uttermost devotion: is possible with, very little in the way of a system of beliefs. Imparting this devotion js what we mean by religious work. There. : 'are three ways ini. which I may try to induce Mr Jones to learn to love my friend Mr Smithy One is by describing Mr Smith to’ him. But I can scarcely think that he really loves Mr Smith as long as he. reacts not to Mr Smith, but only to my ideas about Mr Smith. The second way is to show Mr Jones the symbols of my affection for Mr Smith, such as gifts he gave me, the days I set apart for association with him, and the like. The third is to introduce him to the actual Mr Smith so .that he reacts to him and not merely .to my ideas'and symbols that refer to Air Smith.* ■

These three ways are also the three ways in- which religious workers endeavour, to .impart devotion to God. The traditional Protestant way has been to present a system of about God. Accept these beliefs _ about God and you will have the devotion, so they assumed. The traditional lic way Has been to present symbols that stand for God, the mass, and the cross. ■ / - - , T But how about the third way ? How can you introduce a person to the actuality of God? I can point out’ Air Smith, but can I point out;God? There is a way in which you point out, God, the actual living God, ■ and not-merely present your inadequate and - probably in great part mistaken ideas of God, and not merely hold lip symbols of loyalty. to God. There is .a way in which you can point out 'God and say “ there He is.”- But you cannot do it with your physical finger, and, you cannot qay it with- your i physical voice. The finger with which a' man; points out God 'is the supreme -'devotion of his own personality. ’I can introduce another man to God if I have in my,heart a love for God so, deep and so dominant that it is inarticulate. ; .Here is the miracle about human personality: A man who has a loyalty so persuasive and so potent that he cannot word it, nor adequately execute the deeds to express it, has something which gets across to other people more effectively than anything else about mm. And the wonderful thing is that it is transmitted when • both the_ giver and the - receiver are least, conscious of tne transmission. There is something that speaks louder than words, Itis deeds. But there is something that speaks louder still, very much louder. ; It is that love and adoration in your heart which is too deep and strong: to be articulate. Yet it reaches across to shape the lives of those who are associated with you. , ■ ... How do we know- tlmi) tins transition occurs, if it transpires without consoidusuesß or intention .on xii 6 p&rt or others? We know it v if we have ever been 'intimately associated with someone having such, a high devotiop. After weeks and months, or it may be years, of association with such. a one we at last wake up to discover that the. secret : impulses of our hearts have shaped, indelibly, eternally shaped, by the highest love of that other, although we do not know, when or how it occurred. " - * . Not until a' man ha& a devotion, to God so deep that it radiates from him like an invisible light, without consciousness or intent on his _ part, can he do religious work that is worth a snap of the finger. Without this invisible light he can impart a system of beliefs and he can present tho symbols, but he can introduce. no one to the actuality of God; Who is beyond all beliefs and all-symbols. Only with such devotion - can .he .point out' God. Only so does the inaudible Voice of his spirit cry, ‘ ‘ There Hd is 1” Here, then, is the great dilemma of the religious worker. He must impart devotion to God by something in him that operates without conscious intention on his part. As soon as h© deliberately and self-consciously tries to use his own devotion as a means to bring others to God he becomes a prig. As soon as he says, " Listen to this tone of voice. See how I love God. Take note of this gesture; see the lovo to God that it expresses. See Jhow I fight for Prohibition and give to the Eoor and do all these other good works, o you not detect in me an ardent and wonderful lovo for God? My very presence with you will bring yon to God”; bah! he is dead and cold and ready ; for the grave. How can the religious worker escape from this dilemma? There are two

things he must do and one thing he must nob do. First, he must cultivate iu secret, by private worship, his own personal devotion to God. But he must do it not by thinking about hiiriself, but by thinking about God. He must dedicate 1 himself ever anew to God, no, matter how unknown' God’s ways may be, to him. One can do this as truly as one can devote himself to the service of a child, even when he does not know what the needs and possibilities of that child may be. because they are not yet developed. . The second thing ho must do is to work, not with his own devotion to God, but ho must use the devotion of others as a means to bring people to God. He must seek out and bring into association with one another for the sake, of mutual enkindling those individuals who have the devotion. Then he must bring into this association, or into association with its individual members, those people who do not have this love to God, in order that they may seo the pointing finger and hear the crying voice, and so discern God. Thus the religious worker must use, not his own devotion, but the devotion of- others, to win people to God.' He must try to have a little group of devoted souls which will b© a source of infection, constantly threatening the community with an epidemic of love for God. ■ • ■

Filially, he must not do very much directly to bring people to love God. He can do other things, but not very much of this. And he must not think very much about it. , He must go among people _ very humbly, with a strong realisation of the futility of almost all ho can ever say or do to bring them to a love for God. If _ the invisible light of his own devotion does not illumine to them the presence of Godj and if the cry of his own love for God does not sound in their ears, “ There Ho is!” he can do, nothing. All his techniques and methods may be of use for something. But they cannot contribute, much directly to the supreme cause of leading people to love of God. If others find the actuality of God through anything which you and I may provide it will bo only because of the inarticulate cry of our supreme devotion, “ There He is!” N. Weiman.