Waiapu Church Gazette. MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1910. The Mission.

Waiapu Church Gazette, 1 August 1910, Page 22

Waiapu Church Gazette. MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1910. The Mission.

The dates fixed for the Missioners to hold Missions m this Diocese are from September 17th to 2fith. The forerunners, Canon Pollock and the Rev. A. H. Kennedy, have made the following arrangements for us: — Parish. Missioner. Date. Cathedral, Napier Kevr. J. 0. Fitzgerald 17-26 S. Augustine's, Napier „ H. V. Stuart Gisborne „ T. Rees „ Dannevirke „ Canon Ivens „ Hastings „ Canon Tupper- Carey Kotorua „ A. H. Colville Havelock North „ Cyril Hepher 17-22 S. Andrew's, PortAhuriri „ A. B. Lillingston „ Taradale „ C. T. Horan „ V\ r aipukurau „ H. W. Jones „ Onnondville „ M. Farrer „ Opotiki „ E. Cartaret „ No mention is made m the above list of Waipawa and Wairoa, but as three extra Missioners will probably be coming from Home, it may be possible Ho remedy this omission. The Guardian announces that the following clergy have joined the staff

of missioners m connection with the General Mission m New Zealand :— The Eev. Hubert W. Jones, rector of Guarlford ; the Eev. E. D. Evans, of S. Augustine's, Cambridge ; the Eev. J. H. Darby, Hartlebury College of Missioners ; the Eev. M. W. Kinloch, rector of Eccleston ; and the Eev. H. C. Bell, C.E 1.5., Mission for the Diocese of Oxford. The Mission is 10 begin on September ist m the Diocese of Auckland. Our Present Position. Perhaps I may be allowed to quote some words from a sermon which I preached m Wellington at the opening of the General Synod m Januaiy last : " The Book of the Prophet Joel can never grow old. The devastation of the land by the locusts, the call to prayer, and the vision of a brighter, happier future have a message for every age. If S. Peter saw a fulfilment of it at Pentecost, may we not look for a fulfilment of it again and again? Shall we not pray for a fulfilment of it m our own Chuich ? While we are thankful for many blessings m this Church of ours and m this land, yet God forbid that we ! should be satisfied with our present position and influence and witness ! God forbid that we should ignore and forget ' the years which the locust hath eaten ! ' God forbid that we should think that our power is m any way commensurate with our numerical strength ! God forbid that we should ever substitute worldly position for spiritual power ! Surely our old men may still dream dreams and our young men see visions and pray that 'the land of distances' may be brought within the range of our spiritual horizon ! " Our Hopes for the Future. " The year upon which we have entered will, we trust, be fraught with great spiritual blessings to the Church of this Province. I believe that the Province will have cause to thank God for the decision to ask the Church at Home to come over and help us with a Mission. " It is worse than folly to live m a fool's paradise. lam far from being a pessimist, but I don't think we can honestly say that the Church is the spiritual power m the land which she might be. I know that we can conjure up a hundred excuses and say that the ' old order ' has changed, and that our educational system and the increasing love of pleasure and luxury etc , have produced a certain ' vanity ' of mind and soul which puts vital religion at a discount.

" No doubt there is truth m it all, but perhaps we should be wiser if we sometimes looked a little deeper and tried to realise that what the world wants is the witness of a Church which is a reflection of the ideals and self-sacrifice of its Head, a Church, which is disinterested and full of Spiritual power, a Church which faithfully upholds, without compromise, the teaching of the New Testament, and a Church which has no fear of honest criticism, of science truly so called or even of what is best m 'modernism.' Do we, as a Church, consider honestly our own weaknesses ? Are we not often half-hearted where we ought to be whole-hearted ? Are we not sometimes inclined to think that we be ' Abraham's children ' because the roots of our Church strike down into Pentecostal soil and forget that God can of these stones raise up children unto Abraham, if we neglect our opportunities? Surely then, m view of the coming Mission we need to sink our personal likes and dislikes, prejudices and criticisms and fall to prayer. Surely, we need to remember the advice of Joel. Surely, we need, like the Apostles m expectation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, to be earnestly preparing the way for His coming into our own hearts, lest' He should pass us by because there is ' no room ' for His invigorating and sanctifying power. God forbid that we should regard the Mission m the light of 'Wilt Thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?' God grant that m answer to our prayers we may receive the gracious assurance. 'But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both m Jerusalem and m all Judeea, and m Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth ! '" What can the Mission do for me ? If the Mission is to deepen the Spiritual life of the Church, it can only do so by deepening the Spiritual life of the individual. The answer to the question " What can the Mission do for me?" is very simple, viz., "Just as much as you do for the Mission." Are you praying for the Mission? Are you waiting to receive light and inspiration from the Mission ? Are you quite satisfied with yourself at present? The seed can only take root and germinate m prepared ground, and if there is no prepared ground for the Word of God to sink into, it will not be the fault of the Mission,

Remember the words of the late Archbishop Temple, "To be is infinitely higher than to do " ; to be thoroughly true is a higher service than to spread the truth ; to be pure m heart brings you nearer to X}od, and does,, more for your follow men than a life spent m helping others to be pure; \o be a Christian makes more Christians than to teach the Gospel. Might not the Mission make me something more than I am ? What to remember about the Mission ? '(a.) The Missioners have been invited to come here and will be our guests. We must, therefore, be prepared to give them a hearty welcome. (6.) Behind the Mission is the cry of our need and God's response to our cry. Therefore, we must look upon the message which the Missioners will bring as a message from God spoken through human agency. (c) The object of the Mission is to set before us through the instrumentality of strangers the same fundamental truths which have always been preached amongst us, but, maybe, have never been assimilated and realised. Therefore we need to make full use of this opportunity, lest Jesus of Nazareth should pass by, and leave us still to our blindness, because we knew. not the day of our visitation. (d) The blessings from the Mission will be given to those who reach out the hands of faith to receive them. God will never save us or help us against our wills. The success of the Mission, therefore, is far more m our own hands than m the hands of the Missionors. (c) Remember that God's answer to your prayers may be given through the Mission m the most unexpected manner. " Ask and ye shall have ! " Yes, but " Seek and ye ( shall find." We don't always find the answer to our prayers because we forget to seek as well as to ask.