Lögberg - 09.08.1934, Page 2

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LÖGBERG, FIMTUDAGINN 9. ÁGtJST, 1934
Fimtugaáta ársþing
Hins evangeliska lúterska kirkjufélags
íslendinga í Veálurheimi
Haldið í Selkirk, Manitoba, 22. til 26. júní 1934
HEIMATRÚBOÐ
Tók þó vara-forseti, séra H. Sigmar viÖ fundarstjórn, en
forseti skýrÖi málið með ítarlegri ræðu. Urðu síðan f jörugar um-
ræður um málið í heild sinni, er stóðu yfir þar til samþykt var
hálfrar stundar fundarhlé, til að þiggja kaffiveitingar í fundarsal
Selkirksafnaðar. í sambandi við það boð bar cand. theol. B.
Theodore Sigurðsson fram heimboð til þingsins, til skemtunar í
lystigarði Selkirk-bæjar, kl. 3 e. h. næsta dag, sunnudaginn þ. 24.
júni. Var boðið, í e. hlj., þakkað og þegið. —
Þegar fundur kom saman á ný, var sungið versið 48. Héldu
umræður um heimatrúboðsmálið þá áfram, þar til samþykt var að
setja það í fimm manna þingnefnd. Tilnefndi vara-forseti, er
enn stýrði fundi, í nefndina: Séra N. S. Thorláksson, séra R.
Marteinsson, J. G. Jóhannson, Árna Christianson og Joseþh Hall.
Þá var tekið fyrir annað mál á dagsskrá:
Erlent trúboð.
Séra N. S. Thorláksson lagði ffam og las í þinginu þessa
skýrslu trúboða kirkjufélagsins í Japan, séra S. O. Thorlákssonar;
Kobe, May 20th, 1934.
To the Synod of the Icelandic Lutheran Church,
assembled at Selkirk, and to all our scattered Church people.—
GREETINGS
What a flood of recollections come over us as we contemplate
your foregathering this year in our home church! Somehow or
other the world looms up before me much larger and more awful
than I have been wont to consider it for many a day. (I said awful,
but I don’t mean horrible, for in spite of much that is ’nideous
because of man’s wrong-doing, it is still God’s world). In recent
years distances have been shortening and spaces shinking, but
today I feel lonely, I want to be with you in old Selkirk. There
are so many things I want to tell you, so many problems I should
like to explain and have explained. Bút the following notes must
of necessity be only an outline or just a hint, here and there, of the
burdens we bear about with us as we endeavor to share with our
daily associates the Higher Ideals of Life as rvealed in Christ
Jesus.
The world is divided into Christian and non-Christian lands.
The people of the former are engaged in bringing about the day
when the peoples of all lands may be called Christian. Nor do
we believe that we are engaged in this task alone and unaided.
Our God is with us. We are co-laborers with Him. He, to be
sure, desires to hasten the day, but can it be said that we, the
other partner in this world job, are jamming the works or íit some
other way are responsible for retarding the realization of that day?
During the past three or four decades the slogan of the ad-
vance line has been “Christianization of the world in this genera-
tion.” Since the beginning of the thirties, many seem to have
hypnotized themselves into believing that the objective of the
slogan was nearing its realization, that the time has come for
stock-taking and thus prepare for a season of mutual sharing. On
the Foreign Fields, it has raised the hope in the mind of many
a tired Missionary, the hope that soon he might be returning home
with flying colors. We said tired Missionary, he is of two kinds,
the one who has honestly worn himself down in the Service in
spite of endless discouragements, and the other who has come out
to the Field under the spell of some fleeting excitement but in
th humdrum of field routine has either lost his vision or never
having laid hold of one has spent his energies in trying to justify
his existence in the ranks, a conscience-salver. The latter it is
who has made the most pitiful attempt to grasp at this modern
straw of hope.
On the other hand, to the minds of many of us today, the
hope of our Cause now lies in a future generation of Missionaries
for whose labors we are either preparing the ground or just holding
the front lines awaiting the arrival of these new reinforcements.
