Church Work and Life

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 841, 9 December 1929, Page 14

Church Work and Life

Messages from the Pulpits

SHODDY RELIGION

TENDENCY OF THE TIMES “PROTECT WHAT IS LEFT” "Unless we protect what is left of spiritual things soon there will be nothing left to protect,” said the Rev. W. Lawson Marsh in St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Devonport, last evening. He was preaching on "Shoddy Ue ligion and the Real Thing.” Mr. Marsh said he had recently to use words which grieved him about one whom he truly respected when ia Auckland. The preacher appealed for a real ip ligion. which would place the cultivation of reverence and service t.n humanity first, not last, as New Zealand was tending to do. Not that New Zealand was peculiar in this; but he suggested that this country had •he opportunity to lead the world in giving the things of religion the place which was their due. Illustrating the relative contributions to worldly pleasures and ro church advancement, Mr. Marsh said the totalisator alone accounted for L 10,000.000. Counting in other channels of gambling, drink and amu.se nients, he estimated the annual ex penditure on things not absolutely necessary to be tens of millions. On • be other hand the total contributions lor church work of ail kinds made by ihe members of the Presbyterian I'hurch. numbering one-quarter of the i opulation, and not the meanest, was less than one-quarter of a million pounds. Multiplying this by four it was found that, at a generous estimate, New Zealand was contributing for Hod's work £1,000,000, not onetenth of what was being spent on things that could be done without.

SERVICE AT ST. THOMAS’S

NEW ALTAR CONSECRATED ARCHBISHOP AS CELEBRANT A new altar, designed by Mr. Farrar Middlebrook, of the School of Architecture at the University College. was consecrated by Archbishop Averill at 8 o'clock yesterday morning. It is a simple, finely proportioned t.'.ble. without any gradine, enshrined by curtains, the four riddel* posts bearing candles. It has a frontal of rich white silk embroidered with the "Agnus Dei.” This is the old English style of altar defended on historical and aesthetic principles by the rubricists and artists of the Alcuiu Club. The solemn order of consecration was used according to the form composed for the use of the Church of the Province of New Zealand,, and was reminiscent of the great mediaeval scholar, Thomas Aquinas. When the linen cloths had been spread and the cross and two candles placed on the altar, the Sacred Vessels were brought from the sacristy and his Grace said the Holy Eucharist. The dignified -bration was simple, yet the six rts of ceremonial were observed, ■rding to the use of the Anglican arch.

MORTHCOTE METHODISTS

THE BEAUTY OF LIFE tr. Roland Hanes, of Takapuna, ducted the evening service at the thcote Methodist Church yester- . and took us his text the Psalm, >en thou mine eyes that 1 may old wondrous things out of Thy "What we can see,” said the preacher, "depends on what is in the mind rather I tan that what is in view. Animal 3 can see as well as human beings, hut they have not the same sense of perfection, or the soul to see the beauty of nature, and the same applies to sound and music. Some can see beauty in virtue and others cannot, and there are many who cannot see beauty in Jesus Christ.” The choir gave the anthem "God Reigneth,” the soloists being Mrs. W. E. Ward and Miss D. Sharpe.

SPORTS GARB BANNED

NOT SUITED FOR CHURCH SERVICES REV. J. W KEMP’S VIEWS "It is a grotesque idea and one at which sportsmen, in my opinion, will snap their fingers,” said the Rev. Joseph W. Kemp, in the Baptist Tabernacle last evening, referring to the announcement by Canon Percival James in Wellington that he intended to hoid an early Sunday morning service for sportsmen, who could attend in sports garb. “Should this idea become universal and every man appear at church in sports clothes, armed with the weapons of his recreation, to take in a little religion before the day’s tennis or cricket, I consider it would be an outrage to the Christian conscience of others who wish to keep the Sabhatli holy.”

People should go to church wearing clothing in keeping with the occasion, Mr. Kemp believes. The church was no place for a fashion parade. Canon James’s suggestion was not a new one. It was a step leading still further toward the deterioration of the race. The task of the church was to arrest the downward drift, .not to help it along. Preachers in America, said Mr. Kemp, vie with one another in selecting a subject or a method to attract larger congregations. One parson had even advertised a service for bathers, who would be allowed to attend in their bathing costumes. Why should not the Church welcome Sunday bathers if Sunday tennis players were to be catered for? He himself welcomed young people in sports garb at the week-day meetings, but would have nothing to do with the violation of the Sabbath suggested from the Anglican pulpit. This was a very close approach to the Continental Sunday. The trend toward working on Sundays was deplored. Men who spent the day In their gardens or washed their cars were too frequent. The numerous sacred concerts held all meant work for somebody. “The problem has never before been so acute as It is today," said the preacher. “A man is not a kill-joy if he urges others to keep inviolate a day set apart by God for rest and worship.” He mentioned Sir Harry Lauder, Gladstone and Macaulay as typical men who held their Sabbath dear. “The Lord’s Day is appointed for man’s well-being—it is for the purposes of rest. A man needs this day for his muscle as well as for his mind. He needs it to refresh his intellect and must have a day of rest for his morals. The nation that destroys its physique and its mentality destroys simultaneously Its morals.”

CHRISTIAN JOY

THE POWER OF FAITH SERMON AT NORTHCOTE The Rev. F. A. Thompson took for his subject “Christian Joy” at the evening service in the Northcote Fresbyterian Church yesterday. After setting forth the hunger for joy, existing in the human heart and the joy of the converted heart, Mr. Thompson Illustrated his argument from the experience of Christian In Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress, who gave three leaps for joy and went on his pilgrimage singing a Golgotha song of Christ’s joy. Blaise Pascal, the architect of modern civilisation in literature, science and religion, experienced a joy in his conversion which could never be forgotten, and in mortal words, could never be expressed. This joy was expressed In fragmentary speech which he employed in that mystic memorial, which he ever wore in secret, sewn into his clothes like a talisman. George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, was desperately unhappy until a voice informed him that there was One who could speak to him. Then at that news his heart did leap for joy. This joy was only the initial joy in the Christian life, for the Apostle Peter spoke of a joy that was unspeakable, that was unspeaking on account of its richness. Its wealth overleaped the bondage of words. Its richness could not be expressed in any mere speech, however varied or copious. The richness of Christian joy was a theme too huge for human speech or pen of scribe. But it was joy within the reach and possession of every believing person. “In whom believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable.” The joy was strictly co-equal with the belief or trust. It was in believing in the Saviour that we had joy and peace. Present joy depends upon faith and the measure of the one was the measure of the other. During the service the choir sang the anthem. “Oh Lord My God.”

“CAUSE AND CREATOR”

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SERMON "God, the Only Cause and Creator,” was the subject of the lesson-sermon in First Church of Christ, Scientist, yesterday. The golden text was from Psalms 145. i., 4: “I will extol thee, my God, o King; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.” Among the citations was the following from the Bible: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”— Rev., iv„ 11. The lesson-sermon also included the following passage from the Christian Science textbook: “Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of spirit, and at least to touch the hem of truth’s garment.”