Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 55, 9 March 1945, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by the Whakatnotr Ministers' Association).

THE CHURCH IN YOUR HOUSE

An address given by a Chaplain to the Forces' at a recent A.T.S. Anniversary . First. ] want to express the grat.ii tude the best men feel to the wo--men of Britain. We pay tribute to the Spartan fortitude of our womenfolk and we acknowledge with gratitude all you have done to bring these glad, hopeful days so much nearer. And I a ; ways glad to voice the debt we men owe to you, because 1 owe. so much to my wife, to her love and and the home she has made for me. I hope that your menfolk will be a 9 rich in your love as> I am in hers. When I was a student, a play Avas billed which drew us to the theatre It was called "What Every Woman Knows," and we wanted to so we went! Well, titles are often disappointing, and we were told litv tie about women but we were told this wise truth. Maggie, the selfsacrificing -wife, so ambitious: for her man, said that "What every woman knows" is that behind every good man there is a good woman. I hope you know that. Never under-estn mate your influence over your men. You can make us or break us. Some women ruin men, but many more help their menfolk to do bigger and better than they would alone. Ware not always, willing to admit it, but most men are improved by marriage. And today we men can thank God. for good women and the great part they have played in our nation's greatness. I want gladly te acknowledge our debt to the A.T.S. and the. "women of Britain. Secondly, I want you to know the greater debt you owe to the Gos-pel l had always been mindful of the transformation Jesns wrought in men's thinking about women, but it was not until I lived in Bible lands myself that I knew how great a change it was. A doctor once said to me in the Middle East, "Padre f it w r as not until I came East that I saw how much women ow 7 e to the Lord. These women have no votes-. There are no women nurses 9 nor doctors, nor teachers, except in the Christian districts. These Arab women are just beasts of burden, useful for breeding and as cheap labour." It is true. Women have a hard lot where the Gospel is not known. 1 recall my first visit to Jerusalem. In the narrow street of the-old city I stepped aside to make room for an Arab woman coming from the opposite direction, when to my shocked surprise she side-stepped into the filth of the not thinking a man would move for her. A small

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

thing but indicative of the low 7 status of womanhood where men do not acknowledge Christ's better way. I have told some of you how the men overseas carry everywhere with them in the pocket of the battle blouse or shirt, a piece of pasteboard which they count more precious than their A.B. 64's. It will be a photograph of the wife or the sweetheart. Their thoughts, I can tell you. are always on home. When they are lighting they are not fighting for Britain as a strip of land, nor as a nation; they arc fighting for No. John Street ? for Mary and the l<ids } and for you. Those men idealised you in the desert, and they will be doing the same in France Italy ami Burma. Don't let them down. Home to them is Britain and Britain is the ' home they left for war, or the home they hope to make with you. Home! No one can tell what that word means *o a soldier on ■ active service. It is the whole wide world to him. Now home life has been one of the worst casualties of this war } and I want you to help us heal this gaping wound in our nation's life. I hope that you who arc the home-makers will help smash the evil things in life which are the home-breakers. I hope that with your returning menfolk you will build Christian homes, sanctuaries of love and good neighbourliness'. I. hope you will remember something else. How much we all need the love of God in our hands. Long before there were cathedrals and special meeting houses for worship there were churches. You will read in the New Testament of "the church in your house." Do you know the first church began in the home of a good woman, and that in the homes of other good women who loved the Lord many other churches came into being? I want you to take this as your ideal. The church in MY house. I am not thinking of you holding meetings and the like. I am thinking and hoping for homes where you will not be shy of speaking the name of God in love and trust. Homes where you will remember to say "Thank You" to God for all His loving kindnesses. Homes where you will teach your children to love Jesus and where you will set your man an example in Christian devotion. Homes where religion will be. spoken of with joy and lived in love and neighbourliness. We all need the love of God ami the joy of Christ in our homes. "For except the Lord build the house they labour in vain who build it." Homes are not just bricks and mortar. The unfailing secret of a blessed home, as of a happy is the love of Christ in our own hearts."