But hozv long must we wait ? When are they coming ? Or rather,
when are they sending them ?. It is not our intention here to deal
with Mission Board Palicies, but in this connection the problem
“How Long,” which we briefly tried to answer in the Japan
Lutheran Bulletin for January of this year, is very closely allied.
We believe these questions to be much more fundamental than
the present problems of money and budgets. For if the former
are fairly and squarely faced by the powers that be, the latter will
be supþlied in proper proportion regardless of financial depressions
or economic curve fluctuations.
In general, the work of our Mission in Japan has been holding
its own during the past year. Our statistics are not discouraging.
But we are still in the formative stage of the Japan Lutheran
Church as such. Policies are still in the making with their at-
tendant disagreements and misunderstandings. During the past
four years we have been trying more and more to turn over the
responsibility for our organized work to our Japanese brethren.
They have asked for a revision and some readjustments this year.
What the outcome will be is too early to predict. But we are all
endeavoring in the spirit of our Master to so prepare the ground
that His Kingdom may come and be established even through our
humble efforts. To be sure, the present national situation is
giving us some concern. The nationalism which we at one time
hoped might become a channel as formerly, in some European
countries, through which the Christian Church might become
established nationally, has gone wrong due to the preponderance
of the military, and we are finding ourselves wondering what will
be the outcome.
But to write a report in particular of the work in this Kobe-
Hiroshima Parish during the year would only be to record details
of such “sufferings” to which St. Paul refers in Col. 1 -.24, and
to outline the same kind of shortcomings, errors and evils among
new Christians as he found occasion to correct and reprimand in
hið day as recorded throughout his Epistles. The only difference
would be that his “sufferings” were largely in behalf of his own
scattered people to whom he had gone to proclaim the Gogpel of
God’s Love in Christ Jesus, but ours have been because of a
foreign people to whom you have sent us in your stead. However,
the shortcomings, errors and evils are the same regardless of race
and age.
The parables of last year’s Report still hold good as far as the
local situation of the three churches in this parish is concerned.
The extenuating circumstances attendant upon the shortage of
accessions during the year are too many and complicated to record.
We are still hoping that the Kobe Equipment Fund in the hands
of our Board will be forthcoming this year so that we may at last
realize the long cherished chapels for our work in the city of Kobe.
This delay, especially in the minds of our pastors and members, is
in part at the root of some of our inability to function and accom-
plish as we might. Suspicions as to misappropriations of funds
have already been levelled at your resident Missionary because of
this long delay. Then, as if to give such suspicions the laugh, the
Mission, as well as the Japan Lutheran Church elects him their
Treasurer! The onus of this latter job beggars description. But
when you realize this as a sideline and an extra added to our main
work and interest, with a monthly payroll of about seventy people,
their accounts to keep and balance after reckoning with fluctuating
exchange rates, you may form your own conclusion as to the
drudgery involved! Who said honor? If you ask us if we are
busy, you may further add to the above membership on several
committees. (Here we are tempted to digress and write a thesis
on the “Abomination of Desolation” wrought through committee
activities to which rrlost modern Missionaries must sooner or later
succumb!)
But in spit of the above, our contact zvork with individuals
and groups during the yast year, has continued to give us a satis-
faction of the worthwhileness of our calling. We are encouraged
to carry on in the blessed Name of Him whom we serve, living
and giving our life as He did His, “not to be ministered unto, but
to minister” in the hope that His ransom may be made manifest
to many through the witness of a Christian home set in the midst
of many non-Christian homes.
Our rural work carried on in the spare time of our city and
official duties, continues to be most encouraging. A new Christian
home set up in Obayashi by a member of our East Kobe Church
níarried to a recent graduate of Biible School is our rural centre
from which we have been able to reach a goodly number of
children. Recently we were invited to speak to the children at the
Public School of this village. Village homes are also visited.
Only one young man has been baptized during the year. But it is
only a beginning and hat harvest may be in store for us here we,
of course, have no way of reckoning.
