SUNDAY OBSERVANCE

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 1187, 1 October 1945, Page 2

SUNDAY OBSERVANCE

(To the Editor) Sir, —In the ordinary course of events a statement by the Vicar of Cambridge would not attract much attention or call for comment. Smalltown journalists seldom make any great impact on our national life. In this case, however, there is a threat to our youth who, rightly or wrongly, may regard Mr Chandler as a spiritual leader in our community. In the matter of Sunday observance his leadership is so conspicuously lacking that a mild corrective to his lengthy statement seems to be desirable. In the first place* contrary to the Vicar’s assertion, there is no great confusion in thq minds of Christian folk regarding Sunday observance. In spite of the Vicar’s verbal smoke screen, the issue is clear cut. Either we “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy” or we make * this one-day-in-seven a sports day. Anything else is hypocracy. The out-and-out athiest is at least consistent; he does not ppy a brief visit to church, lip service to his God and desecrate the rest of His dax. 1 agree with Mr Chandler that this is a matter for the individual conscience. Then why need the Vicar use any influence he may have with young people to weight the scales in favour of a Continental Sunday ? Why not leave it to parents and other Christian workers who are using every endeavour to shape a brave new world? It is surely ironical that their efforts should be sabotaged by the Vicar of Cambridge. Young people are looking for real leadership to-day, but as Milton says: “The hungry sheep look up and are not fed, but swol’n with wind . ..The same young people admire the foi’thright leader; the 109 per cent. Christian who refuses to scale down his values, “streamline” his religion, popularise his views. These are half measures and always suspect. Finally, the Vicar admits that “there may be something in what St. Paul says.” So the Vicar of Cambridge is pleased to concede a measure of validity to the Word of God. Here is bucolic bumptiousness in excellis. In a futile endeavour to be all things to all men Mr Chandler is in danger of making himself and his church appear ridiculous. The latter circumstance would be regrettable indeed. —I am, etc., “A Christian Parent.”