'--

"THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT WHEN HE IS GONE OUT OF THE MAN, PASSETH THROUGH WATERLESS PLACES SEEKING REST, AND FINDETH IT NOT. THEN HE SAITH, I WILL RETURN UNTO MY HOUSE WHENCE I CAME OUT; AND WHEN HE IS COME, HE FINDETH IT EMPTY, SWEPT AND GARN­ISHED. THEN GOETH HE AND TAKETH WITH HIMSELF SEV­EN OTHER SPIRITS MORE EVIL THAN HIMSELF, AND THEY ENTER IN AND DWELL THERE; AND THE LAST STATE IS WORSE THAN THE FIRST't. MATTHEW 12:43-45

"HOUSE TO LET"

VOGUE FOR THE GRUESOME IN ODERN LIERATURE . SIMPLE , OLD-FASHIONED LOVE STORY NO LONGER ASKED FOR. ROMANCE BLOSSOMED SLOWLY CHAPTER BY CHAPTER UNTIL HAPPY LOVERS BROUGHT TOGETHER IN FINAL CHAP TER. nHAPPY EVER AFTER" • MODERN NOVEL BRINGS THE TWO TOGETHER IN FIRST CHAPTER - REST OF BOOK TRYS TO KEEP THEM TOGETHER.

MOST ARDENT READER OF WEIRD TALES WILL HAVE TO READ GREAT MANY BEFORE HE DISCOVERS ONE SO VIV I D AND SO WEIRD AS THIS STORY TOLD BY JESUS MANY YEARS AGO. V..ISUAL.IZE THE STORY·. BEAUTIFUL HOUSE IN BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS. GARDEN WEEDED. OUTSIDE WORK NEWLY PAINTED. INSIDE NEWLY AND TASTEFULLY DECORATED. EXQUISITE CARPETS. EVERYTHING ORDERL AND CLEAN. BUT NO SIGN OF ANY PEOPLE. IT IS "TO LET" • A MENACE HANGS OVER THE PLACE: HAVE PRE IMENT THAT SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.

AS WE WATC'H, SHRUBBERY MOVES. OUT STEPS A FIGURE - DIRTY, TRAVEL-STAINED, REPULSIVE, EVIL. RUNS TO THE HOUSE AND LOOKS IN AT WINDOW. THAT EVIL FACE LIGHTS UP WITH GLEE. FIGURE - THEN VANISH­ES IN DIRE.CTION FROM WHENCE IT CAME - THEN QUI AND SILENTLY RETURNS BRINGING SEVEN COMPANIONS -THE"SE SATANIC--LOOKING FIGURES ENTER THE HOUSE BY TH& UNLOCKED DOOR. THE ijOt}S$ IS NOW HAUNTED BY EVIL SPIRITS. If~~ /ii:7/&t-- .

DANGEROUS NEUTRALITY WHAT WAS JESUS "GETTING AT"? WHY SUCH A HORROR TALE? THE STORY ANY POINT; IF SO,

WHAT WAS IT? THE POINT OF STORY IS SEEN IN WORDS WHICH FOLLOW. JESUS WAS SPEAKING OF THE DANGER OF NEUTRALITY - PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN STIRRED BY HIS MESSAGE BUT WHO WERE UNWILLING TO FOLLOW HIM. TO THEM HE SAYS "HE THAT IS NOT WITH ME IS AGAINST

2 ME. AND HE THAT GATHERETH NOT WITH' ME. SCATTERETH" JESUS IS SAYING, "IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NEUTRALITY. UNLESS YOU ARE WIL­LING TO GO FORWARD IN TERMS OF SPIRITUAL AND PER­SONALITY GROWTH, THEN YOU ARE IN GREAT DANGER OF GOING BACK. UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO CONTINUE THE WORK OF GRACE ALREADY BEGUN IN YOUR HEARTS, THEN YOU ARE IN DANGER OF RELAPSING INTO A WORSE STATE THAN BEFORE".

STORY MIGHT BE CALLED "TRAGEDY OF THE RESPE ABLE PERSON". SIN HAS BEEN TURNED FROM THE HOUSE; EVIL SPIRIT HAS BEEN SHOWN THE DOOR. BUT HOUSE IS EMPTY. CLEAN AND FURNISHED - CLEAN OF EVIL AND FURNISHED WITH GRACE AND BEAUTY. BUT EMPTY. THAT IS, "A HOUSE TO LET"; THE PERSON WHO PAYS BILLS; EIDUCATES CHILDREN: RESPECTABLE MEMBER OF SOCIETY: SENDS CHILDREN TO CHURCH AS LONG AS THEYtLL GO LEAVES MATTER OF RELIGION MOSTLY TO HIS WIFE: HE MAKES CHURCH ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR AT MOST. "GUESS I'M ABOUT AS GOOD AS THOSE WHO DO GO". MATTER OF FAC'T, HE IS A PRETTY GOOD PELLOW. ALWAYS GOOD FOR DONATION TO ANY WORTHY CAUSE.

