10 THE CHURCH OFFICERS’ GAZETTE
seemed to meet defeat, yet the Master did uot allow the suf-
ferer to lose by it. The disciples must discover a fact important
to the saving of a world of men, much greater than this one
ovil spirit. The spirit of the prayer—not self-aggrandizement,
not miracles at a bargain. Lt pp
Is it not true that the attitude of Gethsemane is the essential
attitude of true prayer? This IT would like, but if it is not
for’ the greatest good, I will accept another way, or do with-
out. We ask sincerely for the ultimate spiritual good, willing
to sacrifice all of self, or just proportion of material possession.
From such “Gethsemanes” of spiritual resignation there will
surely be some “Calvarys.” G. H. 8.
Recreation
(Program for Weel Ending June 18)
BY MRS, 0. I. KILGORE
Notes To LEADERS: Road as a background for your introduc-
tion to the topic, “Messages,” Section XIII, “Recreation and
Amusement,” especially noting part 124, “The Value of Recrea-
tion.”
Suggested Song : Nos, 528, 650, 33, in “Christ in Song.”
Scripture Reading: Psalm 19—To bs memorized.
Prayer: Repeat the Lord’s prayer.
Bible Doctrines: The Church of Christ
1. Ox what is the church founded? Eph. 2: 18-22.
2. By what instruction did Jesus show that He recognized
the authority of the church Matt, 18: 17.
3. What are the leaders of the church admonished to do?
Acts 20: 28,
4. What should be the attitude of the members of the church
toward the chosen leaders? Heb. 13:17.
5. What are the objectives sought through instruction and
discipline? Eph. 4: 12-15; 5: 25-27,
6, What work has been eommitted to the church?
16: 15,
7. What special message will the remnant church bear? Rev.
14: 6-12, D. A. OcHs.
Mark
Talk: What Is Recreation?
Definition.— Webster says: “Recreation is refreshment of
body or mind after toil, Art of recreating. To recreate is to
give new power or effectiveness to, as one who has become
languid or exhausted; refresh after labor; hemce, to divert;
as, the student recreates his mind.”
Purpose—The purpose of refreshment is to vest or refresh
after toil. It would therefore be absurd to indulge in recrea-
tion without having toiled first. Recreation is to the day’s
program what a dessert is to a dinner. It comes last, never
first, and is the more enjoyed because of this fact. Saville has
gaid, “Diversions are the most properly applied to ease and
relieve those who are oppressed by being too much employed.
Those that are idle have no need of them, and yet they, above
all[others, give themselves up to them. To unbend our thoughts,
when they are too mueh stretched by our eares, is not more
natural than it is necessary; but to turn our whole life into a
holiday, is not only ridiculous, but destroyeth pleasure instead
of promoting it.”
Spirit.—We pity those who never indulge in recreations. “All
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” and the same is also
true of older ones. We must earn our living by the sweat of our
brow, Work is the rule of life. But it is not all work,
“Don’t let work take the ginger out of you, Work like a Tro-
jan, then play like a four-year-old.” Life is made up of work
and rest and play—mot in equal proportions, but all three
elements are there, A preceptor in one of our colleges was
once heard to remark that he had never played games in his
life, he had only worked. How mueh he had missed in his
own life, and because of this how utterly unable was he to
enter into the spirit of play, so vital to the one hundred young
men in hig charge.
“A change of occupation is as good as a rest,” we say. It
may also bring to us recreation, provided we make the change
in the proper spirit. Charles W, Eliot says, “It is a good rule
to endeavor hour by hour and week after week to learn to work
hard. It is not well to taks four minutes to do what you can
accomplish in three. . . , It is well to learn to work intensely.”
He who works like this earns hig recreation, and in all likelihood
will enter into it with the proper spirit. Mrs, C. L. K.
