The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-06-03
LIVING FOR SERVICE
Advice Is Given to High
School Graduates
SERMON BY Mr.. JENSEN
Lives Should Not Be In Vain;
Exercises Held Yesterday
Afternoon

IScN' Ndlph JSuoSu VI LILO Hliol
Baptist church delivered the bacca-
laureate sermon TO the graduating
class of the Mankato high school
yesterday afternoon at the Presbyter-
ian church.
Mrs. Wilbur M Taylor played the
professional march to which the Glee
club and the graduating class march
ed in, and took their seats. The high
platform, and the remainder OF the
class who were not in the club were
seated in the rows directly in front
Of the altar. The audience opened
the service with a hymn, Rejoice
the Lord is King" Rev. T. Ross Pa
den lead in the Psalter selection 5,
psalm, IS, 10. Rev. e. H, Knehans
of the Centenary Methodist church
gave the scripture reading. After
the prayer, led by Rev. paden' the
mighty s LORD, by Mascagni: This
was very well rendered, and the
blending Of the boys and girls voices
In this beautiful anthem was full of
harmony and sweetness. Miss Alice
Cotton directed the singing.
= Sermon BY Rev. Jensen
Speaking on the theme: rs Life
Worth While" Mr.. Jensen said, after
quoting the text, "All the genera
tons from Abraham to Christ are
forty two generations; Cones heart
grows heavy as he thinks of the
multitudinous peoples who make up
those forty and two generations and
concerning whom there is no record
whatsoever, for with the exception
of six names in the sixteen preceo-
ing verses there is no record of any
person mentioned except that he had
a son and died. They lived the same
lives that we live, thought the same
thoughts, dreamed the same dreams,
had the same hopes, and though OF
them there is no record and though
according to these sixteen verse they
might as well have never lived yet
they too felt some thing of the
with it's mysteries as are we today.
THAT is largely the life that you
and l are living. We occupy no
prominent place on the stage of the
Worlds activity; if this is our last
day tomorrow mornings papers will
have nothing to say; someone else
will quickly step into the place we
occupied and we will as quickly be
forgotten. And unless ! wrongly
guage your heart and misjudge your
minds by my own, right there lies
of it all. To get up in the morning
and go about the daily round of toll
and get the tasks of the day. done
and go to rest again and pursue that
daily grind, day after day and week
after week and year after year until
we stumble and fall. Is it worth
while? What does it matter how we
live an we say and what we do? Has
God gone dead and is all the
world maze that has no clue.
welcome the challenging look of you
young people because l know you
have had this thought and l wonder
if you are not glad that somebody is
voicing it in your hearing. And L
from the dreary result of this and
kindred facts, you are not going to
live the life that might live, the high
broad, deep. strong life, that lays
hold upon eternity and dares time to
do it's worst. ...
Disappointment Is decreasing.
"And. so l find my disappointment
decreasing as l notice there is a
purpose~running through all that APP
parently wasted and meaningless life.
Those generations perhaps little
might be but it was there neverthe-
less! Oh, l know Abraham looms
large in the record of those sixteen
verses but If Abraham had been the
only man on earth at the time he
would not loom up very large. For
he was dependent on his shepherds
and on-his herdsmen and his we'll
diggers, and there was not man
who drove down tent pin at night
or frightened a tent cord but enters
into the life work Of Abraham and is
tr,arN 0,~fo y,f IN, ho 10Th Of
God knows that without those multi
tudinous men who anonymously min
istered to the greatness of Abraham,
the life and work of the patriarch
would have been an impossibility.
And l know David stands out in
that record as man who was a
mighty chord in the great melody OF
the eternal musician, but / know also
the master musician has his quarter
notes as well as his whole notes and
l know he has some signs that are
no notes at all and have no melody
but they are only rests that indicate
and accentuate the melody that lies
around them. And SO into this re-
cord of DaVid's, there enters the lives
of hundreds of thousands of men who
were forgotten as soon as their time
life was over, but there was pur-
pose running through their lives.
Life Is Not In Vain
"And so / am here to say to you
that your life is not vain; / cannot
tell you where but somehow there is
a life that you influence: somebody
is going to be strong because you
were true The chance word you
speak is as deathless as the throne
of God; and you will never come in
to the fulness of the meaning Of life
until you rise up to the realization
that you are living your life in the
purpose of the Eternal.
And then / come to say, l find
the disappointment felt at the
great sea of the anonymous that
overwhelms those forty two genera
tions was lessened as / observed the
purpose running through their lives,
all lead to Christ. You read those
sixteen verses and there is nothing
but confusion and chaos; you come
down to the end of sixteen and you
find the word Christ, and then all
comes into order and beauty. And
young people, there is no greater
word of exhortation that l could
leave with you than this, Get into
Gods plan for your life.
II You Are Only Serving
"And let me say this word to you;
it does not matter so much where
you serve If only you are serving in
the purpose and plan of God. | am
x;rod of hoo NV ~,