BUT. JESUS IS SAYING THAT UNLESS A PERSON IS GOD-POSSESSED, HIS SOUL IS IN DANGER: HE IS NOT SAFE. HE CANNOT JUST CLEAR OUT THE OLD EVILS AND LEAVE HIS SOUL VACANT. SOMEONE MUST BE IN POSSESS ION. THERE IS NO SUC'H THING AS NEUTRALITY. A IS EITHER FOR GOD OR AGAINST GOD. THAT IS, TOTAL IMPACT OF HIS LIFE IS EITHER ON THE SIDE OF GOOD OR ON THE SIDE OF EVIL. "HE THAT IS NOT WITH ME, IS AGAINST ME".

WE TRY TO REACH A PLACE OF INNOCUOUS NEUTRAL-ITY. WE HATE TO BE DISTURBED. TO "STIQ:K OUT OUR NEC,K". WE MUCH PREFER MODERATION TO MARTYRDOM. WE ARE TEMPTED TO BECOME SMUG, SELFISH, COUP CENT AND COMFORTABLE. GEORGE LANSBURY AS HE SET OUT ON ONE OF HIS MISSIONS OF RECONCILIATION SAID "ALWAYS DEVIL COMES TO US ASKING US TO BE PRACTIO'AL. THAT IS, TO TAKE THE EASY COURSE: TO FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE MAJORITY. FOR THREE CENTURIES THE CHUROH DID

. NOT AGREE TO THAT: IT WAS PERSECUTED. CHRISTIANS WERE THROWN TO THE LIONS. BUT THEY STOOD FAST".

EITHER FOR OR AGAINST. CHRISTMAS STORY ....... .~.J&.f.., OF WISE MEN WHO "BEING WARNED OF GOD IN A DREAM, RETURNED TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY BY ANOTHER WAY". IT IS ALWAYS SO. A PERSON WHO HAS HAD VISION OF GOD. TRUTH AND BEAUTY, IS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN - EITHER BETTER OR WORSE. THERE IS NO NEUTRAL STATE.

3

NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM "HOUSE TO LET". ABLE JESUS TOLD COULD BE SUMMED UP BY STATING THE

NATURAL LAW THAT "NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM". THAT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF A VACUUM CLEANER - WE DRIVE ALL THE AIR FROM THE CONTAINER AND THEN IT HUNGRI LY SUCKS UNTO ITSELF ALL THE DUST AND RUBBISH IN REACH.

I MEDITATED ON THAT THEME AS I PUSHED CLEA OTHER DAY. THAT'S CAUSE OF WORLD CONDITIONS TODAY AFTER LAST WAR WE HAD "A WASTED VICTORY". NOBODY AT THE- TIME, APART FROM WILSON, WAS ABLE TO THINK 0 UT AND WORK FOR A BETTER WORLD. IN NO MOOD FOR CONCESSION. MENTALLY, EMOTINALLY AND SPIRITUALLY WORN" OUT. MANY WHO MIGHT HAVE WORKED FOR A WORLD SLEPT UNDER POPPIES .ON FLANDERS FIELDS. MEN LIKE WILSON WENT UNHEEDED. THE REST WERE TOO T OR '1'00 GREEDY OR TOO VINDICTIVE. BUT NATURE AB­HORS A VACUUM - KAISERISM WAS DRIVEN OUT AND THE ROOM WAS LEFT EMPTY, SWEPT AND GARNISHED; AND CAME HITLERISM. SOMEONE WELL SAID "ADOLPH HITLER WAS BORN AT VERSAILLES IN 1919. IT IS FUTILE TO G.O AROUND CASTING OUT DEVILS, UNLESS AT THE SAME TIME, WE C'AN PUT ·soMETHING IN THEIR PlACE - UNLE WE DO THAT, LAST STATE IS WORSE THAN THE FIRST.

IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO MERELY WANT THE KIND OF WORLD WE HAD BEFORE THE WAR. FOR OUT OF THAT KI OF A WORLD CAME THIS WAR. WE MUST HAVE A BETTER WORLD IF LIFE IS TO BE WORTHWHILE FOR OUR CHILDRE MERE VIaTORY IS NOT ENOUGH. BLASTING GERMANY AND TOKYO IS NOT ENOUGH. DRIVING OUT HITLERISM IS NO ENOUGH. GREAT CAUSES ARE NOT WON BY NEGATIVES. WILL NOT BE ENOUGH MERELY TO WIN THE WAR; WE MUST WIN THE PEACE. MUST RECOGNIZE THAT PEACE CANNOT COME THROUGH ANYTHING OTHER THAN T~ PO:flri IVE RE-MOVAL OF- THE CAUSES OF WAR. kN ~'""&- 0....~~

