Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 174, 31 October 1941, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by ihe Whakats

THE SUNDAY QUESTION

,A London journalist recently wrote a book entitled "Why Sunday?"—a book very well worth reading. He makes some striking statements. For instance: "Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the week. The volume ol the week the only thing which Sunday binds together—its adhesive qualities act upon other precious things in our lives. It is the secret of the happy home circle, and it keeps that circle intact." Surely that is making a tremendous claim, and it is well for us to look into the matter, to sqc if we, as individuals and as families are making the most of the day. The law of the Sabbath is a very old law. A curious attitude taken up by some rather thoughtless people has created the impression that because a law is old, it is only fit for the scrap heap. In our land, as in other places, there is an alarming tendency to discard Sunday as a holy day, and substitute a holiday. Sundajr games, Sunday concerts arc not the thin end of the wedge—the wedge is half-way in. It only needs a few more blows, and Sunday as Ave have known it in the past will be utterly destroyed. Before those final blows are struck, let us take stock and think sane 1 3 r of the effect the loss of Sunday as a day of rest, quiet, and worship will have upon the community, and especial!}' on the home circle. A writer savs: "However much man laughs at the Sabbath in actual fact he cannot do without it. Life is as impossible without the Sunday rest as without the night's rest." There is a very real way in which the body will have its toll of rest, just as it must, have its quota of food. The Sabbath law is bound up with man's physical need, and he cannot live a hundred per cent, healthy life without it. So far most of us; can follow. We recognise that the Sabbath rest is necessary for the body. The woman who does her washing on Sunday because of pressure of business during the week, or the man who spends the day in the garden, is to be pitied.. Surely some very bad management, or some very unusual circumstances must be responsible. If the body were the only consideration we might" joyfully spend the Sunday in bed, or out in the open air, just resting and relaxing. But God has created us four-square. We have bodily needs, social needs, mental needs, and spiritual needs. Social needs we shall not dwell on now. The Church provides the happiest and most helpful fellowship to be found in the wide Avorld. Those who throw themselves heartily into the

ne Ministers' Association)

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

activities of their home Church will never complain of loneliness. But other organisations also< supply this need, and Sunday is too often desecrated because the social element calls. Remember the Sabbath Day. to keep it holy or separate. Sunday as a separated day is of special value to the mind. Man's mind demands salvation from monotony, and Sunday is given to man in order to provide a much needed variety of interest in life. To a man or woman whose mind has been occupied with material pursuits for six days, the opportunity to think of something else on Sunday saves the mind from over-concentration, with its attendant evils, of restricted vision and distorted aims. Yet how many families put the cooking or dinner before the call of the Sanctuary on Sunday morning. Officials of niental hospitals declare that most people whose minds give way have had the mind unbalanced by the quiet forces of monotony, rather than the crushing power of tragedy. It seems an injustice when children are allowed or encouraged to do school lessons on Sunday. Their minds need the rest. It is a merciful provision, rather than a harsh law which says "In it thou shalt do no work." There is no shadow 7 of doubt that the old Victorian Sunday with its restful quietude was a valuable asset to the nation's health. Sunday is as necessary for the. health of the mind as of the body. We are starving our souls of the more important things that make for the development of true personality. We may feed our bodies and improve our minds, but if we starve our souls we limp along through life never fully satisfied, nor satisfactory. What of those who observe Sunday more or less, who send, their children to Sunday School and Church, and .consider their duty done? Or who neglect the house of God to substitute a radioi service? As far as the children are concerned, neither of these methods are satisfactory. Young Worshippers' Leagues as we know them now, are good, but not nearly so good asr the old-time family pew. Children brought up inside the Church in the family pew, have a restraining, uplifting influence in their lives that nothing else can give. If there is any appeal the Church ought to make to-day, it is to the parents to give their children a chance in life, not only in education, but in religion. You cannot preserve morality without the religion which keeps it fresh and strong. For the sake of the children Sunday should be preserved from secular labour and mere worldly amusements, in order to ensure for the Church full support in its most necessary programme of moral and spiritual education.