Through our correspondence Church membership we have
kept up our contacts with hundreds. Less than one hundred of
these reside in or near Kobe. Some of these we have met with
individually and in groups from time to time. The Y.M.C.A, of
this city which is entirely on its own with a Japanese Secretary
who is responsible not only for the raising of his budget, but also
for all the activities, invites our co-operation in all group activities.
The story of many of our individual cases would interest you,
I am sure. There is “Henry” who has passed on, and of whom
we wish to write at another time. There is the rich man who
chose to live away from his lawfully wedded wife for a year,
with a Geisha in Tokio. Wish the wife could tell you her story!
They have both come to our home to give credit for their happy
reunion to the efforts of your Missionary. Had we time to keep a
day-book of all our daily visitors and visitings, you would realize
how your prayers and ours that our residence in a foreign land
may not be in vain, are being answered.
“Residence in a foreign land”! How attractive this may sound
to fnany at home, we know from recent, as well as from former
furlough visits among you. Be that as it may, we, the citizens of
Christian lands, who spend most of our lives living in and for
non-Christian lands and peoples get a perspective view of how very
un-Christian the so-called Christian nations are in their attitudes
towards other and non-Christian nations. Of course, there is no
use writing about Japan and her attitude towards her neighbor
nations, or the “Open Door” policy for Cina, when practically all
other nations protect themselves more or léss by high tariff walls,
or many other international problems when at bottom the same
kind of rottenness is festering in the human heart, the
world over, regardless of race and creed. Yes, we mean selfish-
ness, greed and suspicions as over againt the Christian virtues of
love, sharing and mutual truthfulness.
In closing, we venture a politico-economic parallel to the
above: Tariff walls, corporations and armaments versus Open
doors, co-operation and Disarmaments. A close study and examin-
ation of these fundamentals may indicate how and where God’s
partners are jamming the works today.
May our constant endeavors ever be to exhibit more and more /
faithfulness in the discharge of whatever He has given us to see
and to do on behalf of His Kingdom at home and abroad. To this
end we pray for you and solicit your continued prayers for us in
His Name.
Very sincerely and fraternally yours,
S. O. Thorlaksson.
Að því búnu var málið rætt um hríð og grein fyrir gerð, af
forseta, að hve miklu leyti kirkjufélagið hefði að undanförnu tekið
þátt i kristniboði í Japan. Gerði þá K. Valdimar Björnson þá
tillögu, en G. J. Oleson studdi, að kirkjufélagið greiði alt að
$1,200.00 til trúboðsins næsta ár. Var það samþykt. Samþykt
var einnig, { e. hlj., að þingið þakki séra S. O. Thorlaksson og frú
hans hið mikla og veglega starf þeirra íjapan, og árni þeim bless-
unar Drottins í guðsrikisstarfinu. Var þetta samþykt með því að
allir risu úr sætum. Var svo fyrir mælt um leið, að þingskrifari
flytji þeim trúboðshjónum, skriflega, þessar þakkir og þessa árn-
aðarósk.—
Þá var rætt um hinn svonefnda Hallgrímskirkjusjóð, er safn-
að hafði verið til að reisa kirkju i Japan til minningar um Hallgdm
Pétursson. Var samþykt, eftir bending trúboðans, að það fé,
sem inn er komið í sjóðinn, verði nú bráðlega sent til Japan, og
mælti forseti svo um, að komandi framkvæmdanefnd sendi fé
þfetta tafarlaust að þessu þingi loknu. Var annað mál á dagsskrá,
Erlent trúboð, með þessu afgreitt af þinginu.
Þá var tekið fyrir þriðja mál á dagsskrá:
Betel.
