Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 16, 13 October 1944, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by the Wliakato

GOING TO CHURCH

Have you ever asked anybody po'int blank why thej' go to church"? Or ? .conversely why they don't £io? The latter will probably produce the more interesting and yet those answers are more likely to bo excuses than reasons.

Let us look at some of the more

common answers —or excuses. Someone who is really outspoken may sav: "Because the pews are uncomfortable,. and the church is and the lighting poor " but very few have the courage to show themselves up quite as badly as or to admit that they set .such store by personal comfort. They are more likely to say: "Because the service is so dull. I get no good from listening to such ordinary sermons. Now, if all the' preachers were like So-<uid-So . . (mentioning some popular name). In this latte.r phrase the excuse creeps in; they would soon find something wrong with So* fmd-So if they had to listen to Ivib every Sunday.

If the speaker claims to be musical then of course, tlie singing and organ playing will be at fault: or> inhospitality, or the like. Othef reasons of this type are that the church is just a club, or a collection of cliques; or . that the people who attend are narrow-minded or snobbish; or that the church is not concerned with the problems of the average man but simply with l organised opposition to such things 0s moderate. drinking 9 smoking, dano ing j card-playing, etc., and therefore church-goers are down on everybody's bit of pleasure. Another argument is that the church thinks of nothing but raising money, and one cannot attend without be/ ing badgered for subscriptions to this and that fund. Two Arguments These are among the more superficial excuses for non-attendance at church and proceed from people who never think deeply. Let us look at. some less haphazard arguments. Someone says he no longer goes to church because the church has lost sight of its spiritual mission and is enthusiastic only nver sales of work, dramatic boy scouts j prize choirs, and the like. Another picks on the race of ministers; they do not. take the trouble, to ke.cp in touch with ordinary life; they are just professional "good men'' who know nothing fast,hand about industry or modern w cial problems, and to save themselves the trouble or studying these matters, prefer to'talk vaguely about the future life, or discuss remote theological points for which the average business man cares* less than

a row of pins

You get two classcs of argument here; the. churches are too practical and not spiritual enough, and the churches are too spiritual and not practical enough!

One man riot ■without mental el j ort states'that he has "grown out >C" a faith that is confined between :hurch walls; another—rather orig,inally—that his moments of reverence may be frequent but arc be yond his control, and he cannot possibly put himself into a mood i'of

lie Ministers' Association}.

ren of going

What You Look For

church

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

worship at 10.30 every Sunday morning. Others claim to be deeply but .say that, to them religion has no more connection with church-going than attending a parade and singing Land of Hope and Glory has to do with loving and serving one's country.

Now any point of view based on thought and personal conviction and not a mere excuse, demands respect and one must never be intolerant of people who genuinely find the.se difficulties and distastes in the way of their church-going. Many criticisms pointed at 'the church its ministers and its mem- « » bers have sufficient truth in them /3 to make us uncomfortable; and we can at least do all in our power to raise our own church above these minor complaints. • Now to look at the other side. Why do you and I, and people like us, go to church. Again there are superficial answers. "I go because my parents brought me up to go; it is a habit, like biting my nails and washing on a Monday (only nobody would be. quite as devastatingly" honest as this!).

"I go as an example to my childI' want them to get the habit it keeps a boy straight."

"1 go because I like singing hj'mns . . . because I like the'people at St. John's . . . because of the social life.''

This isn't really good enough. Mors* to be preferred is the person who says: "I go because it turns my attention forcibly, to higher things for a little while each week. My work is monotonous; my weekly life rather dull and material. Even though the sermon is not striking j nor the church very nor the singing as good as I would wish; I am made conscious of the things that belong to the spiritual world. Without this thero would be no elevation in my life; P should sink lower/'

Someone else admits that he. cannot worship alone, he needs the company of other worshippers; another attends out of respcct for the church as the one. institution on earth that has a high opinion of man and holds out some hope for civilisation.

Some people, attend church less to fill their own spiritual need than to give some form of service.

I once heard a person say that he had never yet attended church without getting some message that was meant for him and him alone. He was> one who went actively seeking; a useful attitude, for everybody. It can't do much good to go to church with a mind like an empty jug not even expecting to be filled.'After all ? you get what you look for. And I believe we should expect *o i*et something when we go to

The pat question and answer some of us were taught as, children: "Why -do we go to church—To worship God" —is not enough. If that were ull some of us could worship God Tar better in the open country than between four walls. Fortunately for the whole workl 3 thousands and thousands of people still find solace and inspiration! from going to church.