BOWLS IN CHURCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18333, 24 February 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

BOWLS IN CHURCH.

IMPROVING THE OCCASION. ST ILATANGJI. (The minister of an Auckland church proposes to hold a special service for bowlers. —iSews item.) , The great day Tiad come, a bowlers' d »y. all bright with sunshine and almost windless. As they foregathered at the church, the brethren of the ancient summer pastime made a goodly showing, in their Sabbath garb. There was nothing to distinguish any one of them From the ordinary worshippers save tho little favour of club colours worn on his coat lapello, unless it were the exceptionally genial greeting each gave the other as they chanced to meet ere passing gravely through tho portal. Within the church the ushers, wearing themselves the little knot of ribbons that proclaimed them bowlers too, gave courtly care to the visiting worshippers, setting at th'eTr ease the few diffident ones and reserving end seats in certain pews for those of rotund proportions.

Tho service was much as other services, though now and then there were touches of language in hymn and prayer that stirred thoughts of yesterday's fortunes on the greensward. As became tho kirk, devotions opened with a psalm, and at the suggestion of its " pastures green" and " he leadeth me " more than one mind wandered away to a club's trysting place; while in his extempore petitions the Rev. Octavius Thomson occasionally stirred the silent participants with such phrases as ! " help us to draw together ** and " in the "hollow of Thy hand." On the hymnboard above l"he choir the order of the psalmody was set —No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, with the hymn numbers following. The choir itself was arranged about the organist, eight on either side; more regular than any full-rink result but reminiscent, nevertheless. The sermon's text was a familiar Epistle's passage " Toward the mark for the prize, and the Rev. Octavius, with as smooth and graceful a delivery as he had employed with one foot on the mat the day before, gave it a new orientation for his sacred purpose. He has modestly disclaimed any wish for publicity, and declined to allow others to handle his manuscript; but the following faithful, though somewhat meagre and disjointed report has been transcribed from the shorthand notes taken bv James McTavish of the North End Club. McTavish explains that at times he became so deeply interested in following the train of thought suggested by the preacher, that he lost what were possiblv more valuable matters than these recorded. But for the accuracy of these ho vouches.

The Bowls before the Altar.

"Mv brethren, as I have excellent reasons for styling yon, ' began the preacher, "I am profoundly thankful that so many of you should 'roll up this morning lo join in the devout employment of a Sabbath hour. It hw long seemed to me desirable that our noble pastime should be openly associated with religious exercises. Nothing indeed is wholly beyond the pale of religion. He whose words I haye been led to choose for my text urges in another epistle that, whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, we may do all to the glory of God; and there is an old Jewish hope that, in a day of full human greatness, nothing should fee secular, when even the pots in the Lord s house should be as the bowls before the altar, perhaps I should explain that the bowls there indicated are not our beloved implements of pleasure, but the holy cups of the sacrificial rite. Nothing then, need be profane, and our pastime least of all. it is full of sacred suggestion. . . . "By wav of introduction, a mere throwins up of 'the jack, as it were, let me defend this exercise of our thews and whs from the charge of being childish. Dunbar, in one of his old poems—every good Scotsman knows 1 them —writes slightingly

of it as if we were idle fools. ... > A converse thesis might be easier proved; but let his shot pass-- < it touches us not and may go into ] the ditch of dishonour and be cast out , upon the bank where things no longer of moment lie forgotten. Twenty-one Heads. "I propose to divide my discourse, out of due deference to our 'loved employ, into 21 heads— of them short ones, I hasten to add. First, take the 4 mark,' "—here the Rev. Octavius pro- , duced from under his pulpit desk a jack, all gleaming white, and fondled it as he ■ spoke. " This 4 Kitty ' is a wondrous symbol, so perfect in its shape, so substantial, so purely shining in its wooing beauty. It represents life s summum bonum, the heavenly attraction of all human history, the rounded grace of a perfect character, the full orbed achievement of mankind's high endeavour. \\ e strive to reach it, to touch it, to keep close contact with it. ... - ,f, . " Secondly, here is the bowl, —he lifted one from some hidden recess; whether it was a Jaques or a Taylor one could not see at the distance; it did not look like an ultra-modern composite invention. " This is our individual humanitv; dull and cumbrous against that radiant objective, and with personal bias all its own, and yet, my brethren, full of subtle • resiliences and instinct with life. . ' . - Thirdly, note the tests to which* our lives must, be submitted ere i they can bear the " D.8.A." or other ■ stamp of their approved fitness for life s noblest intercourse. . . Some of us need to be made again. • • • " Although we differ, see how we have ■ each a place upon the world's broad sur- ] f aoe — level, where, in spite of all our ■ proud pretensions, we have no right to ' boast, an importance above our fellows. . And in the changing* fortunes of that ' world see how one to-day, and another ' to-morrow, may attain distinction _as j ' shot.' ... A parable of the risks ' and reversals of life, and a lesson in ' humilities. ... , , " What admonition to co-operate is here! The fate of the head lies not in 1 nnp. bowl, but in many.' Rarely, it falls 1

one UOWJ, UUu ill itiaiijr. * ** to the great endeavour of one to change r the oomplexion of the game; _ but more c often upon the combined striving of the 3 team the issue hangs. ' See that ye love J one another with a pure heart fervently,' and serve the common weal. Your care to reach the ' mark ' means others' 8 gain 5 Taking Green. 1 "Then, next, the surest way to attain t life's good is not to aim directly at it. Aim straight at a good time, and you will surely miss it. Take green, my brethren, plenty of green. Speed your life's strength along a steady course of duty, and in due time you will arrive at the pleasant haven where you would be. . . Only he who destroys drives hard and relentlessly upon the objective. On occasion, he may be the Lord's hammer, an iconoclast, but his might is the fury of despair. For you, resolve to 'use all gently,' and be watchful against the pace that kills, even when there seem nothing left in human affairs bub to burn the head. ere was one flood; the clothing of the earth with life has been done with countless gentlenesses " Here is the chalk-mark of a toucher" —tho preacher lifted the bowl again. "No man once quickened by contact -with the divine ideal can lightly lose its boon. . . Observe the rules. Respect the umpire. . Set the mark' straight. . . Be lip. ' Let no man put a stumbling-block in his brother's way.' ..." "See, my brethren, how by different paths, from either hand, men cluster about the ideal of final good. Happy are we if, by whatever way, we find the 'port' and rest at last in honour." " Mon," said Sandy Alison, as he watched to se© what McPherson was going to put into tho collecting box at the door for the poor, " Tamson was in great form the day!" " Aye," rejoined McPherson, " yon -was wonderfu' leading I"