Island Bay Presbyterian Church

Old Time Religion 1920's

 

IBPC Old Time Religion Service – Oct 2006

 

 “As we come to today’s message, we pray God’s blessing on these words. Speak to us, teach us, inspire us we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

 Many of you were probably aware of this already, but the Presbyterian church in NZ has always been a bit of a strange beast.

 For the first 50yrs of it’s life it wasn’t actually one single church, but many independent churches, planted by immigrants and missionaries from countries like Scotland, England, Australia and the US. Naturally, each of those churches had their own traditions and theologies, and many of them didn’t particularly like each other! For example, there were at least 4 different Presbyterian churches brought here from Scotland alone, all of which had split off from each other over the years.
 But, in 1901, just after this church was established, Parliament passed the Act of Union, a law which bound all these diverse congregations into one new national denomination - and thus the PCANZ was born.

 Some people believe that was a great moment! We are the body of Christ, we need difference. We need to be challenged by our brothers and sisters in the faith; a body needs diversity, it needs hands, feet and eyes for it to be complete. But, others think it was a mistake. This diversity has led to 100yrs of in-fighting and debate, as the church has found issue after issue to disagree over!
 In my short life-time I’ve seen people leave the Presy church over the charismatic movement and baptizing babies, and I’m sure we all know what the current contentious issue is! A decision has finally been made on that, but ⅓ of the church still disagrees.

 Our theme today though is the 20’s, and we’ve already heard about 2 issues which raised their heads then – dancing and movies. But, following on from  WWI when women first joined the work-force in large numbers in this country, the 20’s was also the decade when Presbyterians first began to seriously consider whether women shouldn’t be admitted into leadership in the church as well.
 Wellington Presbytery has always been a bit of a dodgy liberal place, so naturally the first proposal to a GA to let women be elders came from here in 1926.
 A lot of the argument was based on the fact that society was changing, that new opportunities were opening up for women in the world, so why shouldn’t the church follow suit. But also, it was pointed out that women were already being used with great effect to lead and teach among Maori and in foreign mission fields, so why not among white NZers too?

 Wellington Presbytery’s proposal was, of course, defeated. Women had to wait many more years to be admitted to leadership, and weren’t allowed to be ministers until 1968. Even then it was a very controversial decision and many left the church for more conservative denominations. But, here in Wellington in the 20’s, that idea had already begun to catch on.

 Another hot topic of the 20’s which I wasn’t aware of till I started doing research for this service, was a movement for world peace and global disarmament. WWI had just finished and had been a horrific event, millions had died. So, people wanted a better world, a peaceful world, and the Presbyterian church was leading the way in advocating for this – spearheaded again by the Wellington Presbytery.
 Presbyterian Peace leagues were set up throughout the country, trying to make the world a more godly place by campaigning for the abolition of guns and the end of war. Of course they failed, WWII wasn’t far away and today every year billions of dollars are still spent on devising new ingenious ways of killing people – but at least they tried! Back in the 20’s devout Christians tried with all their might to make this world a better place for us, who came after them.

 The book of Micah from the OT, chpt 6 vv 6-8, has one of the clearest descriptions of what God requires of those who seek to follow God’s ways. It reads…

             “"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

 Going to Akl last weekend for the 2006 General Assembly was an interesting experience, it reminded me that in church terms, I am actually still really young. After 5 days of sitting among all these balding grey heads, I came to realise that I am the youngest Presbyterian minister currently serving in a church! And I’m the youngest by at least 5yrs.
 So, be proud, your minister is unique!
 And from this unique perspective as a young minister, I have been reflecting on the Presy church of the 20’s.

 Some things, I must admit, I though were a bit of a joke – especially the huge controversy over some churches allowing dancing in their halls. I know it was an incredibly heated and divisive issue at the time, but looking back at it from today it just seems funny.
 Other things though, I am ashamed of. That the church could be so slow to progress, and keep restricting people from leadership for so long just because they were women is an embarrassment to me. I know it was based on their understanding of the Bible, and at least the Presys here did open ordination to women in the end – but that just causes me more shame. Did you know that the majority of churches in the world still do not allow women to be ministers? Our church is a minority in that area.
 Up until last weekend the PCANZ was in a minority on another issue as well! It was one of the few churches in the world who hadn’t made a formal, binding decision preventing homosexuals from becoming ministers. That changed at GA when the majority of the church decided that no, homosexuality is not something we want in the leadership of our church.
 Some greeted that decision with clapping and cheering, but they were quickly silenced. Most people responded with dignity and humility before God, and I think that is what is needed at times like that – humility. We cannot know how future generations will judge what we do as a church. Will they laugh at us? Will they be ashamed of us? Or will they be proud of us?

 

 Now, two things I was very proud of in the church of the 20’s.

 One was the Sunday School movemen which was really pushed and really took off across our country in this decade. To see that they cared for their young people, that they realised how their children were the church of tomorrow. That they devoted time and energy and money to their children to ensure that they would be taught in the ways of the Lord - and that the legacy of what they did is still with us today.
 The other thing was the peace movement I described. It didn’t last very long, and the very idea of believing they could ban all guns and bring peace on earth seems so naive – but they did their best, they gave it a go. They tried to save later generations from the horrors of war, and for that I think they deserve our praise.

 

 The words of Micah… “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This was God’s requirement of them in the 20’s, and this is God’s requirement of us as the church of today, 80yrs later.
 At times they made mistakes, at times they shamed the name of God – and at times so will we. But if we strive to truly act justly in all that we do, if we make kindness our first response when dealing with people, and if we walk humbly before God in everything we do – hopefully then we won’t go too far wrong! Hopefully, then we might even do things that later generations will be proud of.
 May God bless us all.