RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 23451, 16 December 1939, Page 6

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

[By Forward.]

A TEACHER’S PRAYER. Help me, 0 God, to see the living

truth Behind the printed page, behind the

maze Of facts and words and dates that 1 must teach To minds that blindly grope their way alone, Not knowing what they seek; or

have to learn; Help me to see the truth and pass it on.

HAND IN HAND WITH CHRIST. Business men know the value of partnerships. Politicians know the value of committees. They understand that to each of such associations different men bring different abilities—one an organising talent, another an understanding of conditions, another tact, another perseverance, another enthusiasm, another an insight into the future, and so on. In our religious life the importance of partnerships is especially great, since we can have for our associate in alt our religious work no less than the Bon of God Himself, no less than the Holy Spirit of the Infinite. . To realise this is to get to the heart of Christianity. Our Lord came down to earth to make this heavenly partnership possible for each of us, to remove the barriers of sin preventing our comradeship, and to become our Comrade in very truth. WITH WHAT MEASURE YE METE. “With the same measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.’ 1 That is the law of action and reaction in the moral realm. There is a market place of souls. The shopkeeper has a measure for each commodity with which he traffics. I trace the names upon them:—Judging, giving, forgiving, criticising, loving, hating. 1 Out of the storehouse of .the heart he fills them all and passes them on to travellers through the market place. It was that traffic that Jesus watched as He looked into the faces of His generation. But he saw that every measure handed out came back again—though a wide circuit bo passed—and that its ghostly burden was curiously like that with which it had started exit on its way. That bitter word that condemned a brother, not grieving for his sin, not striving to hide his shame, came back barbed to the speaker’s heart. Gifts given secretly came winging home again in kindness and love. ' - . Yet Jesus knew that for His love the world would repay Him with a cross. But -beyond the Cross -He claimed a world for His sowing. “We love Him because He first,loved us.” WE SEE HIS STAR. To-night in little churches of the ; earth, And in the great cathedrals, arched and dim,. We gather to copimemorate a birth; We see His star. . and come to worship Him. The centuries take toll of many things; The false gods fail, their strange - creeds prove untrue’; But steadfastly above us.' one 'star shines; The old, old story still is ever -new. Lord, in the wild disorder of our years, . When paths are tangled and the way leads far, Although our eyes are blurred by many tears, We. still can see the glory of Thy star. Should all else fail us. Lord, still let us see The star ahead that leads at last to Thee. —Grace N. Crowell. KEEPING CHRISTMAS. It is a good thing to observe Christmas Day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to fee! the supremacy of tho common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which’ runs on sun time. But there is a better thing than observance of Christmas Day, and that is keeping Christmas. Are you willing to forget what you have dohe for other people, and to remember what other people have done for youpto ignore what the world owes you; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground ; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy ; to own that probably the only good reasons for your existence is not what you are going to get of life, hut what you,are .going to give to life: to close youf book of complaints against the management of the universe and look around you for a place where you can sow, a fe‘w seeds of happiness—are you willing to do these' things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas. And, if you keep it for a day, why not always? But you can never keep it alone. WHAT MAKES CHRISTMAS? It was not the angels’, singing Gave the,Christmas thought; Not the precious gold and incense By the Wise Men brought. Not the shining star that led them On their unknown way: ’Twas the Christ within the manger Made the Christmas Day. So ’tis not the tree and presents Make our Christmas Day ; ’Tis not what we get that counts, But what we give away. ’Tis the joy of loving service Makes the glad hours bright, Thinking first of others’ pleasure, Self put out of sight. We need never mourn that Christmas Comes but once a year, , Since the blessedness of giving Brings the Christmas cheer. If we keep the Christmas spirit In our hearts alway. Through the whole year we can make it Christmas every day. GREETINGS. From to-day this column will be discontinued until the reopening of the schools. “ Forward ” wishes for all readers a very happy holiday, and the compliments of the season. The Bethlehem Christ, your own Saviour and friend; The 1 God of the New Year,’’ your Guide to the end.