Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-30
PASTOR SAYS CHURCHES
HAND STRANGERS LEMONS
Or. William Horace Day Comments on
Investigations Of Woman Who
Tested Cordially Of Re-
ceptlon

| At the First Congregational church
yesterday morning DR.. William Horac
Day preached rally Sunday sermon OF
What Our Church Is For" The expert
ences Of the woman who tested strangers
welcome at churches and the replies tc
her criticisms were the topic.
The pastor said in part: This girl has
been visiting 150 city churches. Her OBJ
ject was to test their welcome to
strangers. The reception was so far
from effusive as to recall the saying, If
ever the north pole is discovered 1t will
be in a city church. The small boys
version of the story of the barren fig
tree would be in point: He went
seeking figs and found nothing but
lemons In the quest of the woman who
went to church we find one idea of the
purpose of the church; in the replies of
those criticised we find another.
"She assumed, I suppose, the first pur-
pose of the church Is to afford social fell
lowship. She might have said: The kind
of cordiality extended to strangers will
be satisfactory test of church useful
ness On this basis the New York
churches have been weighed and found
wanting. Thirty-two Of the thirty-seven
visited have limited their welcome to
strangers to the gold leaf on the church
sign.
pastors and editors gave different re-
plies to her. These implied criticisms
are unf ar and unjust they said. All
who go to church are not looking for
sociability. Too many join the church for
social advantage Still another said the
social idea would not be possible or de-
sirable because modern social conditions
have greatly changed from those in the
early church.
II was reminded of Howells' descrip-
ton of the woman who came TO the city
a stranger, was welcomed to church
and became member, but later, finding
herself in society. decided to join more
exclusive church, where they did not
speak to strangers. One pastor of great
church tells us: Sincere worshipers, do
not seek fellowship; they appreciate the
gentle courtesy of being let alone
What Is the Answer7
Here are two opposite answers; which
is right? Is the church for worship or
for social fellowship? The true test
should be found In the Testament.
"The church Is the body of Christ,
life of Christ in the world. Its business
is to realize the divine, the ageless life
In the seventeenth of John we find Jesus
principle of his own life, and so of the
life which the church is to reveal: For
their sakes l sanctify myself he said,
I sanctify myself. culture my own
spirit into fellowship with God
This is the worship motive; for their
sakes--this Is the social motive, which
leads me to seek right relations with
God. Jesus came teaching men how to
pray. and so should the church. He
came no less teaching men to love one
another, neighborliness which dis
regarded caste lines. The choice OF the
Samaritan to represent the right kind
of a neighbor made the social fellow
ship of the Christian man most striking
Neither priest nor Levite had right to
pass by on the other side.
! "In the Judgment scene man was a
spiritual failure, not because he had
failed to worship beautifully but because
he had not welcomed the stranger. We
are rapidly developing a beautiful and
reyerent worship In our churches, but the
true spirit of fraternity is sometimes
lacking. There Is a right and Christian
self-interest.
( ..It Is not that Christianity leads a man
to forget his duty to himself, but 1t sub
ordinates that duty to the more blessed
one of duty to others. How clearly the
balance in Jesus teachings drops to the
side of self-forgetfulness. His own spir-
ituaI culture. His precious fellowship
with his Father is for the unselfish pur-
pose of bringing 1t to others. On this
basis we must test the life of our own
church. remembering II any man have
not the spirit of Christ, he is none Of
hfa