TODAY AN EVIL SPIRIT HAS TAKEN POS SION OF SOUL OF THE WORLD. AT TREMENDOUS COST THAT EVIL SPIRIT WILL HAVE TO BE DRIVEN OUT. BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH. ' UNLESS WE PUT SOMETHING OF VALOFr THE HEART, THE EMPTY HEART OF THE WORLD, THEN THE LAST STATE OF MAN WILL BE TRAGIC INDEED. WE MUST NOT ONLY GET RID OF HITLERISM BUT ALSO OF THE CON D IT IONS WHIC:H INEVITABLY PRODUCE HITLER ISM. gt;;_;

UNLESS WE CAN DO THAT, THIS WAR, AND ALL THE SUFFERING ANQ. ~CRI~IQE~WIL;_ BE FOR NAUGHT.

lh:: 1~~~ ti)~A"~ 4-£.tf ~A--S In' 1~·

WHAT CAN WE DO? IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO? I THINK THERE IS. FIRST WE CAN DETERMINE THAT BY THE HELP OF

GOD WE WILL NOT HATE. THERE. SEEMS TO BE PLENTY OF JUSTIFICATION FOR HATRED. BUT. HATREB BREE»S HATRED. TOO MUC:H OF HATRED IN WORLD ALREADY. WE ARE AT WAR AND WE HAVE TO FIGHT THIS WAR - BUT IT CAN BE DONE WITHOUT HATRED.

SECONDLY, WE WILL RECOGNIZE AND ACKNOWLEDGE OUR SHARE IN THE SINS OF THE WORLD - HAVE SINNE~ AND COME SHORT OF GLORY OF GOD. WE WILL RECOG-NIZE THAT THIS WAR IS A JUDGEMENT UPON US ALL FOR AN- UNCHRISTIAN WORLD ORDER THAT HAS BEEN BASED· ON SELFISHNESS.

WE WILL TRY AND MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY IN ALL THE RELATIONSHIPS OF OUR LIVES. AFTER ALL, THAT IS WHA.T ViE ARE TRYING TO PRESERVE. AND WE CAN HELP TO PRESERVE IT IN THE MIDST OF OUR DAILY AND OOMJlONPLACE LIVING. WE WILL PUT GOODWILL TO WORK WHEREVER WE CAN. WE WILL MAKE FRIENDSHIP EFFECT­IVE·. . WE WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW MUTUAL TOLERANCE CAN HEAL DIFFERENCES. WE WILL DISPIA:CE HOSTILITY THROUGH 00-0PERATION. WE WILL MAKE :DEMOCRACY OP-ERATIVE WHEREVER WE OAN.

WE WILL BE KIN» TO ONE ANOTHER IN THESE DAYS WE WILL KEEP THE CANDLE OF FRIENDLY SYMPATHY BURN ING BRIGHTLY. WE WILL NOT FORGET THAT MANY FOLKS ARE BEARING BURDENS IN THESE DAYS.

WE WILL KEEP THE LIGHT OF aHRISTIANITY GLOW­ING BRIGHTLY. WE WILL HELP PRESERVE CHRISTIANITY BY BEING BETTER CHRISTIANS. WE WILL GIVE DEVOTIO TO CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH - SO THAT THE CHUROH CAN CONTINUE TO SET BEFORE MEN A PICTURE. IT IS THE PICTURE OF A MAN. A MAN WITH UPRAISED HAND. A MAN WHO EVER STANDS AT THE DOOR OF MEN'S HEARTS AND WHO SAYS, "BEHOLD I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK. IF ANY MAN HEAR MY VOICE AND WILL OPEN THE DOOR, I WILL COME INTO HIM, AND WILL SUP WITH Hnr AND HE WITH ME".

FREMONT METHODIST CHURCH Gloversville, New ' York Fred Clarke, Minister

June 28, 1942

ORDER OF MORNING WORSHIP

ORGAN PRELUDE CALL TO WORSHIP HYMN 40 "Still, still with Thee" PRAYER IN UNISON

Almighty God~ from whom every good prayer cometh, and who pourest out on all who desire it, the spi­rit of grace and supplication; deliver us, when we draw nigh to Thee, from coldness of heart and wan­derir.gs of mind; that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections, we may worship Thee in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

LORD'S PRAYER

* DUET " I waited for the Lord" Mendelssohn

* RESPONSIVE READING Eighth Sm<day - First Reading

GLORIA PATRI APOSTLES' CREED

* SC:RIPTURE LESSON PASTORAL PRAYER CHORAL RESPONSE

OFFERTORY

Matthew 12: 22-45

PRESENTATION OF OFFERINGS CHORA.L RESPONSE To be sung by all

HYMN 341 "'Mid all the traffic of the ways"

SERMON "House To Let"

HYIJIN 255 11 True-hearted, whole-hearted" BENEDICTION DOXOLOGY ORGAN POSTLUDE * Interval for Ushering

CALENDAR FOR TO-DAY

10:30 A..M. MORNI NG WORSHIP AliD SERMON 10:30 A.M. JUNIOR CHURCH SERVICE under the direction

of the Children 's Division of the Church School and for boys and g~rls to 12 years of uge. The service wil l last an hour.

