What the Church Means to Me | Page 4

that Jesus thought it worth while wasting his time on, when
the world lacked theology far more than it does today. Those sermons
of his in their modest settings have been the most brilliant of the
world's possessions ever since. I think the Church grades her preachers
wrongly. There is no failure of Christ's aims. His message is bearing
fruit in the hearts of many men whom
the-necessary-to-define-your-mental-attitude school would rule out of
the kingdom. Even Elijah made a mistake in the matter of how many
servants God had.
USEFULNESS THE SUPREME TEST
These divisions of the Church mean to me cargo vessels, and if for any
reason they can't carry, they should go out of commission. If one is
beyond repair or the type has been superseded, it should go out
permanently. We continue to run old three-deckers for fighting battles,
or Columbian caravels for freighting purposes. It appears to some to
cause a temporary setback to fighting efficiency to send a once
serviceable ship to the scrap heap, but it is the best and cheapest in the
end. In the North Sea fishery I saw hundreds of sailing craft that had
helped to make fortunes, that had kept the markets full, and that still
had years of life, laid up, and then sold practically for old junk. Why?
Simply because swift steam-trawlers had been found to do the work
better.

These sub-organizations, as far as I am concerned, are existing merely
to help men to work in the spiritual field. They are not like some yachts,
just to carry bunting and paint to be admired. As for church affiliation,
what I like to see is a hungry man going where he will be fed and get
strength. I trust it does not seem flippant to say that I look on all church
organizations in the same way, and that the tradition of a long past
suggests to me the inefficiency of a dotage, quite as much as the
stimulating aroma of potency which, as in the case of some wines, can
only be acquired by the lapse of time. Some will say that this
Modernism has no sense of obligation, no sense of veneration, makes
no allowance for the idiosyncrasies of others. Well, that may be so. I
may plead, on the contrary, that what we call the ancient Church was
the youthful Church. The Church of the twentieth century is the ancient,
grown-up Church.
THE BUILDING ITSELF, PRO AND CON
Experience has convinced me that bricks and mortar and sectarian
loyalty have more often been hindrances than helps to that expression
of faith in him which Jesus looks for in our lives. I admit I have not
lived long enough in one place fully to appreciate the possibilities for
stimulus and help this tying up into bundles can afford. On the other
hand, I feel so certain that buildings set aside for public worship are
essential in every place, that where none exists I feel wretched, and I
have shares in quite a number all along our Labrador coast.
I love to wander through an ancient edifice in which generations of
men have come and worshiped and found help and comfort. I like
looking at the Viking ship, but I don't want to cross the Atlantic in it.
Personally, I like to hear, to see, and to understand. The dim religious
light and sonorous sounds do not waken me to a keener sense of the
call of God to be up and doing. They just make me sleepy. Besides
being difficult as a rule to hear, there is too much around to distract my
attention. I don't think Westminster Abbey helps me personally to
attend to the service. On the contrary, I think it makes me think of the
building. I used somehow to imagine that service in the open air was
necessarily associated with cant. Now I like it far the best. Not merely

because it is more sanitary--till some one learns how to ventilate a
building decently--but because it absolutely forces you to feel
insignificant, and anxious that the great Creator should condescend to
care about a mosquito like you. Moreover, I have often noticed out in
the open a unity between those of different sects that was perfectly
delightful. Meanwhile I am not unmindful that in many, if not in all, a
deep inborn spiritual craving, no child of philosophy, is a powerful
factor in helping men Godward. Also that many find their only help in
authority and the faith of others. All these the Church has to provide for.
It is no easy task to be prophet and conservative custodian at the same
time.
THE NEW AND BETTER SPIRIT
One great trouble with tying one's self to any one church, from my
peripatetic point of