A CHAPEL IN THE SOUL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23939, 14 October 1939, Page 2

A CHAPEL IN THE SOUL

Written for the Otago Daily Times By the Rev. Gardner Miller

I meet many people with fretted nerves. Hardly a day passes without some man or woman coming to my consulting room with drawn face and anxious heart. It would not be correct to say that the war in far away Europe is the cause of the strain and anxiety that takes the bloom from the lives of so many people. That the war is affecting many is true, but not in the sense of being a cause of fretted nerves and strained anxiety. The war is but an addition to the weight that seems to crush; the real trouble is much deeper and generally goes back for years. I do not think it is possible for any of us to go through life without aching under its burdens and often feeling that anything more added on would make us snap and break. There are many people who talk glibly about being radiant and living on the top of the world. Well, it is very nice, but a match has little radiance as against the sun and, after all, it all depends on the size of the world that some seem to be able to straddle. To be radiant does not mean, or should not mean, that you do not feel the sting and pain that life hands out to us. To live on the top of the world should not blind us to the fact that often the world turns upside down, and it takes a lot of grace and courage to hang on then. There is an easy ootimism spoken of and written about that is all right when everything is going along swimmingly, but, oh. it has no depth and no grip when you are trying to swim against the tide and the sun has gone down and a bleak wind blows. And it is the folk who have found that an easy optimism is a straw instead of a life-belt, who come often to me with their burdens. As they talk to me I study their faces and hands, for these often tell me more than the words that come haltingly at first and then with a rush, from their lips. I do not want you to think that they all come with terrible stories of wrongdoing; not at all, many of them are good Christian folk who have lost grip and are trying, so hard, to be steady again, and to know again the joy of the Lord.

There is a definite cure for fretted nerves. Men and women who have lost grip can be steadied and go back into the midst of life's turmoil with a serenity that is real and abiding. And the cure is just to have a chapel in the soul. I really mean what I say I often wish I could get people to believe simple things in a simple way When I tell fretted and anxious peopif about having a little chapel in the soul, many of them think I am jus* indulging in parson's talk. And I know. I am positive, that any man or woman who will have a little chapel in the soul will say good-bye for evei to most of the things that make life such a strain—indeed, oftentimes turn it into a hell. By a chapel in the sou] I simply mean that you take time each day to withdraw from the world and commune with God and your soul The cure is as old as man, but many of us prefer a "tonic." This quiet retreat into the little chapel of the soul will do more for you than all the rushing about after strange and attractive teaching in which so many indulge. Make it a definite, daily habit to withdraw from the world for a little while. Don't grudge the time you spend with God, talking over with Him about your affairs., Certain very real things happen when you slip daily into the little chapel of quiet. In the first place your soul grows. Did it never strike you that oftentimes you are cross and worried simply because your soul has never grown big enough to rise above petty things? The soul grows if you will let it grow. In the second place, you will find that slowly but surely you will gain the mastery over every situation. That seems too good to be true, doesnt it! But it is really so true that I marvel that so many people have never found it out. This is what living on the top of the world means. In this quiet retreat you and God join forces and He gives you directions, and the result is that, even though the world turns upside down, you will always be right side up. And in the third place, time daily spent in the little chapel of the soul will give you increase of power and lead you to wonderful sources of power. Ido not say that your burdens are reduced, but I do say you get new strength to bear them.

In-, other words, what happens is this, the grip you have lost comes back to you because Somebody is now gripping you. You begin to realise in a new wav that victory and peace come not because you hold on to God but because God holds on to you and will not let you go. " I hold, and am held. And so, as I tell men and women who sit with strained faces in my room, all about this little chapel and how the Saviour waits to meet them there, to ease the ache and to refresh them, some of them say they will go daily, and when I meet them afterwards they tell me how the world has changed for them. ' Others murmur polite excuses, for they think I am merely indulging in parson's talk.

I Recommend These Here is a book, a little book, that gave me a great jolt. It is called "There is Always God," and is published at half-a-crown. It is about a young Australian Methodist minister who spent a year in England studying at first hand the churches and their work there. He writes about the ordinary church, central halls, the use of films, the group movement, and

the religious and social work in general. Although it is about England, it could, with certain natural "differences, have been written about New Zealand. It is vivid, penetrating, and upsetting. It shows there is a heartbreaking need to bridge the gap between the Church and the people. The writer calls it "Crossing the frontier." I reckon that if ministers and their people got together and read this book together, honestly, the results would be far-r.eaching. And what an inspired title! "There is Always G-od." " The Knight of the Burning Heart," by Leslie F. Church, published at 3s 6d, is a brilliantly written story of the life of John Wesley for young people—and for those not so young. I have revelled in this book. You simply cannot understand the great .religious and social movements of the eighteenth century, which we have not yet fully utilised, unless you know something of John Wesley. I cannot think of an age that will not respond to the story of this amazing man whose heart was strangely moved for God and man. Dr Church has given us a book that should be read by young and old. "In the Quietness " (price 2s 6d), by Dr Leslie F. Church, is a book which I have mentioned before from pulpit, in the press, and from the broadcasting studio. I mention it again to remind you that here we have a book of devotional work that is in the first rank of such work. I keep a volume always within arm's reach. Could I say more! •These three books are published by the Epworth Press, London, and the prices are English prices.