7:30 P.M. UNimJ SERVICE at the First Presbyterian Church with the Rev. c. L. Schaertel preaching.

THROUGH THE lfffiEK AT FREMONT

VffiDNESDAY-7: 30 P.M. Prayer Ser vic e at the church.

OTHER l~NNOUNCEMENTS

The ·sacrament of Holy Communion wi ll be observed in this church next Sunday morning at 10: 30 .

The Vacation Church School will be held in our city from July 6 to l7with morning ses sions from 9:00 to 11: 30. This progro.m is arranged for children from 4 to 14 years of age. Par ents may secure pre-registra ­tion blanks from the ushers after this service .

Members of our congregation who would like to enter­tain Fresh Air Children in t heir homes for two weeks, ar e asked to make their r equests known at the office . T hese children from tho slum section of New York City wil l arrive in Gloversville on Friday, July 17.

Altar flowers for to-day are given by Mrs. L. E. Crosby in memory of her mother, Mrs. Emma Scott Beebe.

A. l etter from Dr. Edgar H. :Brown. "The t e legram from good old Fremont Street Church came on my 84th birthday am1iversary. · That I shouTid be so preciously r emembered after 42 years, went to my heart and affec t ed my eyes. Please give my love to tho good Fr omonters and thank them for r emembering me".

44

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CHURCH MANAGEMENT fot 1vlarch, 19!,.7

A Commencement Without An Address

Visual Education Shows the Way

"-II , (!}~, LARGE city church auditorium was well filled on a June week-A night for a commencement serv­

ice. The1·e were so many graduates that the relatives and visitors had to sit h the side pews under the g-al­leries and in the galleries. It was the commencement o.f the Community School of Religious Education. helJ throughout the school year h1 connec­tion with the public schools of that city. Certificates were presented to several hundred boys and girls who had completed five years of week-day religious training throug·h grades four to eig·ht. This very fine system of week-day religious work is adminis­tC'red by a full-time principal, well­trained and experienced .in educational work, and the classes m·e taught by full-time, competent teachers.

The unique thing about this com­mencement was that there was no com­mencement speaker. It would have been a challenging audience to spcak to and many ministers might have cov­eted the chance to address those hun­dreds • of alert acth·e boys and g:irls and their parents and friends. Just possibly the committee in charge were a little skeptical about finding the man who could really fit.

Instead of an address. after the pre­sentation of the certificate to the graduates, the main part of the pl'o­gram "·as a worship service, presented by the boys and girls themselves. It was entitled "The Life of Christ in Art, Scripture and Song." It was a visual and audible presentation of most of the important events in the life of the Master.

The church auditorium in which this CQJJlmencement was held is of the oldel' type, with g-alleries both at the rear and down the sides and a choir gal­lery across the front. As the certifi­cates were presented, the graduates filing acro~s the platform, a seleCted gi·oup of them went up into the choir gallery instead of going back to their scats in th<: auditorium. In the center of this gallel'y was a lectern >vith a ~haded lig·ht. Thi;; group of the gradu­ates (all eighth g-raders, of course) seated themselves without direction and with Yerv little confusion.

into position the wor~hip tn·og-ram o£ art, Sc1·ipture and song beg·an ar.d pro­ceeded wilhout any hitch at all through the e11tire life of Chri:; l.

Perfect Timing Having had a good deal .to do with

religious drama in his ministry, the Ob~crver b a gl'eat admirer of correct and accurate "timing." This fifty­minute progTam wm; one of ihe finest examples he has ~een of perfect co­ordination of principal, teacher!;. pian­i"t and pupils. To be "m·e. the prin­cipal sat in the choir g-alle1y with the group of speakers, and, naturally, did a little '·directing,"' and the tea.::llf'l' who led the group s inging had to stand up beside the piano so as to be seen. But the directing >Yas clone so skill­fully and unobtrusively that the whole program seemed to ''flow" ·with natm·­aln~ss.

As each sliuc (2x2 reproductions, for the · most part, of masterpieces of Art) came on the screen, the interpretation of it begm1 instantly. In sp ite of a remarkable nuicty there were no hitches and no delays. Some of the interpretations were in Scripture lan-1-!:uage, pasEages from the g·ospels read by a boy or n girl at the choir gallery lectern. Others were in familiar hymns, sung· by the entire g-roup of Jnmdr<>cls of boys and girls. All of the~e hymns were sung; from memory. Still others "·ere specilll numbers by selected singers .who were seated in ihe side pews near the piano. These were newer. le:os familial· hymns. ~ung by irios, quartets and double quartets. Quietly, and with dignity. <.'aeh of these. groups moved from their seats to the open space by the piano, f~cing- "!:he audience, and were there, ready to sing the instant the slide ap­peared on the screen.