Var fyrst rætt um frumvarp til aukalaga No. 1 (General
By-law No- 1), er stjórnarnefnd Betel telur æskilegt að samþykt
sé sem reglugjörð viðvikjandi trygging fyrir lánum úr sjóðum
stofnunarinnar. Málið var rætt allítarlega þar til samþykt var, að
visa málinu í heild' sinni til fimm manna þingnefndar. I nefndina
voru skipaðir þeir J. J. Swanson, G. Thorleifsson, Wm. Gunn-
laugson, J. J. Vopni og séra R. Marteinsson.
Þá var tekið fyrir fimta mál á dagsskrá:
Otgáfumál.
Eftir nokkurar umræður var samþykt að visa því máli til
fimm manna þingnefndar. í nefndina skipaði forseti þá séra H.
Sigmar, Th. Swainson, K. Valdimar Björnson, Óla Stefánsson og
Jón Halldórsson.— '
Þá var tekið fyrir sjöunda mál á dagsskrá:
Ungmennafélög og sunnudagsskólar.
Málið var rætt af fjöri og áhuga um nokkura stund, en var
síðan, eftir samþykt þingsins, sett í fimm manna þingnefríd. 1
nefndina voru skipuð þau S. O. Bjerring, Miss Björg Benson,
Mrs. Th. Hallgrímson, Jón Ingjaldson og Ingi Swainson. Var
málið síðan, í heild sinni, enn rætt' um stund, þar til timi var kom-
inn að slíta fundi. Sunginn var sálmurinn No. 14 og fundi síðan
slitið kl. 6 e. h. Næsti fundur ákveðinn kl. 8 að kvöldinu sama
dag.
FJÓRÐI FUNDUR
Kl. 8 e. h. sama dag:
Fundurinn byrjaði með guðræknisstund undir umsjón séra
N. S. Thorlákssonar.
Dr Björn B. Jónsson flutti fyrirlestur: Um trúar- og kirkju-
líf á Islandi, eins og það kom fyrirlesaranum fyrir sjónir, er hann
ferðaðist um landið síðastliðið sumar. Var honum að því erindi
loknu greitt þakklætisatkvæði, með því að allir risu úr sætum,
samkvæmt tillögu séra Sigurðar Ólafssonar.—
Sunginn var sálmurinn No. 23, “Faðir andanna, frelsi land-
anna, ljós í lýðanna stríði,” hinni postullegu blessun lýst af for-
seta, og fundi síðan slitið kl. 9.40 e. hr
Sunnudaginn þ. 24. júní, við árdegismessu, kl. 10.30, í kirkju
Selkirksafnaðar, voru prestvígðir þeir Guðmundur Páll Johnson,
Björn Theodore Sigurðsson og Bjarni Archibald Bjarnason.
Vígslu lýsti séra Sigurður Ó|afsson, og las um leið æfiágrip
vigsluþega allra, samin af þeim sjálfum, en vígslufia framkvæmdi
forseti kirkjufélagsins, séra Kritinn K. Ölfson, með aðstoð tíu
presta er viðstaddir voru. Mikill mannfjöldi var saman kominn,
svo, að kirkjan rúmaði ekki nærri alla er að sóttu. Séra N. S.
Thorláksson, fyrrum prestur Selkirksafnaðar, var fyrir altari,
en vígslu-prédikun flutti forseti og hafði fyrir ræðuefni II. Kor.
2:16, orðin: “Og hver er til þessa hæfur?” Söngflokkur safn-
aðarins söng viðeigandi kórsöngva, og öll var guðsþjónustan til-
komumikil og mjög hátíðleg. Að lokinni vígsluathöfn setti forseti
í embætti séra B. Theodore Sigurðsson, sem þjónandi prest Selkirk-
safnaðar, er áður hafði verið formlega kjörinn prestur safnaðar-
ins. — Stóð guðsþjónustan; ásamt embættis-innsetning sóknar-
prests, er fór fram í guðsþjónustunni sjálfri, að lokinni vígslu,
yfir í fullar tvær klukkustundir. Veður var hið ákjósanlegasta,
og þótti guðsþjónustan, með þeim hátíðlegu athöfnum, er fram-
kvæmdar voru, hafa verið frábærlega ánægjuleg og blessunarrík.—
Kl. 3 e. h. á sunnudaginn, hafði Selkirksöfnuður boð fyrir
kirkjuþingsmenn og gesti þingsins, í lystigarði Selkirk-bæjar. Fór
þar fram söngur og ræðuhöld,, undir umsjón séra N. S. Thor-
lákssonar, ásamt rausnarlegum veitingum, eins og það bezt gerist
á slíkum mannamótum.—
FIMTI FUNDUR.
