SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23691, 24 December 1938, Page 21

SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE Cover the world with your spreading wings, Spirit of Peace! Whisper ye low that thoughts are things. And Fear, the devil that hatred brings, "Ye all are one." said the King of Kings. The Prince of Peace! Girdle the earth with resistless force. Spirit of Peace! Strike in each heart a hidden chord, That vibrates to the thought outpoured That love is mightier than the sword! Spirit of Peace! Gather us all in a world-wide band. Spirit of Peace! Link us together with chains of might. Forged from our thoughts of love and right, Till the whole world is full of light. And war shall cease. —From "Spirit of Peace," by Margaret N. S. Sievwright, in "Here are Verses." a N.Z. Anthology. TRAYER FOR ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS ' O Lord, who hast set before us a great hope that Thy Kingdom shall come on earth, and hast taught us to pray for its coming, make us ever ready to thank Thee for the signs of its dawning and to play and work for that perfect day when Thy will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. —Amen. O God, Who at this time didst send Thy Son to be the Saviour of the world, teach us to Thank Thee for Thine unspeakable gift. Help us to hate the evil He came to destroy, and to receive the eternal life that He lived and died to bestow; that so we may love Thee with all our power, and may serve our day and generation according to Thy will, through Jesus Christ our Lord.—Amen. IN THESE DAYS Many were the forms and fashions in which God spake of old to our fathers by the prophets, says the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, but in these days at the end He has spoken to us by a Son —a Son Whom He appointed Heir of the universe, as it was by Him that He created the' world. He. reflecting God's bright glory and stamped with God*s own character, sustains the universal with His word of power; when He had secured our purification from sins. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; and thus He is superior to the angels, as He has inherited a Name superior to theirs. —Moffatt's translation. VILLAGERS AND THE BIBLE An experimental type of mission has lately been held at South Witham, in Lincolnshire, under the auspices of the Anglican Evangelical Group Movement. Its object was to encourage in the village a re-reading of the Bible in the light of modern studies. The subject wag the third gospel, and •an endeavour was made to arouse interest in St. Luke's work by a simple examination of the manner in which the evangelist selected and arranged his material. The success of the venture has shown that the assured results of modern biblical study are welcomed by village folk. The villag eis to continue its work by the formation of an A.E.G.M. lay group. PITHILY PUT The Church cannot progress by proxy. We cannot be Christians by proxy. Everyone of the rank and file must do his share. A little boy defined salt as that which makes porridge nasty if you don't'put It in. Religion is what makes life nasty if you don't put it in. If half the Christians in the world were half as good as they pretend to be. the saving of the world would be a comparatively easy matter. This business of getting the world right devolves upon the Church. Legislation cannot determine the bounds of a man's spiritual habitation. The world's most dire need is idealism.—Mr A. E. Glassey. QUESTIONS WORTH ANSWERING "All great creative thinkers have shocked their contemporaries. It is a providential mercy that such people are now and then let loose among us to make us sit up and think. Though, don't run away with the notion that every person who shocks us is a creative thinker! "As long as we neglect the duty of thought all sorts of beliefs will appear in our minds from goodness only knows where; and as long as we do not take the trouble to find out where ihey come from we shall be at the mercy of anyone whose interest it is to manufacture them. Try asking yourself a couple of questions about your most cherished beliefs. First, what do you think about Ihem? Secondly, how did you come to think what you do? An honest answer to the second question would be enlightening, wouldn't it? " R. W. Jepson, in the Listener. WORK FOR LEPERS Evidence of a steady increase in the scope of its Christ-like ministry to one of the most tragic classes of all humanity—the lepers—is seen in a recent summary of the past 12 months' work of the Mission to Lepers. Larger numbers in its homes arid institutions; the provision of increased accommodation, especially for those needing hospital treatment; and an ever-growing number of outpatients, demonstrate the progressive character of the mission's work. There has also been advance in one of ifc> most important ministries: that among the healthy children of leper parents, and, particularly, those with early infection by leprosy. 'Perhaps none of the victims of leprosy awakens deeper sympathy than the childleper," the report reads. "There is now the real hope that if these little ones can be given proper care and the necessary treatment, they need not grow up to be lepers. In the results already obtained we are to see proof of that statement This

work is developing rapidly in India, In China there is need for similar effort; and in the widely infected areas of Africa it is being realised how much could be done in this direction. THE SCRIPTURES IN NORTHERN EUROPE Mr Sanfrid Mattsson, of Finland, devotes his time to the work of Scripture distribution in Northern Europe. He travels extensively in Poland, Esthonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, as well as in his own country, encouraging Christians to engage in personal evangelism by means of passing on the Word of God. In many centres groups of earnest believers are doing house-to-house visitation and .similar work voluntarily. He finds Christian people ready to undertake this important form of witness when shown the way; and there is almost everywhere a willingness to receive the Word. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCHES "Christian Science" is the subject of the lesson-sermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, to-morrow. The golden text is "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." (Isaiah 9:2.) Among the citations which comprise the lesson-sermon is the following from the Bible: "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." (Matthew 5:13.) . The lesson-sermon also includes the following correlative selection from the textbook of Christian Science: "Today there is hardly a city, village, or hamlet in which are not to be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian system of healing disease"