When it is realized t hat these in­dividual speakers and these ;;inging groups came f1·om diffPrent public schooh located in all quarters of a fair-sized city. and lhat pressure of time and obstacleg of distance had limited rehearsals to one complete one, thi;: timing seems all the more sur­prising.

The success of the progTam reflected gTeat credit on the nrincinal and on

CHURCH MANAGEMENT jo1· MaTch, 1947 43

price hi s children paid for his intcllec- ~ tual independence! In re!ig·ion, empti­ness is the price we pay for haYing no 1

great religious ioyalties. If a person would find his way to

Life, he must discover and declare some great convictions and align him­self with a great Christian cause. He "'ill find that in losing his life he has found it. The poor man in the parable apparently could not make up his mind that he was g·oing anywhere in parti­cular, consequently he never anived. 01\e reason the British people stood up so well under the intense pounding of the German bombs was their detenni­na tion and loyalty to the ideal of a free wodd . Their spirit was expressed by ·winston Churchill when he said, "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire lasts for a thousand years, men will say, 'This was their finest hour'." \Ve Christian:; must stand for Christ like that in this day. Each man must l'pike a banner to the mast of his life and say, "This is the faith I profess; this is the Cause I represent." No one's Ji"fe is empty who doe.s that.

The third lesson which we> may learn from this parable is The Persistence of EYil

The trouble with an empty house is that it invites an occupa11t. The man in the parable might haYe entertained angels, but after so long a time the old devils moved back in, bringing their friends with them. This experience is common enough to be recognized in modern life.

No one becomes so perfect in this life that he is never tempted to evil. We have to keep pushing the jungle back or it will take over. Arthur J. G9ssip quotes an ancient Chinese tra­dition which says that when Buddha made his resolution 'to seek and seek till he had found something that would ease and save the world. Mara, the evil spirit, laughed aloud. "From hence­forth," so he promised g-rimly, "I will follow you step by step, watching you with unwinking· eyes, and waiting for the time that must some day come, when, for a moment, you are off your guard, and in that seCOJ1d I will leap at you. and drag you down, and foil you." So the eyiJ spirits speak in eve1·y generation. And they speak to all of us: Sunday School tE>ache1·s, Choir members, Officers, Minister alike. .Tust because we are closely related to the work of the church is no guarantee that we are immune to temptation. \Ve are still in the battle and not aboYe it. We m·e all subject to . temptation and also subject to defeat in fighting it. The fact that this warfare continues

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CHURCH :MANAGEMENT for MaTch, 1047 39

knnw there were kinds of Bibles.' I ]>ad never heard of a Douey or Catho­lir: Yel·sion of the Bihlc nor did I know o[ what the~· c·all 'The Ame1·i::an R.:­Yi~ed \·cr;.ion.' I sa it! to that clerk: 'I just. w::mt the good olrl l\ing· Jame~ ycr~ion of the Bible, tlw one we had in m;; home.' I got one. I took it home :<lid spent all oJ that day in my hotel n·om n:ading- about .Te!':w;.

"But cn·11 U'.en I wasn't satisfied. I ~till felt out~ide of the kingdom oi' (;o(i und T wanted in. \Vhcn we got to the !lexL tO'.I'!I l went lo sec a Meth­(Hiist preachei'. I ];no~ked at the dcol'. A woman came Lo the door. I must ha 1·e looked like a tramtl because I'm not a halldsome man, for she just 0pencd the doo1· a c1·ack and asked what I wantl'd . I said: 'I want to sec the preachc·r .' She said: 'Is it impor­tant'? ' I said: 'I1 's might:.• :mportant to me, lady. J want Lo talk v.'ith him about p:ettin,;,· into the ~'ingdom of God.' She lo•kecl !'t a1-tled ::tllll opened the door and il't n:e in; hu! even l!lt'n 1 cluctantly.

·•r talkec! with that pr<)at:hel' and tulcl him what I wanted. He said to me: '1'he first step. in g-eLLing· into the kingdom of God is prayer, so let':; get down on our knees and pray.'

"We did. He prayed fir~t ancl · told Cod about what I wanh:d. Then he i'aid to me: 'Now you pray, lilY friend.'

"'But I never prayed aloud in m~·

life,' I p1·oh·strd. '' 'But. you'll hil\·e to 110w if you are

r,·ally in er:rne:st, my friend.' "So I prayed: 'Dear Gnd I want to

;!.t•l into your kingdom. How do l go about it? Plea!:e help me. An1en.' The preacher said 'Amen' too ancl we got up.

