THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21390, 18 July 1931, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

A HYMN OF YOUTH. . By Sir Arthur Yapp. 0 God of Friendship, God of Peace, We pray that war and strife may cease; May envy, auger, greed and pride No longer in men’s hearts abide; 0 God of every tribe and race Hear as we humbly seek Thy face. 0 God of Mercy, God of Truth, Guide and protect the steps of Youth; Help all the Young to play the game. And thus bring honour to Thy name; God of the Youth of Every Land, Help us for righteousness to stand. 0 God of Wisdom, God of Might, We hail the coming of the Light, The glory of the promised day When men shall know the better way; And all the world at peace shall be, And every slave of sin set free. PRAYER. Lord, all our life is just a seeking for Thee. We grope for Thee as children stretch out their tiny hands in the darkness to find a greater hand. Ever we search to find the road which leads straight to Thyself. We feel our way along the twisting passage ways of human thought; we try to come to Thee over the dazzling passes of wonder. And our reward is so often a dream and hope, but not a finding for tired lost feet. Lord give us the simplicity of wisdom, teach us that the road along which Thou didst come, seeking and finding, is the path of our exceeding need. —Amen, A TEXT FOR EACH DAY’S MEDITATION. Sunday: He came unto His Own, and His Own received Him not. But ns many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.—John 1: 11 and 12. . Monday: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. —Luke 4: 18 and 19. Tuesday: Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. —Luke 5: 10. Wednesday: I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Thy wonders of old. —Psalm 77: 10 and 11. Thursday: Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. —Isaiah 40; 10. . , T , Friday: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.—lsaiah 40: 31. Saturday: The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. —Psalm 145: 18.

CAN THERE BE A HIGHER SERVICE? If you were asked what 1 seemed to, you to be the great purpose of Jesus’s life as He went in and out among men as tola in the New Testament record wouldnt you be compelled to say that it was to render helpful service in simple fundamental ways to the men and women and little children that He came in contact with? And if that was His great purpose could there be a higher one or a better one for you and me as His followers? AN EFFORT WORTH WHILE. More and more it would seem groups of men and women within our’churches are meeting to talk over the difficult problems that perplex the world at the present time. Perhaps, as someone said, they will not be able to do much toward the solving of these problems, but that doesn’t say that their meeting will be of no purpose. An intelligent effort to understand is always worth while. RESOLVES. A church prints on the back of its programme of services these words: — I will not worry. I will not be afraid. I will not give way to anger. I will be kind to every man, woman, and child with whom I come in contact. I will be cheerful and hopeful. I will trust in God and bravely face the future. A DANGEROUS PRACTICE. “Attempts to popularise worship by the use of the methods of the concert room and in other ways, may—for a time —increase the size of the congregation, but they will not add anything to the worship of the church,” writes the Rev. L, H. Marshall, in The Leicester Baptist Quarterly. “ The ‘ concert ’ element is all too apt to creep in—there are many solos and anthems which lend themselves to mere display, and have no devotional value whatever. Many a so-called ‘musical item’ disturbs the spirit of worship as a brick thrown into a pond throws the water into a state of confusion.”

NATURAL STEPS TOWARD UNION. The Conference of Evangelical Churchmen, at its closing meeting at St. Peter’s Hall, Oxford, affirmed its conviction that “in the proper and natural order any steps towards closer fellowship and reunion with other communions should first be taken with those great non-episcopal churches which are akin to racially, historically, and spiritually.” The conference further expressed the view that “ the present approach to a formal union or full inter-communion with either the Eastern Orthodox Church or the Old Catholic Church will jeopardise the Reformed and scriptural basis of our own communion and will seriously retard the movement towards union between the Church of England and the Free Churches.” The conference also i reaffirmed its belief that inter-communion was one of the most effective means of promoting rather than of consummating organic union between the Anglican and non-episcopal churches. HIKING AND THE CHURCH. On a Saturday evening, says a writer in the Scots Observer, I saw a small troop of young men and women, tanned as to the face, dusty as to their footgear, sticks in hand, come swinging along a city street. On an afternoon of the same week I had occasion to visit a well-known hotel in a Scottish city, and, as I sat in the lounge, pale faced young women with encarmined lips minced past on high heels, daughters of respected homes, who had lounged through an hour or two of the afternoon, drinking cocktails, I was told, •and listening to the orchestra. Hiking, and all it brings with it, will, I believe, be one of the greatest benefits the present rising generation can know. Everything that can be done to encourage it should be done. I hope congregations will organise Hiking Clubs, as once they had their Rambling Clubs. IT OUGHT TO BE! A world conference for International Peace Through Religion is to be held in Washington, D.C., in November, 1932. It is anticipated that every continent will be represented and all the major religiqps groups, including the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox. It ought to be a great and significant gathering. APPLIED RELIGION. During a Negro revival of religion in Vermont complaints kept coming in that many chicken roosts were being robbed, and that those in charge should either close the revival or stop the stealing. One of the ministers arose in the pulpit and said; “ Bruddern, as complaints have come to our cars that some chickens have been stolen from neighbours’ roosts, therefore I have chosen for my subject tonight that of steliu’, and my text from dat blessed Book what says let him dat stole steal no more.” Whereupon a coloured gentleman arose in the audience and said: “Mr Preacher, I suggest to you, sah, that you don’t handle that ar subject here to-night, sah, for just ns sure as you do it will throw a coldness over this blessed meetin’.”