Sunnudagskvöldið þ. 24. júní, kl. 8 e. h.
Fundurinn byrjaði með guðræknisstund, undir umsjón séra
R. Marteinssonar.
Þessi fundur var trúmálafundur þingsins. Umræðuefni var:
Guðleg handleiðsla. Málshefjandi var séra Sigurður S. Christo-
pherson. Flutti hann ítarlegt og vandað erindi um málið. Var
honum, að erindi því loknu, greitt þakklætisatkvæði þingsins, með
því að allir risu úr sætum, samkvæmt tillögu séra Jóhanns Bjarna-
sonar.
Urðu siðan fjörugar umræður um málið. Fundi stýrði
vara-forseti, séra H. Sigmar, því forseti hafði vikið af fundi, að
erindi málshefjanda loknu. Samþykt var, að ræður fundarmanna
færu ekki fram úr 5 til 10 mínútum hver.
Til máls tóku séra Jóhann Bjarnason, Egill Egilsson, séra
Jóhann Fredriksson, séra R. Marteinsson, S. O. Bjerring, séra
G. P. Johnson, S. S. Einarsson, dr. B. B. Jónsson, F. O. Lyngdal,
séra G. Guttormsson, séra Sigurður Ólafsson og Jakob Frímann.
Ræðumenn hér taldir í þeirri röð er þeir töluðu.—
Stóðu ræðuhöld þessi yfir þar til tillaga kom um að slíta
fundi og ,var hún samþykt. Sungið var versið No. 45, hinni
postullegu blessan lýst af vara-forseta, og fundi síðan slitið kl.
10.25 e- h.—
Næsti fundur fyrirhugaður kl. 9 f. h. næsta morgun.
SJÖTTI FUNDUR
Þ. 25 júní, kl. 9 f. h.
Fundurinn hófst með bænargjörð, er séra Sigurður Ólafsson
stýrði.
Gjörðabók 1., 2., 3., 4. og 5. fundar var lesin og staðfest.
Tekið var fyrir fjórða mál á dagsskrá:
Jóns Bjarnasonar skóli.
Féhirðir skólanefndar, S. W. Melsted, lagði fram þessa
skýrslu um efnahagsreikning skólans:
Jón Bjarnason Academy,
Efnahagsreikningur 10. júní 1934
Eignir—
Peningar í sjóði ...............$ 20.17
Óborguð skólagjöld ............. 278.00
Óborguð eldri skólagjöld
(að meðtöld. $23.50 frá 1933) 64.25
Stephen Johnson Memorial Fund 300.00
Bókasafn, útbúnaður og áhöld.... 2,168.98
Eldsábyr^ð fyrirfram) borguð.... 75.16 2,906.56
Eiginvíxill Fasteign—Saskatchewan Land. 229.78 1,937.00 2,166.78
Skólahúsið með lóð ,.... Hlutabréf A. R. McNichol Ltd 21,067.85 50,000.00 71,067.85
Skuldir— Eignaskattur Rentur á veðskuld (óborgað).... ennaralaun (gjaldd. 1. júlí 1934 $ 76,141.19 1,743.21 136.65 290.00 2,169.86
Veðskuld, Great West Life 4,200.00 4,200.00
Skuldir alls Mismunur 6,369.86 69,771.33
$76,141.19
Eignaskattur þessa árs að upphæð $503.50 er, eftir venju,
ekki enn innfærður.
Yfirskoðað í Winnipeg 22. júní 1934.
T. E. Thorsteinson,
F. Thordarson.
(Framh.)