RELIGIOUS LIFE

Southland Times, Issue 23610, 10 September 1938, Page 21

RELIGIOUS LIFE

OUR HANDICAPS

By

POPOKOTEA

Religion does not deal exclusively with the cheerful side of life. Indeed it urges us to face the shadowed, more painful side of life. It calls us to do so in a spirit of reality. For most men are handicapped. The “one-hundred-per-center” is a rarity. The great main traffic of human life is being carried by men who are fully aware that they are not quite up to the mark. Much of the world’s best work has been done by men terribly handicapped. Milton was blind, yet no man in his generation who had eyes was able to see what he saw. Charles Darwin was a life-long invalid who scarcely knew a day without phy-, sical distress, yet his scientific researches ushered in a new era. The Apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh. No one knows the precise nature of it. Some have claimed that it was partial blindness, others epilepsy, yet others chrome malaria. In any case, it was a serious affliction. He prayed three times for its removal. That time never came. He accomplished a work of the greatest magnitude with that unknown malady jagging him with every movement he made. Our handicaps! The joy of winning honourable success is often tinged with pathos at the thought of reduced vitality .occasioned by some restricting handicap. There is scarcely a situation in life where there are not serious handicaps. Skeletons in the cupboard! Towering obstacles! Secrets tightly locked! Broken health! Financial reverses! 11l advised marriages! What are these people to do about it? They may dwell on the unhappy features of the situation until their hearts are as bitter as gall. The finer aspirations may droop and wilt. The - sense of disappointment may be fed, kept alive, until it becomes an unmanageable monster. All that may be done! Iron may get into the soul. The men and women who are doing that with their various handicaps are like the sands of the sea for number. 'there is another way! There is a spiritual teqhnique available. We are not countenancing any form of escape mechanism. There is no spiritual conquest of life’s handicaps that way. What is envisaged is a spiritual victory over human life, however handicapped. The Christian Church stands for that conquest, that victory. It involves a due appreciation of the values, of life. Above all, it requires a glowing idealism. Nowhere is the practical intention of the Christian message as clear as it is here. The test of our attitude to life’s handicaps is found in results. Let a man face his handicap with sincere purpose. If it consistently embitters him, he must be counted among those who have not yet found the Christian’s secret. On the other hand if a gracious spirit and tenderhearted sympathy have full sway in spite of handicaps our quest for the Christ has not been in vain. THE BIBLICAL WINDOW FROM DOUGLAS

CHRISTIANITY IN NEW ZEALAND Matt. 28: 19. “Go ye therefore, and . teach all nations.” For a long time Marsden wished, to go to New Zealand to start a mission there. Then in 1814 Marsden sailed for New Zealand in the Active, taking with him three missionaries for the Maoris —Kendall, Hall and King. The Active anchored in the Bay .of Islands on December 23, and the first service was held at 10 o’clock on Christmas morning. Ruatara had been busy preparing for that service by erecting in the Open air a pulpit and placing upturned canoes for seats. The service began with Psalm 100, “All people that on earth do dwell.” Mr Marsden preached on Luke 2: 10. Ruatara explained the sermon to the Maoris, and so the cause of Jesus Christ began among them. Today a great cross stands at the place where the first service was held by Marsden, assisted by Ruatara. —Selected.

“They’re very nice: the sort of books you’d leave on the table if you expected the vicar to call.” “Wasn’t it an interesting sermon?” said Lady Agnes. “I’ll remember Nicodemus now. I always confused him with the man up the tree.” Jock smiled pityingly at her. “My poor child, that’s not the way to discuss a sermon; the proper thing is to get down to fundamentals.” \ ANDREW RYKMAN’S PRAYER Let the lowliest task be mine. Grateful so the work be Thine; . Let me find in Thy employ Peace that dearer is than joy. Out of self to love be led, And to heaven acclimated Until all things sweet and good Seem my natural habitude. —Whittier.