LETTER FROM THE BISHOP

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XIX, Issue 9, 1 March 1929, Page 2

LETTER FROM THE BISHOP

LENTEN PASTORAL. Bishbpscourt, Napier, Ash Wednesday, 1929. My dear People, , . Lent has again come with its solemn call. It is the call: of. the Church to the Church, that is, to,: the whole Body of Christ, not to the few, or to any member in particular, but to every member of Christ. The. call of the Church is the Call of CHRIST Himself. There was the time when Lent meant a great deal more than, it does to-day. It affected a larger number of people. It influenced in some ; measure Society. There was at the heart of our great Cities a diminution of the; usual gaieties and! rush of pleasures. There was a general apltnowledgme^t;,iof/,l^enj on the part of leaders :,o^ !; SQCtety.|iiFhat; r to a large extent, has gone in the Homeland : t here in New, Zealand, it does not obtain. There is ;no genera? acknowledgment of . : the claims of this Season. This certainly makes it harder for the few who would observe it as a time of closer approach i« God. Now it is a question ; whether the temporary withdrawal . from pleasing or the cessation from anything pleasur-: able and legitimate carries us -...yerv fas on that upward path .>,.that;.-leads.^to-closer union, -vith God. .There are those wishing to observe Lent jn, some way who will be, •spying once aas?n — , "What shall I give up this Lent"? None would underate the solf-ctemal -of the man. or woman, wno ceases To in- ; dulge in some pleasurable habit daung

this season set apmli hv tho Church as. a time of special abstinence in which he would have some share. There is some sort of satisfaction in it. But the question that forces itself upon us is this — does the mere cessation from this or that pleasure or habit carry us very far ? It can be done apart from any relation to Him who, led by the spirit into the wilderness, fasted forty days and forty nights. For Him it was u time of closer communion with jhis Father, a time of preparation for the great work that lay before Him. He did hot go there to fast. He went for soul strength to redeem a lost world, through closer union with the Father. The actual fasting was a side issue. The : niotive of our Lent must be His motiye^closer union with God. The drawing, nearer to God that we may know Him, whom to know is life eternal; to know the mystery of His Love. We want to get away from the rush of things into the silence where God can speak — away from the miasma of the world where God is obscured; above all, away from sins that clog the flow of grace and dim the vision of God. '■; .■ We want to come into the light, the light of His Love, that we may reflect it in the worldl to our fellow man. Love is the one thing we want — it is in the atmosphere of love that the Holy Spirit can operate. Love sets free the Holy Spirit's power. Love is the atmosphere of God. Archbishop Temple says, "To make it easier for Christians to become better Christians, and those who are not Christians . to become Christians, to my mind, stands above every other aim that a man can have in this trans, itory world of ours. To help anyone to live more according to God's Commandments, to help anyone to feel more truly ,the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to help anyone to fight the battle with, evil, most of all, and first of 1 all/ ; iit '"himself and' then in others,, is indeed a worthy object— -this is worth more than anything a man can put before himself to aim at. It is worth while this Lent, going into the wilderness of solitude with this motive before us. When we do this, then fasting andl abstinence and cessation from pleasurable things, legi. timate in themselves fall into their right place, assume their trua proportions, and maintain their true relation. , ship with Him who "for our sakes fasted forty days and forty nights." May such a motive be ours this Lent. I am, Yours faithfully and affectionately, WM, WALMSLBY WAIAPU.