"Then that smart pr.,aclJe;· sait! to n;c: 'Now thC' next ~tep i; to come to church on Sunday.'

"I said to him: '0. K. I'll come 1:f)

your church if you'll c'lllJC to my show ~ntun.lay night.' He sairl: 'It's a deal! l'li do anYthing to win a mnn to the kingdom of God.' I gaYe him box seat~ and he wa;: there and about laughed his heart out. He had never been to a comedy hd'ore, hut r invited him hack stng<' j u~t n,.; I lale1· inYite(i Bi~hop Ec],,·in Holt Iln;!.·hl·s back stage in Chicago a:1d they bnth found that wp were a dean, wholesome lot of kids just like anybody else making- a living in <.:lean amusement.

"I went to church Snnda:; and. aftc1· church I sDid to him: 'I still don't feel as if I were IN because I haven't done "n~·thing. Let me do something.

"All rig·ht, Fred, come back in the other room and speak to my Sunday :-cehoo1 clas:; !' I went. I tolt! them how I had alway~ bc(•n a nominal Chris-

tian and a church memhe1· lmt that I wanted to get i11to the l'ingdom of God with all I hnd. The~' 1ihd that ::ltitnd-:- a1:d applauded my talk. But I still didn't feel :cs if I i'ad clone lmlch :llltl told lh' Jll'CD.cher so.

"'Don't you have any rc·al re;;pon­:<ihi!itic f<ir a Christian'?' I asked him.

·' · Yes, a Clni:;ctian ought to give .of hi~ money.'

"'How much?' I a~l~ed him. "'You Night Lo tithe which means

hl give ~~ 1•'nLh of your income. That is the Old Testament standard.'

"I said: 'That's 0. K . with me, I'll >:tart now.' So I gave that preacher a I tit he of my week's income in that t.own and his eyes nearly popped out. I lL was iive hundred dollars.'' I

Now I turn from F'red'~ own nan·a­t.ive to tell my 1·caders that the next \\eC'k he playl'cl in Detroit, and at the rnd of that week he sent me a check fo1· one thousand' dollat·s along; with a little note which read: "Dear Bill. Enclosed please find my check for one thousand dollar:; \';hich is a titlw of this week's income and please usc it to bring· in the kingdom of God in any way that you please. li'red Slone."

Aml thai is the way that mr :frirnd, Fret! Stnne, found God.

·'HIS SEIP(i\NTS SHALL SER\'E Hii\1"

Tht>rC' i,; a slor~· which is told of St.

ncrnanl himsell', ·who, when he was

!.ut n child, C'nh•1·ed the J11flnasterr

>•chool at Cluny. The brothers wc•re

talkine; one rvening about hNtYen, and

e>nc wa>< a~king m1othcJ· whal he ex­

pected most to enjoy there . One ;:;aiel,

·'To SC(: the throne, at:d l,eholtl trw L1mlJ.'' Another, "To behold the light

<,f that fair city, as it is snit!, 'There

i~ no lamp thrre, neither lig-ht of thr­

st;n, for the Lord Gocl giveth it light'."

Then thry turJJ('(l to Bernard and one

nskcd. "Liltlc son, what do you cle­

"in• most in he a Yen? At once the

child rcplird, "To wait upon God: for iL is ·aid, ·His sen·ant" shall sen·e ll im'.'' There is the secret of the Christian cheam of eternal bii~.; even as seen in luxuriously imaginatin~

writings of the middle ages: "His sc>n•ants SCl'Ye Him.'' The pleasur<> desi,·cd is no satisfaction of the

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CHlmCH MANAGEMENT [01' March, 1fJ4.7

The V aca11t House

He .findci'h it empty-Matthew 1~ :-Jc1.

I::--;- THESE days with the nation fac­ing- a critical housmg snol'tage there does not ~cem to be such a thing as

a Yacant house. Indec•d, I hesitate to announce thi theme lest I should be responsible for a stampede in the church. But with all of our eagerness to find living aceommodations today, we all ha\'C memories of lonesome old houses abandoned years ago and fall­ing apart because no one had been liv­ing there to keep it in repair. Joyce Kilmer immortalized such a house in his poem, "The House With Xobody In It." \Yhenen!r I walk to Sufl'em ;dong the

Erie track I go by a poor old farm house with its

shingles broken and black. I suppose I\·c passed ii a hundred times,

but I always stop for a minute And look at that house, the tragic hou:"c,

the house with nobody in it.

I ne\·er have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things;

That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowings.

I know this house isn't haunted, and I wish it were, I do

Fo1· it shouldn't be i"O lonely if it had a ghost or two.

The house on the road to Sutf<:rn need;; a dozen panes of glass,

,l,.nd somebody ought to wet'd the \Yalk and take a scythe to the grass.