June, 1932
Study: How to Choose Our Recreations
1. WHAT form of recreation should be avoided?
Answer —“Put in your list of outlaws all that lessens your
love for things of heaven and that unfits you for leading out
in personal work for souls.’ —Mrs. Matilda E. Andross.
2, In what recreations may we indulge? ]
Ans—All that are pure, clean, wholesome, invigorating,
and uplifting; that teach us respect for ourselves and serviee
for others,
“Christians have many sources of happiness at their com-
mand, and they may tell with unerring accuracy what pleasures
are lawful and right, They may enjoy such recreations as will
not dissipate the mind or debase the soul, such as will not
disappoint, and leave a sad after influenco to destroy self-
respect or bar the way to usefulness. If they can take Jesus
with them, and maintain a prayerful spirit, they are perfectly
safe. ’—Mrs. EB. G. White, in Review and Herald, Aug. 19, 1884.
3. What relation should exist between our social life and our
Christian experience?
Ans—Our social life should contribute to rather than
militate against our Christian cxperienco. See “Social Plans,”
by Mrs. Matilda FE. Andross, p. 20, par. 1; “Social Life in Its
Preper Setting,” page 21. Mgrs, C, Lu K.
Talk: Results of Recreation
THE general results to be obtained from reerealion arc:
relaxation from work or worry, mental or physical excreise,
spirit of teamwork, good posture, graceful carriage, good com-
plexion, steady nerves, active mind, and clean, happy thoughts,
—in general, a wholesome outlook on life and a spirit te accept
its responsibilities cheerfully.
Our recreation may be méntal or physical or both, and it may
be indoors or out of doors. If mental, it may well include
development of the imagination, appreciation of the various
forms of art, creative efforts, and sharpening the mental faecul-
ties. If physical, it should include tests and exercises calling
for steady nerves, reasonable physical cndurance, ready wit,
and plenty of fresh air.
“Exercige in the open air, for those whose employment has
been within doors and sedentary, will be beneficial to health,
All who can, should feel it a duty to pursue this course. Noth-
ing will be lost, but much gained, They can return to their
occupations with new life and new courage to engage in their
labor with zeal, and they are better prepared to resist disease.”
—“ Testimonies,” Vol. I, p. 515.
A walk into the country, a picnic lunch in the open alr, a
camp-fire dinner, afford tired minds and bedies relaxation, ex-
ercige, and contentment. Such excursions draw us near to God
and bring us into closer sympathy with our fellow men,
What joy efforts at creative art bring to a mind tired of
facts and figures! To sueh the development of the imagination
is healthful recreation, whether it be in the molding of a picece
of elay or the creating of a stanza cf poetry.
To many young people whose home life is barren, soeial hours
mean the opening of hitherto closed doors; here they catch
glimpses of what a Christian’s social life may mean, not only
to himself, but to his community.
It may be in the singing of an old round that they think,
“How like life is this—the same thing over and over;” but
happy are they if their next thought is, “But how much pleas-
ure to do it together!”
A game of baseball may teach a wonderful lesson in team-
work. Tho finest thing about the game is that one cannot play
it by himself. It may be on the ball diamond that a boy first
learns that he who plays to the grandstand is no true sports.
man. This is a splendid lesson to learn if he would play
the game of life successfully, It may be a game of tennis
that veveals to a tired office girl the fact that she who would
get the most out of life must put the most into it, that half-
awake people miss many of life’s biggest opportunities. 1t
may be that a young person who first learns to trust him-
self to the water, to relax and float on its surface or hy
rhythmic, easy, steady strokes to make distance, will also learn
that success in life is not so much a battle, a ceaseless round of
resisting, as 1t is to learn its cause and effects and relate him-
self properly to them,
He who has elimbed a mountain and stood entranced at the
splendor of the sunrise or the beauty of the landscape, has
horne into his soul a realization of what perspective means in
life; and he determines to gain the most poesible from his
mountain-top experience, that it may comfort and guide him
Plan recreational evenings for the Missionary Volunteers during the summer.