RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 22448, 19 September 1936, Page 21

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

[By Forward.]

YOU CAN DO IT! Can yon for a moment imagine yourself back a few years in the midst of some situation which, to your youthful vision, seemed the most critical and perplexing of your whole life, when you were face to face with a problem, that was nearly too much for you? Imagine, too, what it would have meant to you if some sympathetic adult who understood the situation had come to you, and with an arm placed confidently on your shoulder, had said: “ I know you can do it. Stick to your guns, and you will come out on top. I have confidence in you!” I fancy many a life history would have been very different if such a- thing had happened at the crucial moment. In every one of us, big or little, there is certain distrust of self which at times hinders us from being our best. This is particularly dominant during the ’teen ages, and, if it is accentuated by an inferiority complex developed in childhood constant repression or nagging, all initiative and self-confidence will practically die out, and the individual will be a follower all his life, if not a failure. _ The distrust of self is evidenced in a deep longing of the heart to be trusted, to be understood and appreciated, to find someone who has confidence in ns and in our ultimate success. The Sunday school teacher is in an ideal position to bo this someone to the boy or girl who is passing through a trying period ot emotional or spiritual crisis. At such times sound advice and the steadying influence of a more experienced judgment are most valuable, though they may or may not be ya.-cd, while a sympathetic interest in the Eroblems that perplex cannot fad to e appreciated. But more precious to the heart than all that the world has to offer is the tactful, knowing friend or teacher, who realises how often courage and confidence wane even when high ideals beckon, and who takes the trouble to assure you of his confidence in you. One of our famous concert stars wanted as a young girl to sing more than anything else in the world, in spite of assurances of friends that her talent was only mediocre. She had determination and courage, but even these would not have done for her what the faith of the one friend did, who believed in her ability, and constantly hammered away with his slogan, “ You can do it!” Results more than justified that friend’s optimism and confidence, which gave to the world a talented singer. The teacher who really knows his boys or girls will find many opportunities for such influence, when they come to him for encouragement in some difficult task, for help out of some tangle in school or home, for tho right perspective on some problem of friendship, for advice in tho choosing of a life work. And they will come, if he has been wise enough to pave tho way by loving sympathy and understanding, so that it seems natural for them to turn to him with their vital interests and questions. If ho has had neither the time nor the tact to give to such matters, he will miss many a wonderful chance of upholding high ideals of life, and of saying those magic words that have carried many a boy and girl over the top: “I know yon can do it; I have confidence in you!” OUR HERITAGE TO YOUTH. In an address on the heritage which we should try to put into the hands of the younger generation tho Rev. W. Charter Peggptt stressed three points in particular. First of all, we have to help our young people to a greater conception of our Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, we must give them a greater conception of, Christian character and destiny; and, thirdly, we must pass on a greater conception of the church. It will be to our profit to spend a little thought on these matters, clearing the ground first of all by emphasising the ned of a new religious vocabulary. The younger folk cannot fit into the older theological expressions. Half our trouble lies in the wrong-headed persistence with which we cling to an outworn phraseology, as if the mercy of God wore enshrined in an idiom. It is easy for us to worship words which have become a substitute for the realities for which they should stand, so that we do not see the realities in those who cannot define them in our language. The words may be outworn, but the truth is evergreen, and the acknowledgement _ of God_ in Christ is still the only spring of vital religious faith and experience. With this in mind it is for us, by our words and our lives, to offer to youth a conception of Christ, not merely as a Teacher and Example, not in sentimental terms, but rather in dynamic. We hear much of the Challenge of Christ to Youth, but it is easy to over-stress this aspect. We must show them not only “ a Christ for Whom we do things, but a Christ Who does greater things for us, that Christ Whom we cannot interpret save in terms of God, even as we cannot know God save in terms of Him.” Youth must have a Christ Who means everything to them if they are to do anything for Him. They must hare One Who lifts them into the presence of the Father, showing them the tragedy of sin and the cost of redemption before they can greatly love and serve Him. In understandable terms we must also show our youth a greater conception of Christian character. Here Mr Peggott makes an earnest appeal for selfexamination on the part of older folk who have themselves grown slack in their religion and its obligations. It is not only the young folk who have been influenced by a materialistic philosophy to a cynical lowering of moral standards and spiritual ideals. The loss of zeal, slackness in the duty of Christian fellowship in the church, tho departed note of awe and wonder—these things are not singular to youth. Before wo can win youth to the fact that Christians are Christ’smen wo must prove ourselves to be Christ’s men with a deeper realisation that a life redeemed by the grace of God is not its own. “ Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price.” We must be recaptured by this sense of a dedicated life with an absolute allegiance to Christ as Lord and Master before we can inspire youth with the highest of all conceptions of the true Christian life. Again, in regard to the church,_ we must try to make their conception vital, clear-cut, natural. Because we ourselves have grasped the truth, we must show them the church as the Body of Christ in a two-fold aspect. First as the ministry of God to us, and secondly as the vehicle of our service for Him. THE LANGUAGE OF JESUS. Jesus spoke of the light and the candlestick, of the city on the hill, of father and child, bread and fish, egg and scorpion, of asking and giving, of seed and crop, of hunger and thirst. No long sentences, no speculative ques-

tions; everything popular, simple, concise, transparent, pithy, plastic; all this, and yet Ho was never trivial. Although preached on the street corners, it was never street corner wisdom; although clear, it was never shallow; never abstract formulations, but always realistic drawings and sketches. The best formal characteristic of Jesus’s art of speaking can be given in the word which Winckleinann coined for ancient art, “ noblo simplicity and calm greatness.”

On the whole, the formal stylistic peculiarity gives to tho word of Jesus the character of object lessons. The listener not only hears, but also looks and sees, and what is heard and seen remains.

That is, the words_ remain in the minds and souls of simple men, who have never been burdened with learned ballast.

But they also charm the well-edu-cated as expressions which have not been made, but have grown. The more one compares the different styles of the groat personalities of mankind with one another, the more one realises that neither the style of Plato nor of Kant was fit for the powerful Gospel mesage. The Gospel, because it was the message of God to humanity, could only reveal itself in the simplest of garments.—Adolf Deissmann.