RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23807, 13 May 1939, Page 9

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

By Amplius

MOTHER "If I could concentrate all the fragrance of the world into one flower I would call it a rose. If I could concentrate all the melody of the universe into one composition, I would call it the Messiah. If I could concentrate all the tenderness and sympathy of the world into one endearing term, I would call it mother. No other word in the language is, invested with such charm and pathos' as this Grave senators grim-faced soldiers, hard-headed busi ness men and frivolous worldlings melt under its power The great deeds of the soul are broken up at its sound The very incense of heaven clings to it. There is no face in all the chamber of memory so vivid to the last is the face that hung over us in the cradle and no voice that lingers with such sweetness as the voice that sang our evening lullaby." MOTHERS' DAY INSTRUCTION On Mothers' Day the children may wish to invite their mothers to share their worship service with them in their own department The children will be sure to want to make their room just as attractive and beautiful as they can with flowers and pictures and as far as possible they should arrange for this. The programme will be full of thanksgivinp for beautiful homes, for mother and father love and care, and wi!! lead the children to think how thev can help to show their love at home. Following are some verses suggested for use:- " Honour thy father and thy mother (Exodus xx 12) "Every good and every perfect gift is from the Father (James i, 17). "Children obey voui parents for this is right " (Ephesianf vi 1) Children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord" (Colossians ili 20) Conversation with the children will bring out what it is that makes homes hapnv and beautiful and what will keep them so. Some remembrance for mothers will be planned as an expression of appreciation for what they do to make beautiful homes Towards f he close of the service there should be a time when the little gift each child has made for his mother may be presented, If a mother should not be present the gift will be taken home to her These gifts may be a posy of flowers, a greeting card prepared by the child, or some other expression of appreciation The following poem may be used as s closing prayer:— Dear Father, keep my mother In the stillness of the night And let her sleep refreshingly Until the morninp light God bless her as she goes about Her loving working day. Just doing things for all of us In her own oren'ou? way Please make her happy, as she makes Us time and time again; And bless her always please, dear God, For Jesus' sake. Amen.

JESUS AS A TEACHER What are the grounds for assuming that Jesus was primarily a teacher 7 The denial that He was meets its most obvious refutation in the Gospels themselves. They refer to Him as a teacher more frequently than by any other title, in spite of the fact that He did not technically qualify as a rabbi and also that the apocalyptic rather than the didactic interest was dominant in the minds of the Gospel writers Schweitzer's extreme emphasis upon the eschatalogical interest of Jesus and His disposition of His moral teachings as an " interim ethic" are found to rest upon a partial and distorted view of the records Jesus was a teacher. He chose methods of education for His purpose rather than those of legislation political action, or violent social revolution. He observed the practices of sound teaching: (1) Freedom absence of coercion by fear, prejudice or emotional incitement; (2) fellowship respect for His fellows as persons capable of responsible self-determina-tion; (3) objectivity reverence for truth and fact. Yet He was also a man of action. His call was not merely to reflection, but to repentance It was a call not only to individuals, but to His nation as a whole He set up no mere rules of conduct, but rather proclaimed basic values which were socially revolutionary His interpretation of the Kingdom of God as the Kingship of God both present and coming with increasing fulness as men recognised it supports neither the views of the extreme apocalyptic eschatologists nor those of the ethical humanists Two current tendencies are corrected by conceiving Jesus as both a teacher and a revealer of God One is the tendency to deny religious education in the name of God: the other is the tendency to cultivate religious education without God The vigorous attack of rampant pagan ism upon the Christian faith may have a wholesome effect by unifying Christian;: upon the great essentials of their faith which in its method of propagation is both evangelistic and educational "DON'T GIVE THEM UP" Don't be too quick to give up a pupil who stays away o who seems indifferent or stupid—you may be giving up a future Christian worker, perhaps one of note The story is told that John R. Mott like many boys, had at one time dropped out of Sunday school But this faithful teacher went aftei him and brought him back Probably this changed the whole -ourse of that pupil's life, and saved a great leader for 'he world; and though, as the story was told, his teacher, ' drother Finney.' was always a bright active worker that one act doubtless resulted in more good than anything else he ever did. As to members who seem hopelessly dull probably none have been more unpromising than Dwight L Moody A; 18. he belonged to class in Boston, taught by Edward Kimball; and his knowledge of the Bible and of re ligious teachings was sadly wanting and his power of expression was poor. "I can truly say." Mi Kimball latei wrote that I have seen tew persons whose minds were spiritually darker when they came into mv Sunday school class, or who seemed more unlikely to become a Christian of clear, de-

cided views of Gospel truth, still less to fill any sphere of extended public usefulness." But Mr Kimball wisely put in much time and thought in stimulating this backward mind to study and to think on lesson truth, and ir. guiding him, patiently and kindly, in the art of expressing his thoughts. " Undoubtedly," someone has commented, " not a little of the remarkable skill shown by Moody in later years in leading men and women into a living faith in Jesus Christ was due to the persistent, tactful effort of a Sunday school teacher to encourage expression on the part of an unpromising pupil." The Lord never gives anyone up. The Good Shepherd searched for the lost sheep until he found it and brought it home. And shall not his under-shep-herds try to be as faithful, not only in regard to lost souls, but to lost and unpromising members? Eleanor Vaughn.