Training for Christian Citizenship 2/7/43

Read Psalm 1

Christian Education week, and Boy Scout week.

Ten days ago, Dr. Leavitt addressed our Men’s Club (Pilgrim Church) on “Abraham Lincoln,” whose birthday anniversary was celebrated yesterday.

Said A.L. was America’s most representative citizen. L. came from among the common people, yes even from extreme poverty. But he gradually worked out those traits of character which should belong to every American citizen.

Of what does training for Christian citizenship consist?

I. Preparation

A. Rearing in a good home.

One of Lincoln’s assets; tribute to his mother

Fred B. Smith - “I am grateful for parents who believed

certain definite things.”

Intelligent firmness is a good trait of parents.

Glenn R. Phillips - “I know certain parents who, in the name of liberality, are definitely fixing the future moral collapse of their children.”

(Parents who wouldn’t send boy to Church School - “Let his choose for himself.” Result - he has had little if anything to choose from!)

Value of Christian home with parents who are Christian livers and who go to church and expect their children to go to church.

B. Health. Strong Bodies.

Intelligent eating

Reasonable exercise

Plenty of sleep

Prevention of illness

Lincoln had a homely but strong and healthy body.

The two Roosevelts have fought their way stubbornly through weakness to health in order to be prepared for their responsible citizenship.

C. Habits; good habits of:

1) Play - as re-creation; some “amusement” but never to take the place of constructive, active play.

2) Work. Regular hours and regular habits. (Trouble in allowing interruptions) “breathers” - recesses.

3) Study.

not recitation, but digging out information and

ideas for yourself.

Study is a difficult art and is usually acquired only under the guidance of teachers. But it must be mastered if you are ever to be able to think independently.

Leadership is reserved for those who learn by

their own study.

4) Good reading.

For information.

For inspiration.

For recreation.

The man who collapsed and fled - cheap

French novels

The blind shoemaker who could recite

Shakespeare

(I. Preparation - Home, Health, Habits)

II. Practice - while preparing.

A. Newspaper picture - Scout as Mayor.

B. Sea Scout not only studies the manual, but drills and

takes a boat to sea.

C. Boys and girls prepare for business, for the professions,

for running a home, while in school, but get practice

when they run their own school activities.

D. C.E. not only talks about Christian viewpoints, but

practices in organization and in service.

III. Viewpoint most important.

Here is where your religion comes in:

Gives you your perspective - your outlook on life.

(as you get a view of Islands from the top of Haleakala which can not be had otherwise.)

(Quote Coolidge)

Your training for Christian citizenship in our country, and your continuance as a good citizen, depend among other things upon intelligent and careful preparation, upon your practice (rolling up your sleeves and going to it), and upon your Christian viewpoint.

And after all, it was Lincoln’s stubborn, and unselfish and absolutely honest devotion to what he thought was right and his reliance on God to help in doing what he couldn’t get done by all his best efforts, that made Lincoln our country’s leading citizen.

( end 1938 version). [Begin 1943 version]

Yesterday morning, the Boy Scouts of our district took a hand at running our city government. That did not mean that the regular officials had a vacation for the day. It may have been a busier day than usual for them, because the boys, eager to learn the duties of the various offices and commissions, were out to learn how the job should be done right - and they were full of questions which they wanted answered before the Council meeting. Some of us were present in the Council chamber and many of us heard the radio re-broadcast of the council proceedings last night.

This excellent civic feature of Boy Scout week is observed in many of our cities all the way across the continent, and all the way out to Hawaii. It is an excellent training of the boys of the nation in practical citizenship and civic responsibility. The officials of our local government do a worth-while piece of work on behalf of tomorrow’s government whenever they cooperate in such an enterprise.

This is Boy Scout week for all Boy Scouts and Scouters of our land. Today, on Scout Sunday, Scouts and Cubs are everywhere attending the services of their churches in uniform. That is one way of acknowledging their duty to God and their obedience to the twelfth Scout law: “A Scout is reverent.”

And, though Girl Scout week falls officially in the autumn, the Girl Scouts and Brownies of our church have been invited to join in this special church attendance of Scouts.

The principles of Girl Scouting are suited to the girls of our nation, just as the Boy Scout principles were designed for boys. The ten Girl Scout laws parallel closely ten of the Boy Scout laws. The Brownie movement takes care of the younger sisters, just as the Cub program takes care of the younger brothers.

Our church makes its sponsorship of Scouting a part of its program. This is not “just a bit of community service” on the part of the church. It is a definite function of the church in its program of care and training for youth. Churches and synagogues are preferred, by the Scout movement, as sponsors of troops. They are year-round, permanent institutions and they give the religious character to Scouting that is a part of its intention and that can not be given adequately by any other institution.

Scouting, under the sponsorship of Christian churches, and led by Christian church members, is definite training in Christian citizenship. There never was a day when the Christian quality of citizenship was more evident and more necessary than today. That quality is the only element that can assure the success of any democracy. For democracy lives or falls on the determination of citizens to live for each other, and to sacrifice wherever necessary for the common good.

The late ex-president Calvin Coolidge once spoke of the importance of religion to government in these words:

“The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country. There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of law for the virtue of man. Of course, we can help to restrain the vicious and furnish a fair degree of security and protection by legislation and police control, but the real reforms which society in these days is seeking, will come as a result of our religious convictions, or they will not come at all.

We cannot depend on the Government to do the work of religion. We cannot escape all personal responsibility for our own conduct. We cannot regard those as wise or safe counselors in public affairs who deny those principles and seek to support the theory that society can succeed where the individual fails.”

In a democracy, every citizen is a part of government. This makes Christian emphasis important to every citizen and future citizen.

Let us all, as Scouts, Scouters, and members of a sponsoring congregation, consider again this morning the laws of the Scout.

to p. 5 of “Laws of Abundant Living.”

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dates and places delivered:

Pilgrim Church, Honolulu, February 13, 1938 PM

Wisconsin Rapids, February 7, 1943