SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24325, 15 June 1940, Page 15

SUNDAY CIRCLE

LYRA SPIRITUALS If we could see below The sphere of virtue and each shining grace, As plainly as that above doth show. This were the better sky, the brighter place. God hath made stars the foil To set-off virtues, griefs to set-off sinning;. Yet in this wretched world we toil. As if grief were not foul, nor virtue winning. —George Herbert. PRAYER Almighty God, Father Everlasting, Thou Who art the very God of Peace: increase our faith. O God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Who art the Christ, the Prince of Peace, increase our faith. O God, the Holy Spirit, from Whom cometh all love and joy and peace; increase our’faith. From shame and disaster; from spiritual decline and moral defeat; from being unable to hear Thy voice; and from ignorance of the things that belong unto our peace; good Lord deliver us. For the passing of prejudice, suspicion, and fear; for the uprooting of all that makes for strife; and for the strengthening of all who work for peace; we beseech Thee to hear us, O Lord; and unto Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be the glory and the praise, world without end. —Amen, THE PLACE OF THE BIBLE There is one thing that needs to be said. The great World Missionary Conference at Tambaram in December, 1938, was followed by the Youth Conference at Amsterdam in July, 1939, and at both the Bible and Bible study were given a place of central importance for the Christian life, and it was urged that this be laid on the conscience of the Church. In India the vital need of Bible study is realised, and to equip the Church for its witness to the world, as well as to meet the need of millions who will become literate during the next few years, there is no better service than to provide Scriptures during these days of strain in a form and at a price that will place them within the rea’ch of the poorest. TO TEST YOUR BIBLE KNOWLEDGE Where do you find the following marginal readings:— 1. “In the Lord Jehovah is the Rock of ages.” ' , . , , 2. “Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages.” , , 3. A passage in the prophets where a class of men are alternatively described as “ stoppers of chinks.” 4. A passage where a heart greatly stirred is described as one that “ boileth, or bubbleth up.” 5. A passage in Jeremiah where “mighty” things (A.V.) are in the margin rendered “hidden”; and in R.V. “difficult” with margin “fenced 6. A prophet who was described by a queen as skilled in “ dissolving of knots.” BIBLES FOR RUSSIAN PRISONERS One of the most remarkable features of the Finnish war was the!vigorous effort being made by the Christian people of Finland, aided by the churches in Scandinavian countries generally, to make available for the Russian prisoners that knowledge of the Christian message which has for so long been withheld from them. All the Scandinavian Christian papers made collections for this purpose. One of the difficulties was to secure supplies of Bibles in the Russian language. Importation of them into Russia had been stopped for many years, and it was feared that adequate quantities would not be available. However, a supply of Russian Bibles was unexpectedly discovered in the stock room of a well-known publishing firm in Helsinki. THE JEW IN PALESTINE Controversy regarding the Holy Land has broken out again on the publication of the Government’s plan for the prohibition of the sale of land, in certain districts, to Jews by Arabs. Jewish people throughout the world naturally resent this limitation to the realisation of their dream of a national home—especially at a time when Jews in so many countries are suffering persecution. The situation facing the Government is admittedly (perplexing, for if the transfer of land continues unchecked there will soon be a 'large population of landless Arabs, whose maintenance would become a serious Sroblem. But Christians share with ews deep concern at the frustration of their hopes. “PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES” Somewhere in Britain is a camp of German prisoners of war in which a British chaplain has been at work. The men are mainly merchant seamen, “of a very fine type,” says the chaplain, who has been able to establish friendly relations with many of them. Every Sunday he has held a religious service in German, at which the attendance has been voluntary. The numbers in the camp continually vary, owing to new arrivals and transfers. Some of the men are Roman Catholics. Yet at this Protestant service the attendance is rarely less than 300, and has at times been 400. The praise is led by an orchestra formed by the prisoners themselves. Occasionally, in response to requests, the chaplain has also held smaller and more intimate services. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCHES “ God the Preserver of Man ” is the subject of the lesson-sermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, to-mor-row. The golden text is: “ The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in Whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” — (Psalms xviii: 2.) • Among the citations which comprise the lesson-sermon is the following from the Bible: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”—(Deuteronomy xxxiii: 27.) The lesson-sermon also contains the following passage from the text book of Christian Science, “ Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy: “To those leaning on the ■ sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings.”