DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XX, Issue 10, 1 April 1930, Page 13

DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE

Every year, as Good Friday and Anzac Day follow hard on each other's heels, the Church person cannot fail to be struck with the attitude of the general public as to the keeping-' of these two sacred anniversaries. Good Friday grows more and more from holy day to mere holiday, with the tacit acceptance of those men who urge so strongly the observance of Anzac Day as a day of sacred and sorrowing romembrance. The day of the voluntary sacrifice of the Holy and Immortal Son pf Gud — a day of picnics and amusement; while the day of the heroic sacrifice of the men by Him created — reverently and sacredly observed! The thing is ridiculous m its inconsistency. The spirit of reverence m human nature cannot be developed m isolated bits. The nation to whom Good Friday means little will not long hold sacred, clays of national remembrance, and already one feels the loss of something m Anzac Day observance. On the early Anzac Day anniversaries, public feeling was such that no one would have dreamed of devoting the day to pidnicing and pleasuring. This is not so now, and it is certain that, unless as a country we decide it is worth our while to fight for the development of a new spirit of reverence m the growing generation, m a few years the significance of Anzae Day will be lost, except m the hearts of bereaved wives, mothers and fathers.