Sunday Service - 5 Sep 1955

Relate the story: (2 Kings 6:8-23). Israel [was] at war with Syria. King of Syria plans to pitch his camp in a certain place. Elisha – a man of God – comes to know of it and informs the King of Israel. Thus the King of Israel escaped attack. This happened a number of times. The King of Syria suspected some of his own men of being in touch with the King of Israel and carrying news to him. ‘Will you tell me who of us is for the King of Israel?’ Servant: ‘None, my Lord, but Elisha the prophet tells the King of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.’ ‘Tell me where he is that I may seize him.’ ‘He is in Dothan.’ So the king sent horses and chariots and a great army and they came by night and surrounded the city. The servant of Elisha found early in the morning an army with horses and chariots. ‘Alas, Master, what shall we do?’ Elisha: ‘Fear not for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes that he may see.’ The young man saw. The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Elisha prayed again: ‘Strike these people with blindness.’ Elisha led them into Samaria. In Samaria their eyes were opened. King of Samaria: Shall I slay them? Would you slay those whom you have taken captive? Set bread and water before them. The Syrians never more came on raids.

In the world around us we see danger ahead in more ways than one. There are many things to cause us anxiety about the future. The international situation has always been a subject of deep concern to all thinking people, but I think it is time to say that it has come to a deadlock. Nations have been vying with each other in piling up armaments in the belief that with a superior equipment of arms one had every chance of subduing one’s enemies and thus achieving one’s objectives. With the discovery of nuclear weapons it is now realized that war can no longer be the means of settling international disputes. Hitherto those who argued against war did so on religious or moral grounds.

But now, purely on scientific grounds, they have come to see that a war in the future would only result in the complete annihilation of entire nations. There will not be a conquered people on whom the conqueror can exert his will, and there will be no nation to call itself a conqueror. You know about the warning on hydrogen bombs given about six weeks ago by Bertrand Russell and eight internationally known scientists including six Nobel Prize winners. One of the signatories was Professor Albert Einstein who gave his signature on the day of his death – his last public act. It was a statement urging the government to realize and acknowledge publicly that their purposes cannot be furthered by a world war. The scientists are unanimous in their opinion that war with hydrogen bombs might possibly put an end to the human race. If many hydrogen bombs are used, as surely they will be, there will be instant sudden death only for a minority; but for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration. It is a dreadful problem for which it is not easy to find a solution. Mankind has always resorted to war as the only means of settling international disputes. The western powers and Communist countries have such a mutual distrust towards one another that it is difficult for them to come to any agreement by pacts and treaties. That is the problem before the world and all thinking men and women are watching with great concern how the leaders of the nations would solve it. Can we in this corner of the world afford to stand aloof unmindful of how the situation might affect us? Our very existence depends on how the problem is solved by the great powers. As intelligent men and women we must look upon the problem as our very own and pray for those to whom is committed the responsibility of deciding this issue, that they may surrender their wills to God’s will, and may submit to His reign on earth.

Turning aside from world affairs and looking into our domestic problems there are many things threatening to rob us of the security and safety we have hitherto enjoyed. In our national life we have not settled down to the task of nation building which was our hope when we welcomed independence seven years ago. With the British holding sway over us, there was a measure of unity among the various communities and everything seemed to go on smoothly. But with the withdrawal of external control each community has become conscious of its place in national life, and in their fight for power they have accentuated their differences. The language problem has become an acute one during the last few weeks, and there is no hope of our making any progress in our national life until we arrive at a satisfactory solution to the problem. As thinking men and women who are expected to show a higher standard of conduct in our lives let us make our contribution by speech and action to the solving of the problem with a full sense of our responsibility as teachers of this generation.

I would refer to one other problem which is a matter of great concern to us who are engaged in Christian education. The Christian missionaries have been the pioneers in education in this island. It is only during the last two or three decades that the state has developed into a welfare state and has come to realize its responsibility to provide educational facilities for all its citizens. This is not a situation peculiar to Ceylon. We find this in many other parts of the world, and everywhere the Christian Church has welcomed this new venture on the part of the State and has given it its fullest cooperation. With the State taking on this new responsibility the Church’s task is not over. It has still a contribution to make to the cause of education – a contribution which it alone can make. It has built up many institutions which have spread their roots far and wide into the life of the country and they have to be reconciled and cared for, that they may enrich the life of the people by the peculiar contribution they are capable of making. But the problem before us is how the Church and the State can work together harmoniously for the good of the country. There is bound to be a clash of ideals and objectives. It is only when the two parties learn to adjust themselves to the new situation and cooperate in this great enterprise that the country will get the best out of the new Education Act. There are many conflicting issues which remain to be settled before we can make any progress.

I hope I have not painted too gloomy a picture of the situation in which we are, by referring to these problems which confront us today. The problems are there whether we like them or not, and with whatever eye we look at them. May God save us from the optimism of the man who does not want to give serious thought to the problems that are before him as well as from the pessimism of the man who has no faith in God. When he was confronted with danger, Elisha did not lose heart. He was God’s prophet acting as an intermediary between God and his chosen people. It was God’s responsibility to look after his servant and to protect him against his enemies. He was sure that the host of Heaven would be there to fight against the Syrian army. But Elisha’s servant was troubled in his mind because he had not learnt to rely on the spiritual resources that were available to him. So Elisha had to pray to God to open the eyes of the servant that he might see for himself that God’s army was there ready to fight the battle for his servant.

There are two things we must keep in mind if we are not to be overwhelmed by the problems before us. First, this is God’s world. We may be bewildered by the way things are taking place in the world, but there is no bewilderment in the mind of God. He knows the end from the beginning, and we can at any time be confident that at any given moment in the world’s history there is, for those who will listen to his voice, a right way of meeting the complexities of the contemporary situation. Secondly, we need constantly to remind ourselves that no single one of us, and no single group of us, is required to carry more responsibility than we can bear. However vast and intricate the problems that confront us may be, each man has his proper work to do and no single man is required to do more than the will of God for him. God has given each one of us our share in the world’s work. If we attempt to do more than what he has given us to do we will be overwhelmed by the vastness of the problems around us and we lose our peace. We need, as St. Paul told the Thessalonians, ‘to study to be quiet and to do our own business’. In doing our part of God’s will we shall find our peace, but in attempting more than our part we shall find only anxiety and frustration. Let us spend a few moments praying that in the small sphere in which we are called upon to work, we may seek to do God’s will and thus make our contribution to the solving of the world’s problems. Let us pray that in the solving of all our problems we may come to rely upon the spiritual resources that are available to us more and more.