THE CHURCH

Southland Times, Issue 22728, 2 November 1935, Page 10

THE CHURCH

NEWS AND NOTES. FROM PULPIT AND PEW. To-morrow’s services at the Esk Street Baptist Church will be conducted by the Rev. W. E. Lambert. “Calvary” will be the evening subject and the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper will be observed. Mr H. Schroeder will preach at Georgetown at 11 a.m. and Mr S. Jones at 6.30 p.m.

The speaker at the Christian Fellowship meeting on Monday next will be Mr Sidney Jones. Mr Jones is a student of the Bible Training Institute and is going to Colombia, South America, under the auspices of the worldwide evangelization crusade founded by the late Mr C. T. Studd. At the North Baptist Church on Sunday morning, Mr Sidney Jones who is en route to South America under the auspices of the World Evangelization Union will preach. Mr Jones is a graduate (1933) of the N.Z. Bible Training Institute. Mr Trevor Gibbs will be preaching in the evening. The St. Peter’s Methodist Church Sunday School Anniversary will be held to-morrow. The morning service will be conducted by the Rev. E. Gardiner, the afternoon by the Rev. W. Tanner and the evening by the Rev. F. E. Foote. There will be special singing and elocutionary items at each service, by the children.

The northern shore of the Dead Sea is only 23 miles from Jerusalem. On a section of the shore a watering place has sprung up with all the amenities of such resorts. It is a common thing to find five or six hundred people bathing there at one time. Not far away is the summit from which Moses viewed the Promised Land.

Adjutant Thorn, assisted by local comrades, will conduct the meetings at the Salvation Army on Sunday. All those in need of spiritual encouragemerit are invited to attend. At the afternoon meeting (three o’clock) the band and songsters, just returned from a most successful musical festival at Dunedin, in which 270 bandsmen and songsters took part, will give a number of items.

In an article in the New Zealand Methodist Times on the new Methodist hymnbook, the writer, L. R. Brakenng, thankfully notes that “the excrescence to so many evening services, miscalled a ‘vesper,’ is not provided for,” and, he asks, “why should a sung prayer, often trivial, be intruded after the ministers closing prayer?” “Anything,” he adds, “following the. Benediction, except Amen, is an impertinence.” This is vzell said, and has been often said by others, yet, strangely enough, there are congregations that seem to think the evening service incomplete without one of these so-called “vespers.

Some Presbyterian leaders in Scotland consider it is a healthy discipline for churches to hold to the Christian year. In the calendar of the Christian Church November 1 is “All Saints’ Day” and November 2, is “All Souls Day.” At First Church the theme at the family diet will be the words of Jesus to his first disciples, “ye are the salt of the eai*th, but—.” At 6.00 pmthe theme will be “Called to be Saints. Tibetan Lamas can sit unclothed m frost and snow; Indian Fakirs can sit naked amid the flames; Christian martyrs have sung praises to God while being slowly roasted alive. Such is the intensity of religious zeal. This season is a reminder of the endurance of martyrs. “If we take the centuries since Christ’s earthly ministry they plainly declare that the power-of Jesus in the heart is the most dynamic power this world has ever seen. When we speak of the ‘victories of grace’ we are not in the realm of supposition or imagination. Jesus has taught men to conquer the power of sin in their lives. He has given them such a serene mind that they can actually face the grave without fear. He has supplied a new meaning to life, so that we can say that more men and women have found peace and joy and hope through Him than through any other factor in human experience. The fact that we are passing through a time of indifference to religion should not make us forget that the achievements of Christ are real.” — F. Townley Lord, D.D.

The Christmas number of the “New Zealand Tablet,” the Catholic weekly, published in Dunedin, is a fine production, both as regards its illustrations and its subject matter.. The following is taken from the editorial notes: — “There is still in the world a Christmas spirit. Hearts are gentler on that day. Forgotten loyalties reassert themselves. We remember with new regret our beloved departed and pray all the harder that their Christmas is in Paradise. It is impossible, one would think, to hate on the day when Christ was born. Yet the world to-day is very similar to the world which turned its back upon its new-born Saviour nearly 2000 years ago. Had we listened to the message of the Prince of Peace, Christmas 1935 would have been greeted by a society filled with the spirit of glorious charity. There should be no hungry, cold or shelterless people. Peace should cover the earth. Hatred and distrust should have been exorcised from the counsels of the nations. Unfortunately no such picture meets our gaze.”