THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23014, 17 October 1936, Page 23

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME i A NEW EARTH : J God grant us wisdom in these coming days And eyes'unsealed, that we clear vision see Of that new world that He would have us build. To Life’s ennoblement and His high ministry. God give us sense—God-sense of Life’s new needs, Arid souls aflame with new-born chivalries— To cope with those black growths that foul the ways—To cleanse our poisoned founts with God-born energies. To pledge our souls with nobler, loftier life, To win the world to His fair sanctities. To bind the nations in a Pact of Peace, And free the Soul of Life for finer loyalties. Not since Christ died upon His lonely cross Has time such prospect held of Life's new birth; Not since the world of chaos first was born Has man so clearly visaged hope of a new earth. Not of our own might can we hope to rise Above the ruts and soilures of the past, But, with His help Who did the first earth build, With hearts courageous we may fairer build this last. —John Oxenham. PRAYER O Lord, we come to Thee to plead that Thou wouldst remove our Iniquitjps from us, “ far as the east is from trie west,” and that Thou wouldst lift up our hearts to Thyself, in the lofty heavens, that we may no longer cleave to the things beneath. Strengthen us to call upon Thy name. Help us to feel that we are not casting our words into ah empty heaven but pouring them into the hearing ear of our Father God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A TEXT FOR EACH DAY’S MEDITATION “A Bunch of Everlastings.” Sunday.—“ The Eternal God Is thy refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting arms.”—Deut. xxxiii, 27. “He hath made with me an Everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation and all my desire.” —2 Samuel xxxiii. 5. Monday.—“ The mercy of the Lord is from Everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children.”—Psalm ciii, 17. ' , ■ - , “ Surely, he shall not be moved for ever; the righteous shall be in Everlasting remembrance.”—Psalm cxii. 6. Tuesday.—“ Thy righteousness is an •Everlasting righteousness, and Thy -law is the truth."—Psalm cxix, 142., “ Incline your ear, and come unto Me. hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an Everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”—lsaiah Iv, 3. Wednesday.—“ The Lord is the true God. He is the living God. and an Everlasting King. O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”—Jeremiah x, 10 and 23. “ Yea, I have loved thee with an Everlasting love ” —Jeremiah xxxi, 3. Thursday.—“ He that believeth on the Son hath Everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him.”—John iii, 36. “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.”—John iv. 14. Friday.—“ Verily, verily. I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me. hath Everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is nassed from death unto life.” —John v. 24. “Verily, verily. I say unto you. He that believeth on Me hath Everlasting life."—John vi, 47. Saturday.—“. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto Everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you: for Him hath the Father sealed.” —John vi. 27. Jesus Christ is my loving Redeemer. I pray He may be yours. —H. R. Higgens.

THE TASK OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL Dr Townley Lord says, “ Let us give our fathers credit for this: With all their disadvantages in method and equipment, they did succeed in bringing us to the Saviour. We were brought to decision. And ever since, we have become increasingly conscious that it was the supreme decision of our lives.” “ Here, then,” Dr Lord continues, “ is the real task of the Sunday school. The task becomes a privilege when we hear our Master’s command to win the boys and girls for Him. If I could speak to every teacher in the world I would say; ‘ Will you pray and work and live with your scholars until each one shall be gathered into the fold? ” CANON STREETER’S OPINION OF THE GROUP CRUSADE The' Rev. Dr B. H. Streeter, provost of Queen’s College, Oxford, says: “Though I have only been associated with the Oxford Group for 13 months, I have for some years been watching the growth of the movement and the deveiopmei/ of its leaders in wisdom and experience. In Denmark and Geneva—and it had also happened in Norway, South Africa and Canada I have seen how the Oxford Group has made enough difference in people to avert a number of crises in these countries. I' have come to the conclusion that the group is the most important thing in the world to-day for creating a new fund of moral energy. We have plenty of knowledge, but what we need is the power to use it constructively instead of destructively People must be willing to come into touch with God, that His plan for their lives, and through them, His plan for the world, may be carried out. SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES “A generation ago,” writes Professor E. S. Waterhouse, in an article in The Methodist Times and Leader on “Modern Ignorance of the Bible,” ”references to Scriptural incidents were common in speeches. Now they would be scarcely understood. I.once heard Lord Rosebery when he was Prime Minister say: ‘These sons of Zeruiah are too fierce for me.’ His audience saw the point. I doubt if a modern one would.” CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCHES “ Doctrine of Atonement ” is the subject of the lesson-sermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, tomorrow. The Golden Text is: “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” (Hebrews ix, 24.) Among the citations which comprise the lesson-sermon are the following from the Bible: “ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the: right hand of God.” (Hebrews xii, 1,2.) The lesson-sermon also includes the following passage from the Christian Science text book, “ Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy: “Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to understand Jesus’s atonement for sin and aid its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atonement—in the at-one-ment with God—for he lacks the practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables man to do the will of wisdom."