THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23529, 18 June 1938, Page 3

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

S. JOHN BAPTIST’S DAY (JUNE 24) Where is the lore the Baptist taught The soul unswerving, and the fearless tongue? The much enduring wisdom sought By lonely prayer the haunted rocks among? Who counts it gain His light should wane, So the whole world to Jesus throng? Thou Spirit, Who the Church didst lend . Her eagle wings, to shelter in the wild, We pray Thee, ere the Judge descend, With flames like these, all bright and undefiled, Her watch-fires light, To guide aright „ . Our weary souls by earth beguiledSo glorious let Thy Pastors shine, That by their speaking lives the world may learn First filial duty, then divine, That sons to parents, all to Thee, may turn; And ready prove In fires of love, At sight of Thee, for aye to burn. —J. Keble. PRAYER Almighty God, we bless Thee for the rest of another night, and that we awake this day in life, and in our wonted health. We beseech Thee to let the light of Thy favour be about us throughout this day, and guide us throughout all its hours’and duties. Give us strength for such duties and patience under any reverse ,or delay Whether we succeed or fail, whether this day be appointed to sorrow or to joy. may we serve Thee the better for such an experience If as the day draws to its close we have erred, _ if we have come short in some service of Thee or in our manner towards our fellows do Thou for Christ’s sake pardon us being truly contrite and strengthen us for any assault on the morrow And forbid that we repeal an offence for which we have sought Thy forgiveness But rather may we grow in grace, coming move and Vnore to love what Thou dost enjoin: through Jesus Christ our Lord- Amen, FOR THE DAILY MEDITATION AN ALL-TIME JOB Sunday.—Daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. —Acts v, 42. Monday.—We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the delivery of the Message.—Acts vi, 4 (Weymouth) Tuesday.—He explained to them the subject of the Kingdom of God, endeavouring, from morning till evening, to convince them about Jesus.— Acts xxviii. 23 (Weymouth). Wednesday.—Paul preached . . and continued his speech until midnight —Acts xx. 7 Thursday.—The Lord said: “As you have borne faithful witness, so you must also bear witness.” —Acts xxiii 11 (Weymouth).

Friday.—By the space of, three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears.—Acts xx, 31. Saturday.—The Lord said, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.—Acts xviii, 9. RELIGIOUS FILMS A number of bishops have wisely restricted the exhibition of films in churches. They have good reasons to do this, for religious films have not, as a rule, reached a verv high standard. Some were shown recently in Leeds to 200 clergy, and the general impression of the audience, to quote a report in the Yorkshire Post, was that “ while there are tremendous possibilities, the films have not yet reached a sufficiently high standard to warrant their general use.” Enough has been done to show that the religious film can be of very great value for purposes of instruction and of evangelisation. But both in acting and in technical excellence, if it is to be fully effective, it must attain a standard which usually costs more money than the Church is able to afford or is justified in risking. If these films have a future, it should be possible to enlist the close co-operation of the commercial producer. This has already been done to some extent, but before it can be further developed the Church will need to possess more projecting apparatus, so that the films have a wider circulation. Only 360 churches are at present equipped for showing films. The many ways in which this apparatus can be used in a parish should encourage incumbents to obtain the advice and assistance of the Religious Film Society in this matter. IN VENEZUELA The Bishop of Trinidad has lately dedicated a new Anglican church in the city of Caracas, where the Rev. J R. Trotter is chaplain. The history of the chaplaincy is interesting. Venezuela secured its independence of Spain in 1821 after the victory of Carabobo, in which she was helped by soldiers from the United Kingdom, to whom there is a memorial column in the city of Valencia. In Bishop Coleridge, of Barbados, “ in the presence of his Excellency General Paez, the chief Minister of the Republic H.M. Forte, the British residents, and a large concourse of the inhabitants of the city, consecrated the chapel and burial ground. Lieutenantcolonel Stopford. Governor of Cumana, acted as Chancellor.” There is no record of any other event till 1873. when Bishop Rawle, a year after the creation of the see of Trinidad, visited Caracas. He stayed some days, had a friendly interview with the President, held a service in the railway station, but showed no sign of any knowledge of the former church. The next visit, of Bishop Welsh, took place in 1905. The real werk began with the appointment of Canon Trotter as chaplain to the British Embassy in 1907 In seven years he acquired, by the generosity of the S.P.G and partly at his own cost, properties for chapels and residences not only in Caracas oilfields, but also in El-Callao, the centre of the goldfields. Later, work was started at Maracaibo in 1926. and a church erected there from donations contributed by 800 subscribers. WHAT IS MAN? In a sermon for the Modern Churchmen’s Union the Dean of St. Paul’s took as his subject the text “ What is Man? " Dr Matthews asked. Were modern thought and modern science still at variance with religion? Modern churchmen believed that the essential truths regarding nature and man were not refuted bv modern knowledge. The answer to the question “What is man? ” was no mere academical one.

It was of Immense social importance. The future advancement of the race might depend on whether we could go on holding that man was a moral and spiritual being. Supposing we denied it; supposing that the psychologists had proved that man was a mere puppet having ho power over his own actions. They would have done their worst day’s work for the world and for truth. But when we could acknowledge that man was a spiritual being, capable of development through changing organic processes, we could hold as truth the words of Scripture: “Let us make man in our image.” That was the image of Christ. THE SALVATION ARMY It was officially stated at the International Headquarters of the Salvation Army recently that General Evangeline Booth is due to retire next Christmas under the Salvation Army s regulations. The procedure in such a case is laid down in the Salvation Army Act of Parliament governing the constitution. The officers composing the High Council must be called from every quarter of the globe, but all talk about the Council assembling in the near future is premature. CHRISTIAN IRAN The Christian girls and young women of Yezd, in Iran, have organised for themselves a weekly meeting for Bible study and prayer, and one night they invited Rev. J. N. Hoare, of the Church Missionary Society, to attend. “What a change and reformation! ” he writes. “ A man invited to a women’s meeting, and all of them unveiled. They sat on the floor, twelve Christian girls, and showed a lively interest in the explanation •of the Bible passage. They all joined in prayer by turn. It was a joy to be there.” CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCHES “Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force? ’ is the subject of the lesson-sermon, in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, tomorrow. , . „ _ . , . . The golden text is: Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth " (Psalms cxxiv: 8). Among the citations which comprise the lesson-sermon are the following from the Bible: “ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear (Hebrews xi* 3) The lesson-sermon also contains the following passage froi i the Christian Science text book, “ Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy: Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual and mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and immortal.”