“YOU BE THE JURY”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 9 April 1945, Page 2

“YOU BE THE JURY”

SECOND WEEK OF CAMPAIGN The Church of Christ last night was packed when the second week of the “You be the Jury Campaign” was commenced. The missioner stressed the importance of each individual adding to the community life of Nelson. "Community life is not, as some would lead us to believe, bankrupt,” said Mr Flood in the course of his sermon entitled “Would Nelson be worse off if you died?” "To say such a thing is not only exaggeration but base ingratitude and sheer stupidity. We cannot be heedless of the great contributions being made in many spheres of Nelson’s life. "But, however enriched this city might be by these great contributions she is still in need of more contributions. Each of us draws on the community supply, so each of us must be prapared to give something. It is true that often many people would like to add to the social life around them but feel that there is nothing they can give. They seem to think that the only contributors to the welfare of the city are those with great ability and outstanding gifts. These people make just one mistake. They forget that no one gives anything until he has given himself. When men give themselves to a cause they bring their contributions with them. "No statesman can give anything of value to the nation until he has given himself. No musician can give a congregation elevating music until he has given himself. No reformer can give anything in the cause of justice until he has given himself. An so Nelson is waiting for each of us to give ourselves to the betterment of Nelson, and to the making of a new world. ‘But there is another important point to bear in mind, and that is that the self we give to society must be a self which has grasped the importance of spiritual values. The discomfort from which the world is suffering to-day has been caused primarily not by economic and industrial concerns, but has been caused by a disastrous attempt to make a new social order devoid of faith. There have not been enough contributions of self, purified by the acknowledgment of the preeminence of spiritual values. “Men and women changed by God ... . these are the people who are making a real contribution to society. It is through the agency of these people that our modern world is going to be saved from self destruction. The world is collapsing under the burden of its own disintegrating forces, and can only be saved from utter tragedy by the multiplication of God-changed and Christ-transformed lives.” The campaign will continue to-night at the Church of Christ in Rutherford street at 7.30 when Mr Flood will answer the question “Is Christianity really wishful thinking?”