“PLEASE, MR. PARSON.”

Gisborne Times, Volume LIX, Issue 9574, 27 July 1923, Page 2

“PLEASE, MR. PARSON.”

QUESTIONS IN CHURCH. For many people church makes no appeal. They cannot loci joy in religion, as they iind it in church. The. sermons are often long and monotonous. And the road to the Kingdom of Heaven, thorny enough ordinarily, is made harder by the labyrinths of creeds and theology in which they find themselves enmeshed. 1 hat there is an indifference to the ordinary church service on the pa it of many pooplo is recognise i in a practical way by at least one clergyman in Sydney—the Rev. Mourns Alassie, the services at whose, Congregational Church iii the populous Newtown have been made brightly attractive by the introduction of a /’Question Box' ’ on the last Sunday in each month. Questions on which information may be sought are placed in the box, and they are. read out and answered from the pulpit during tlic service. The questions cover an cxtrnoidinary range. The clergyman Mould need the wisdom of Solomon to answer them all, but he dues his best.

“Do you think it just that children should be punished for tlie sins of their parentsf” was one of the questions presented at the latest service. Here was another question : “Can a, person achieve success by saying, ‘ Success is Mine “Not. if lie lies on his back and says it,” was the minister’s retort. “He must work.” That "iis straight and to tlie point. He was asked also to solve this little domestic problem: “Who should carry tho household purser” The answer was worthy of a diplomatist, for 3ir Massie, of course, includes both sexes in his congregation. “The one who knows best how to use it,” was his neat reply. Among a score of other questions was this one: “Why is a religious man so often distrusted in business?” “Because often lie talks religion but does not privtise it,” was tile reply. “The man who puts his religion off with his Sunday suit is not religious.”