OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 16 March 1928, Page 9

OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY

TOO HEAVY BURDENS

MINISTER WHO FAVOURS RECREATION.

What is the reason for the desecration of the Sabbath!' The Rev. Howard Finch, of Port Chalmers, in an address at Christchurch at the Congregational Union, answered his own question, says the 'Christchurch Press. ’.

“The Church has attempted to impose Burdens on the people too Heavy to be Borne,” he said, in the course of an address on ‘‘The Christian Citizen and Sunday,” at the annual assembly of the Congregational Union. “Sunday is not meant to be a day oi restriction, and if all recreation is to be restricted the Church will be a killjoy, anti people, more and more, win associate religion with gloom. No one wants the old, dull Sunday again, but, at the same time, it must be diiterent from other days in the week.” Mr. Pinch mrther stated that he was not opposed to reci'eation on Sunday. In his opinion, there is no harm at all in a game of golf, provided, or course, that such does not entail work for other people.

The speaker prefaced liis address by an outline of the origin of Sunday. The day was set apart as a commemoration of the rest of the Creator after making the world, and then, again, it was a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt. It was not. observed before the. time of Moses, and so it was a Jewish observance. It had to be kept in the spirit of religion. “NOT A GLOOMY DAY.” The legislators of the Old Testament endeavoured to secure Sunday as a day of rest by restriction. Certain things were not to be done on this day. The people were not to kindle fires under penalty of death. They were, not to prepare food; they were not to buy or sell Nevertheless, the people of .the Old Testament enjoyed the Sabbath. It was no harder for them to observe than for the present generation to celebrate the season of Christmas. It was not by any means a gloomy day, but rather one of social joy. The whole thing, however, was Jewish; it was to pass away. And so the day had been changed. Where Sunday had been marked on the seventh day of the week, it now was observed on the first day. The day had to lie adapted to the needs of mankind. . Certain traditions concerning Sunday had been handed down from generation to generation. “ASKED TOO' MUCH.” “Sunday to-day is desecrated,” said Mr. Finch. “Why? I. believe it is because we have asked too much of men. The Church has endeavoured to place burdens upon the people too heavy to be borne. She has demanded a strictness that has been impossible in practice. Many of us have been trying to find a practical solution to the problem, and if we have the mind or Jesus Christ it should present no difficulty to us personally. “Everyone wants to enjoy and to retain his or her Sunday. Scoff as people do at those who observe the day, they are always glad when it comes round. ‘l’ll be glad when Sunday comes,’ are familiar words to the lips of men. To men in all walks of life Sunday is a day of freedom. “Sunday is not meant to he a day ol restriction. In the Scripture it was only work that was not to be done. If ‘all recreation is to be restricted, the Church null be a kill-joy, and people, more and more, will associate religion with gloom and dullness, which certainly is not for the glory of God. No one wants the old, dull Sunday again, but we do want to see it coming back like all other days. “NO HARM IN GOLF.” “A Continental Sunday is mot to be desired. We do not want Sunday trading, Sunday newspapers, Sunday sports and amusements, to the exclusion of all else. Surely there is a middle way. The Roman Catholic gives the early part of the day to religion, but the enlightened Protestant, for the sake of his amusements, neglects his soul. “Recreation is not the chief end of life, and to the young people of to-dav the Sabbath should be a day of rest. It should be the best day of the week —a day of quiet recreation. There is no harm in a game of golf, but it is the details of J;he question that provide the difficulties. What is rest to one

person is not to another. Some people require recreation on the Sunday, and they are not Sabbath-breakers. Sunday is made for man; it is God’s day, and it should be observed in the spirit of Christ, and as churchmen we will not lower our Sunday flag.”