The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1917, Page 93

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 93

The white Lutherans displayed not a little in-
terest in the celebration of their Colored brethren,
although their celebration had been held the Sunday
previous. Many white Lutherans, representing the
clergy and laity, were in the audience. It was in-
teresting also to see a number of “Sammies” in
khaki. May they remember the blessed Reformation
when “somewhere in far-away France”!

Hundreds of copies of the Jubilee number of
the Lutheran Witness were distributed to those
present free of charge.

Beyond a doubt, the fourth centennial celebra-
tion of the Reformation will be long remembered
by the Colored Lutherans of New Orleans. God
grant that, though the echoes of festival songs will
die away, the spirit which actuated the celebration
will abide forever! A. Winey, JR.

ae —

A Letter from Louisiana.

Mansura, La., November 12, 1917.
Dear PrionEnr: —

Tt has been indeed quite a while since you last
heard from us. But our silence was not caused by
the fact that we have no reason to rejoice. Hyer~
since our new chapel was completed, we have truly
felt a new inspiration’ to work on with zeal and
zest. Our most recent causes for rejoicing we shall
now briefly mention.

We would, however, first ask you to look around
the church property. The chapel itself is a very
neat building, and our congregation makes manifest
its sincere appreciation by doing everything in its
power to make it a place of beauty. The men have
planted trees, repaired and painted the fences, built
a brick wall leading up to the church entrance;
in short, they have done all they could think of to
make the property look beautiful and inviting. The
interior of the church has been decorated, and the
floors have been carpeted by the ever-willing ladies
of our congregation.

The greatest manifestation of gratitude, how-
ever, on the part of our people is their regular
church attendance. They gladly attend the ser-
vices to hear the message of the Gospel.

Our this year’s Harvest Home and Mission Fes-
tival was in every way a great success. This has
always been a day of great rejoicing with our people,
but never before did they gather in such great num-
bers to give proof of their eagerness to worship the
Lord in His temple. Doubtless, the largest crowd

ever in attendance at any of our services was present
on this day. Our chapel had been decorated for the.
occasion with flowers and fruits of the field. Arbors
had been built to protect us from the scorching heat
of the sun, as well as to provide us with a place to
sit down and eat, for the dinner is by no means
a small part of our festival.

On the morning of the day of our Harvest Home
Festival the sun burst forth in‘all his splendor, and
gave us promise of a fine day. Long before the hour
of service a large crowd was on the grounds. What
could have been more significant for St. Paul than
that three of her own sons should be the speakers
of the day. The preachers were the Revs. C. P.
Thompson and EH. R. Berger and Student P. D.
Lehman. Immediately after the ringing of the last
bell the strains of the organ could be heard, while
the pastors present, led by the undersigned, marched
from the parsonage to the church in a body. The
choir sang an appropriate anthem. In the morning
service Rey. E. R. Berger and the undersigned
officiated at the altar, while Rey. C. P. Thompson
preached the sermon. Basing his discourse on
Ps. 116, 12, he set forth the benefits which we
have received at the hands of the Lord during the
past year, and showed his hearers in what manner
they should show their appreciation of the Lord’s
goodness.

In the afternoon service Student Lehman spoke
on Is. 55, 1—3. He set forth that the Gospel in-
vitation is for all, and urged his hearers not to
ignore this invitation for themselves, nor to neglect
extending this blessed invitation to others.

In the evening service Pastor Berger spoke on
Is. 40, 9. He also showed that it is the Christian’s
duty to spread the Gospel, upbuild the kingdom of
God, and lead men to salvation.

Every one of the three services was a decided
success. The attendance at all three services ex-
ceeded 500 persons. The collection for the day
amounted to $16.40, which is indeed a large sum
when we consider that at this time there is prac-
tically no money in circulation.

On Sunday, November 4, we celebrated the Four-
hundredth Anniversary of the Reformation in two
services. Both services were very well attended,
and thus the writer was enabled to speak to many
of the blessings of the work which Luther did.

May God continue to be in our midst with His
precious Word, and prove it to be His power unto
salvation to many believers among us!

W. J. TERVALON.