It needs ne\Y paint and shingles, and the vines should be trimmed and tied;

Bn t \Yhn t it needs the most of aH is :::ome pt'oplr liYing inside.

.'\ow a nCI\' house, standing empty, \Yith staring window and door.

Look idle, perhap;;, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store;

But there's nothing mournful about it; it c·annol be sad and lone

For the lac-k of something within it that it has never known.

But a house that has done what a house should do, a house that has shel­·tered life.

That has pnt its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,

A house that has echoed a baby's laugh, and held up his stumbling feet,

b the saddest sight when its left alone that ever yom· eyes could meet.

So whenevei: I go to Suffern a!ong the Erie il•ack

I ne\·er g-o by the empty house without stopping and looking back,

Yet it hurts me to look at the crumbling roof and the shutters falling apart;

For I can't help thinking the poor old

hou~e is a house with a brok<'n heart.

:.Jow Jesus was a carpenter and had oh~elTed many Yacant hous~s falling into ruim. ::'\ o doubt he had been hired to tear down or rebuild many of them. ::-\o doubt too he had heard current superstitions about spirit!> haunting these abandoned buildings. One day he told a story in which he likened a man to a haunted house. Thi~ man's life had been full of evil spirit~ until one day he cleaned house and drove them all off his premises. For some reason or other he did not let his property to good spirits, he tried to maintain an empty house. After a time the ejected evil spirits finding- the housr still empty, rounded up several of their wicked cronies and they all moved into the vacant house, so the last state of that man was worse than the first.

In interpreting this parable we shall waste no time in arguing over the real­ity of evil spirits. Nothing that these spirits ever ~tood for has gone out of hum3,n lif<'. Whether we call them evil tempers or eYil spirits makes little dif­ference; the end result is the same. Our lives may be filled with g-ood or evil depending upon the choices we make. I think there are three perti­nent le~sons to be learned from this parable for today. The first is

The Futilit)· of ::-\ egatiYe Rig-ht~usne s The> man in the parable did a noble

thing when he ch'ovc the evil spirits out of his life. Apparently he was completely ~ucce:ssful in this ventnre­anrl perfectly satisfied! Here he made his fatal blunder. He thought if he had drinn eYil out of his life that was enough. He was now Jil.:e an empty boltlc: clean in!<ide-but empty. And naim·c abhors a vacuum n morals as much as in physits.

Tht::re are many people today· who have fallen into the same error. How oft-en we hear them boasting: "I do not swear. I do not steal, I do not lie'" Their religious lives consist largely in refraining from evil. Their creed is a series of "Thou shalt not's." This i!'. a particularly subtle type of evil, be­cause it look~ so Yirtuous. In a sense it is virtuous and commendable, but it is not enough . A per~on can refrain from open eYil and still be a scoundrel at heart. Jesus insist<'d upon an inner purity which was positive and d •namic. The Christian was to live a life of ac­tiYe goodness. Elbert Hubbard stated

112

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The Vacant House (From pa.gc 41)

lcr wrote that the revolution which he was preparing could not be stopped tmlc;;;s someone hroug·ht against it "an explosive idea." Positive rel igion is just that: it is explosive. It docs things to an indi\"idua1 and to his world. \\-c need more of this itt our churches. In this day when we arc talking about the churches getting· together in clo::;er unity, many are interpreting that to mean that ,,.e shall achic\·e unity through softening our convictions and compromising our faith. Not at all. Each denomination has a contribution to make to the total ecumenical view. And we need to unite the strongest and best elements in caeh group in order to have a strong and vital ecumcnical­isln. The cause of Christ and unity is fonvardcd when the sepi1rate churches proclaim a vital spirittwl message. This means we must do away. wilh empty meaningless words; we must proclaim a faith which is positive, vital, and personal. Perhaps this means that f\nmcthing must happen to us. If reli­g·ion has been peripheral is must be­ccme central; if it has been unreal, it must become genuine personal exp('ri­encc. Dr. P. H. Pleune in his recent book The ll·hr:-cal•oHIS of God says that a c·c,lorcd man one day vi::;ited the little 1·oom in Al(lcn;gate Street. I.onrlon. where John 1\"esley was converted. The visitor \Yalked up to the bronze plate on which is inscribed the record of

excuse and not a reason; he probably finds plenty of time to do the things he "·ant:; to do. And the person who is so busy that he cannot g·ive an hour a. week to worship-i~ just too busy! But in all probability things have crowded religion out of hi!' life. Jesus .found many people living- this sad state of existenee. They are not bad people, but their lives continue empty. A writer visited Chicago fo1· two weeks and was distressed over conditions he discovered there. "\Vhy is it,'' he asked a. friend, "that Chicagoans ·worry so mut:h more than people in smaller cities'!" The friend replied, "It's be­cause they read too many newspapers.'' He did not mean to criticize the news­papers; he was pointing out that peo­ple all too often have their ears so close to the ground that they never hear the songs of the angels; they are very anxious to get the viewpoint of their age, but they miss the perspec­tive of ete-rnity. If our 1ivcs arc to be rich and full there mu~t be a generous quantity of heaYcn and eternity in

