Flower Sunday Has Special Significance

Chronicle (Levin), 5 September 1949, Page 4

Flower Sunday Has Special Significance

A fine selection of spring flowers was brought to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Levin, yesterday on the occesion of Flower Sunday. After evening service they were distributed to sick and aged persons known to the congregation. "Our Lord Jesus spent His life on earth not far> from the soi}," said Rev. A. Salmond. "His teaching abounds with illustrations taken from the everyday life on farm and field and hill country. He appreciated the beauty of the land and saw His Father's hand creating beautiful things. IL was in the big city that His enemies caught Him and caused Him to be crucified." The modern world was ruled from big cities and big cities could suck the personality out of men and women, continued thfe preach. "Livmg in a big city tends to make life a daily matter of rush and bustle. Growth and hurry do not beiong together. You may farce the growth of vegetables but you cannot safely force the growth of personality. The mind and soul and character of men grow slowly. Bodies that live seven storeys up in the streets of a big modern city produce minds that may- be very keen, but are fundamentally out of touch with the springs of life. "These flowers," said the preacher, "encourage us to think of God, as the Creator of beauty. They are' to be enjoyed but not selfishly. The beauty of them is to be shared with those whose Tves are narrowed and copfined. Christians must not merely face bravely the limitations and sha-dows of life; they must tdke steps to let the beauty of^God's creation reach all who live in shadows."