The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-02-19
BY William e. Gilroy, d. ID.
Editor Of The Congregationalist

Editor of The Congregationalist
From the consideration of the rela-
tionship of home life and the means
Of making the homes Christian. we
pass in this lesson to the conditions
that make for ideal relationship in
the larger family of the church.
Churches, it should always be re-
nembered, whatever divine origin
and character they may have, are
very human in their organization.
People who condemn the church on
the least evidence of something that
is not ideal in the relationships or
actions of it's members should re-
member that churches are apt to
possess many of the defects that al
ways become evident wherever large
groups of people are brought to-
eether. The defects Of the churches
are the defects of the people in them.
IN OF course it may be said that we
aould expect the manifestation Of
higher and more beautiful types OF
life on the part of church members
That is true. But if people depended
upon attaining sense of perfection
before becoming members of the
church, there would not be many
people in the churches.
Improving the Members
1t should be remembered, how
ever, that the only way eftectually
to improve the churches is to i'm
prove the people in them. Churches
as a whole will not grow in grace
exceut as their individual members
grow in grace.
Perhaps in this matter of church
membership we have laid too much
stress upon duty and too little upon
privilege. If We had recognized the
church as founded on the privileges
of grace and had set before us in all
the relationships of church-life Gods
love and Gods gracious forgiveness
of all our shortcomings, we should
have been brought into much more
wholesome relationship to one an
other.
Can the man who has himself felt
the realty of Gods forgiveness and
of GodJ gracious communion fail
to assume an attitude of love ana
o.raciolsness toward his fellow
church members? 1t is In the exer-
else q; that narrowness and harsh
ness Of temper that we pray our
Hea-enly Father not to exercise
towlrd us that most of our faults In
ouy dealings with our fellow men
become evident.
So we should constantly think of
Ge church as that great fellowship
Aich Our bIest Redeemer saved
with his own precious blood" Unless
we have that same passionate desire
to save, and bless, and upbuild, that
characterized the life and death Of
the great Head of the church we
shall not fulfill our purposes of love
and righteousness.
It is this upon which our lesson
lays profound stress in the figure
of the Christians as the salt of the
earth, or as the light of the world,
or the city set on hill, or the lamp
that IS not hidden under a bushel.
Every Christian ought to be shining
for God, so living his life before men
not that they shall glorify him, but
that from that life there may come
some impulse to all who behold 1t
to glorify God.
Prayers for Others
The means of attaining to this
ideal are emphasized in the latter
part of the lesson. In the true
church there will be profound stress
upon fellowship symbolized in our
lesson by the breaking of bread and
in prayer. The breaking Of bread
has always been q symbol Of com
munion and hospitality. One can
not truly pray for others without
inherently assuming new attitude
toward them,
The great new understanding OF
others would come into our lives If
with all our hearts we learned to
pray for those whom we now mis-
understand or who misunderstood
US,
We used to sing a hymn. For
You / Am Praying. I Am Praying
Ier You" The hymn expressed
nething that ought to be in the
mutual relationship of every man
to his fellows, and especially of every
church member to every fellow mem
Der OF the church.
The great result of such relation
ships is finely expressed in the clos
ing verse of our lesson. 1.-THE Lord
added to the church daily such as
should he saved" That is the result