The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-09-15

rA"Certairlv few will need to be re- minded that ours is day of crisis end peril" stated Rev. pr. John c. walker, Second Congregational Church pastor, in his sermon, Every One to His Own Work, yes- terday morning.
 Dr. walker said in part:
 There seems to me to be some- thing particularly appropriate In the text in that we are reassembiing to- Jay after union services and after fthe holiday season. As we all know there are rhythms that run through all life, physical and spiritual. one of the classic sermons is entitled, 'The Tides of the Spirit" preached by James Martineau, the great Uni- tarian minister of Liverpool, Eng land. One of the rich and rcward- ing promises of the Bible Is found In Isaiah, Tn returning and rest shah 70 be saved; in quietness and In confidence shall be your Strength."
 This day we returnl And in re- turning we may renew our strength. Someone said that holidays are a blessed business but also an unset- ting business. Just sol Now Is the time to get Q grip on ourselves. And I trust that we can take up our several tasks and responsibilities in the Church with good heart and good will. This ought to be, and in an informal but none the less real sense this may be, service ct con- secration for every officer, leader and member of this church. Indeed if our hearts are receptive to the guidance of the Spirit we may leave this service SO charged with spirit- ual life and power that the whole life of this church and this com- nunity will be changed during this coming year.
 We return to c great task, all the greater, all the harder because of the dark clouds that overhang the world and the nation. All the task is the more difficult to speak in practical terms, because we are in the midst of social changes, of shifts of population. To be still more specific the very life of our com Tnunity has changed since Q year ago. There are hundreds and thousands of new people in our midst.
 I was startled and pleased to dis- cover how interested the govern. ment is in these new people, how anxious certain government agencies are for these new neighbors of ours to form friendly social and religious associations. l was reading an es- say this last summer in which. the author said that the devil likes to see Righteousness moving Tn ruts." Well I don't and you don't. That is not the mind and spirit of this church. As we face new problems we shall make 1t our business to do our level best to measure up to new re- responsibilities and that without neg. lect oe the regularly appointed work and worship of the church.
 Let me point out, too, that there is something very suggestive in the phrase, ito the wall" It sounds like . battle cry, like Q trumpet call, If you emphasize 1t that way. take it that again and again in ancient times the call came when the enemy approached, ITO the wall" To the waill" But am glad to point out further that as far as our text is concerned the call to the wall was not to fight but to work. True l must confess that Nehemiah had his program of preparedness. He had proclaimed Q war time emergency but his concern at the time we come upon the scene was not war and destruction but building and con- struction. So we in thinking of the work of the church ought to think primarily in terms of creation, Of