Tárogató, 1943-1944 (6. évfolyam, 3-12. szám)
1944-02-01 / 8. szám
14 TÁROGATÓ little children living in these out-of-the way places The United Church has accepted a large responsibility. Every year there fare forth from the halls of our universities and theological colleges young men and young women to carry the message of the Cross to these people. They spend their vacations in constructive Christian service. It is no task for the weak or the faint of heart. They are sent to places where there has been no church service for at least six months and where organized evil is deeply entrenched. They must visit families scattered often over wide areas, travelling either on horse-back or bicycle. They must organize Sunday schools, preaching services, community picnics and vacation schools. Very frequently they hold a communicants1 class and prepare students for their first communion. Only youth with its idealism, consecration, love of adventure and physical fitness is sufficient for such a task. These young people are not left entirely on their own; they operate under a supervising pastor and a Superintendent of Missions. They must make a written report, dealing with their whole season’s labour. At the fall meeting of the Presbytery in which the student’s mission field lies, his record is reviewed. The young student appears in person and tells of his work. This is what one Toronto lad reporting at the Battleford (Sask.) Presbytery said: “I had five preaching places. I organized a board at each point, held a Vacation School with twenty-five in attendance. From this School a gift was sent to Madame Chiang Kai-shek Svarphans’; held a Rally Day, the offerings from which went to the Missionary and Maintenance Fund; started a C.G.IT. group, held two community picnics and visited about 65 per cent, of the people in the whole area.” Another young missionary student appealing for help to build a church said, “We have a beer parlour and lots of bootleggers but no church. Last Sunday we went to service in a hall but it rained and the rain came through the roof, so we had to call the service off. Can The United Church of Canada help us to have service whether it rains or not?” We have 12,000 feet of lumber on hand and $300 in cash ready to start, but we need a grant of $400.” Needless to say the Presbytery agreed to recommend a grant be made. The work of our Church, to a much larger extent than is generally realized has been dependent on young men like those now returning to college—intelligent, vivacious, consecrated young men who laid the foundations of what later became strong self-supporting congregations. Young men and women of the present generation are likewise building for the future. They deserve the financial support, the gratitude, encouragement and prayers of the whole Church. “The United Church Observer”. “Tis winter now; the fallen snow Has left the Heavens all'coldly clear; Through leafless boughs the sharp winds blow, And all the earth lies dead and drear. “And yet God’s love is not withdrawn; His life within the keen air breathes; His beauty paints the crimson dawn And clothes the boughs with glittering wreaths.’ —S. Longfellow. ON UNDERSTANDING OUR PARENTS Mark Twain once remarked that when he was sixteen he knew so much, and his father knew so little that he could hardly bear to have the old man around. But by the time Mark was twenty-four he observed that it was remarkable how much his father had improved! That same exaggerated underestimate, with its later modification, is still prevalent in the relations of youth with members of an older generation. A missionary in China wrote me the other day as follow's: “Ever the problem arises of helping the older and younger members of the Church to an understanding that is mutual.” The problem is the same the world over. Youth thinks that parents are old fogeyish and unsympathetic. Some young people on their part are brash and over-sensitive. May we suggest to the younger generation that they cultivate patience and good humour towards the weeknesses of their parents: they may improve with age!—J. H. A. MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK ON FORGIVENESS “There must be no bitterness in the reconstructed world. No matter what we have undergone and suffered, we must try to forgive those who injured us and remember only the lesson gained thereby. “The teachings of Christ radiate ideas for
