Our Spiritual Life.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 35, Issue 7, 1 September 1944, Page 3

Our Spiritual Life.

"I bid you/therefore, look forward to the days immediately ahead as days m which demands may fairly be made on each one, demands, the acceptance of which will make for the growth of God's Kingdom and for the welfare of mankind," said the Bishop of Nelson m his charge to the Nelson Synod last month. . Continuing His Lordship said: — Let us put first things first, and face the question of our own spiritual life. St. Paul has a vivid word m the Bth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans where he speaks of the creation looking with expectation to the manifestation of the sons of God. The word which he uses for expectation is a compound word described as denoting a head poised, eyes raised, looking into the distance with hope. "In the midst of the world's travail, says the Apostle, "the whole creation looks with hope to the sons of God." Can we rise to the greatness,! then of our inheritance? Look at what it means for us. The first thing is our sonship. This is not merely a Creator — created relationship. , It is, something much more, it is a spiritual decision; a spiritual arrival. "For" as St. John reminds us, "as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the children of God." We must allow nothing to cause us to stop short of that great adventure m the spirit, the receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ and the consequent adoption into the spiritual family of God. It is further necessary to examine our filial relationship at regular intervals. ' If we have our place as sons on God's terms are others conscious of it or are we ashamed of our place m the family? It is good to remind ourselves that we cannot stop short at conversion, or even at consecration. By God's enabling grace we must go on and follow them with concentration on the work m hand and by continuance even unto the end. "It is m the Church . . . ." The Church has a right to ask of herself and of her members whether there is any justificati6n for the'creation to look with hope to her as the home of the sons of God. Theoretically, of course, there is nowhere else to look if the world wants permanence m its relationships and quality m its innermost life; if it W/ants moral grandeur and the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,

goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. For again, theoretically, it is m the Church where, these things exist. They have come from the Church's Lord. They are His gift to those who have become sons. They are v theirs for the asking and the taking. But they can only be held when they are the reflection of His continual presence m the life. The further we wander from Him the duller will these things shine; the less they are seen by 1 the world, the less will the Church be fitted to be the real hope of the World. I do not wish to imply that the world will necessarily be attracted by goodness and beauty. But "I do want to insist that for the world's health the Church must be strong, conscious of the standing of its members as sons, ever ready and anxious to reveal, the Saviour whose words, as; He Himself said, are spirit and life to those who will receive; them. For, as St. Peter replied when asked by His Master if he would turn away as so many others were doing, "To whom shall we go: Thou hast the words of eternal life." Can our neighbours look to us then with hope m their spiritual, arid mental upheavals? Are we all, Laity and Clergy, able to say a word of comfort to those, and there are so many of them these days, who are suddenly bereaved; whose sons, may be m the flower of their young manhood, have been taken m the field of Rattle? Ido not mean just , the conventional word of sympathy. I do mean the word that has been learnt 'm the family of God, a word that has become real to us because of our daily companionship with Him who has made us joint heirs of God along with Himself. My brethren, I long for a Church just like that, where the. spiritual condition of every member will be a growing and developing thing, where the quality of life will be deepening as well as revealing so. But not unless we are ready to itself to all around. And it could be take time, and to face the cost.