them. Sometimes people'::; lives arc empty

because they have refused to align t1H'msc!Ycs with any existing religious !'CCl. They claim to be broad in thei1· thinking and so do not wish to confme them"elve~ to fol!O\\'ing any specific religious creed. But the individual who takes this stand is always at loose ends: he twv<:r. feels thnt he bclong·s any­whei·e. 1 can appreciate the fact that no denomination L perfect; no church stales religion exactly as I believe it. But that is a g·oocl thing. The church is a pfacc where our religious concepts should gTo,,·, otherwise we will beconw

W csky's conversion and after rcaJ­inp; it he dropped to his kn'ces and ct·i~d. "Do it again, l.onl. do it ~g·ain!" That is the prayer that many of u~ neetl to pray i.f. religion is to lJe real to u~.

The second le~son which we can learn from this parable of Jesu!' is

The Dauger of Divided Loyalties

Apparently the man in the parable could not make up l1is mind as to the kind of spirit~ he wanted in hi~ l10use. Perhaps he became so engrossed in his busines;; or social affairs that he forgot about the real ~tate of his inner life. Is not thi~ also a condition which ex-

ist·s today'? Consider, as A1·chbishop T e 111 p l e

pointed out, how often the things that a1·e importunate take precedence ovcT the things that arc important. Om· lives become cluttexed up with nOll­essentials, but they pxcvcnt us from giving adequate consiclt>ration to the things which arc essential. One of the most common excuses for not atlen<l­ing church is this: "I work so hare! all week that when Sunday comes I sleep late and hang around the house all day doing odd jobs." I am fully aware of

2060 Water St., Cuyahoga Falls, 0. the fact that a person need» sutricient 1 e!'t. But I know usually this is an

roothound. l\Iy cl1ur~h allows me to think and t.o grow and Jw1ps me in thac prn<'l'Si'; I do nut know what more I could a:;k. ~o doubt Jmms wns often clisgustecl with the Synagogue of his day-yet he made a habit of attending . The1·e i~ value in such a habit. In a church I sen·ccl several years ago we hnd a mo\·ing picture in connection with a ~otial program we had one cve­niHg- . Th<: young woman who brought nncl showed the film was an attractiv; person about thirty years of ~we. She tole! me afterwards that she had no '· attended len clnwch !;crviec:< in hl r whole life . She said her father hac\ been a scientist and an agnostic an! had not been able to tind a church suit­able for his children. Consequently the children were reared outside the ill­fluence of the church. He did not want his children contaminated with un­worthy ideas of religion. But that Jathcr was not only keeping his chH­clrcn way from false religious teach­ing only-he was keeping them away from all religious teachings! What a

Live religion takes which likewise ends in futility. Consider that larg-e g-roup (If people who speak loud and long about the things in which they do not believe. They can set forth Yery weig-hty arguments for their disbeliefs. But when such people a1·e asked to giYe a positive statement of their beliefs, often they are at a loss to do so . 'With all their noise and bluster at heart they are empty. One simply cannot live on negatives. In the N ovembcr (1 946) issue of the Reacle1·s Digest, John Crosby gave a humorous example of this when he said that there were thing-s he enjoyed not doing; he par­ticularly enjoyed not listening to the radio. He said his method is to carry the radio listings in his pocket and occasionall y to glance down ant! see what program he is missing at that moment. He insists that it. is more f un not to listen to some programs than other s. Of course this negative approach to religion is fatal, chiefly because it is empty. There is nothing satisfying in it.

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There is still another dangerous form which a negative religion takes . Peo­ple wili very often use religious terms which carry no vital connotation for them. Religion becomes then an empty form of knowing ·when to use certain ecclesiastical terms without necessariiy knowing what they mean. A per~on

can actually become C'onditioncd to this sort of thing until it seems quite natural. Dr. \Yalter Towner said a few years ago the secretary of a Luncheon Club in a mid-western city decided to make a survey among the buisnes:;men who were member;: to see how many were actually living up to the club motto: "Service above self." He dis­co,·erccl that out of the one humh·ed forty members he could find only two who believed the motto was actually 1

practicable in modern business- xnd neither of them was practicing it; they simply said they thought it could be done. If this condition existed in a Civic Club, is it not possible that a similar one may exist in om churches? I fear it docs exist more ·widely than we are willing to admit. Audiences will compliment ministers upon their sermons, but will spurn any sugges­tion that they should actually put those p1·inciples into practice in their social and business life. Thus religion be­comes "a noisy gong or a clanging c-ymbal."

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