THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 19 December 1936, Page 13

THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK

(Contributed) The Charm of Christmas. Once again Christmas comes to lay its spell upon us. If only for a brief time it bids us pause in the midst of the hurry and bustle of the world’s happenings and turn our thoughts towards home and all that means in life. For many the Christmas Festival has few associations other than eating and drinking; the exchange of friendly greetings as between friends and relations; and the extension of an overflow of good feeling to acquaintances and comparative strangers—our neighbours in the largest and vaguest sense. Even the most gloomy and foreboding moods yield to the charm of the Season’s greetings, and smiles, though perchance in some cases forced, break over faces strained and sad. Co docs the Child Christ weave His magic and diffuse His message as hardened men and women catch His reflection in the happy faces of the children or overhear His voice in the merry laughter of the carefree youngsters. Two thoughts are indissolubly interwoven in the Christmas rejoicing. Home and Childhood. —Rev. Prof. K. M. Rclton.

The Song of the Angels. Did the evangelist exaggerate when he wrote that angels sang around the cradle of the Holy Child? On the contrary, in telling what he believed he told far less than what must have been the truth about that lowly, birth as heaven saw it. Think of it. How could heaven fail to know the significance of what was happening, and acclaim it? No one will deny that whose conversation is in heaven. That night a tiny corner of the veil was lifted that hides eternal splendours from our dull eyes, and an echo of the music of Die heavenly host was heard by ears attuned to its melody. Oh no, not less, but more than the Gospels are able to reveal to our sunken world is the truth about Immanuel as heaven thrilled with the news. May we all unite with the angel throng in celebrating it again with joyful hearts this Christmas Day. —Chancellor R. J. Campbell.

Sermons in Spires. From the streets where work and pleasure

Carry swift or weary feet, From the shrine of heavenly treasure 1 Where God’s faithful people meet. Upward mounts the towering spire, Prayer andi sacrifice in stone, Lifting souls from low desire, Straight to God upon His Throne — In a world of sin and sorrow, In a life of toil and pain, Pointing faith to God’s to-morrow, Bidding faint hearts strive again. —L.G.

The Value of Christian Missions.

Ways of peace and co-operation must be found or present trading friction will grow into deeper hostility. It is ridiculous to go on with the old idea that the foreigner had no rights comparable to those of our fel-low-citizens. In the Christian religion there are no foreigners. We simply do what is best and most just, for all in any given situation. The world has become one community and common sense as well as our Christian faith urges us to recognise the fact. We can try to live to ourselves behind tariff walls and. armaments, but we do so at the cost of increasing poverty and increasing danger nf wax'. Nations cannot be bottled up to-day as some people would seem to desire. They inevitably explode, and destroy others with themselves. The whole drive of Christianity is in the opposite direction to these policies. It aims at bringing people together in ways of friendship and co-operation. It aims at the enrichment of all by the supply of that whidi abounds for

one, but is lacking to the other. Selfsufficiency in any extreme form is doomed to failure. The earth is not made for it. God shows in all His works that He does not will it, and to fight against the will of God as shown in the distribution of the natural wealth of the world is to bring down disaster on our heads. Christian Missions stand for building up trust and confidence between peoples and nations. In no other way can we enter into those mutually helpful relations which will enrich the whole race of man and eventually bind us together in one great world-wide Christian fellowship. —The Bishop of Goulburn. The Divine Umpire. What a strange and mystifying fact is man’s inner life and consciousness. And who is to decide amidst this jumble of conflicts? Let the peace of God sit in the judgment seat of your soul, or, to keep the other metaphor, “Let the peace of God umpire in your 'mart.” Now, earthly umpires, if one listens to public opinion, ere notoriously inefficient! Sometimes they are ignorant of the rules, or they are oneeyed and only see one side of the game. But against the Divine Umpire no such bias or ignorance can be ■barged. He knows the rules of life. He sees all that takes place. Nothing, however subtle or surreptitious, can escape from His all-seeing eye. His voice sounds clear and decisive above the noise of strife, and is decision is prompt and unmistakable as the great game proceeds; and, what is more, His decisions are final and irrevocable. There is no “High Court” to which further appeal can be made, and no tribunal capable of reversing His verdict—“ Let the Peace of God umpire in your hearts.” And so the great fight of life goes on unceasingly. As an Old Testament writer declares, “there is no discharge in that warfare.” Day after day the -'onflict proceeds with its varying fortunes —its ebb and flow—its failures and victories! Life is not a pleasant picnic. Life is real, life is earnest. Great issues are at stake. Man needs a supreme standard, an unerring guide. In each conflict let the Divine Umpire make His choice, sway your judgment, mould your conduct and control your life, « —From “The Witness,” St. John’s, ?Jei delb erg. The True Value of Life, We cannot return to a pre-machine age, but there must be a way out from machine domination. “It is a huge, unjustified assumption,” says J. H. Oldham, "that the materialistic, industrialised,' mechanised and militarised civilisation of to-day is the final and highest expression of our human spirit.” Human nature does not belong to the machine. It cannot be truly expressed in quantities —quantity is not the measure of a man. It is our first business to set up a respectable and just social order at home, instead of stalking round the world, as nations do, with a revolver and a sack. The funk cry of frenzied commercialism “Sell more or sell put does not belong to the real meaning of life, or represent its values. There are many things that are not Caesar’s, and they are the most- important things. We have still to learn that the first necessity in life is to render to God the things that are God s. —Dean of Bathurst.

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