The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 124

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124

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

car with the white folks.” We had gone but a mile
when I noticed that my companion had fallen fast
asleep.

Reaching Selma, I aroused the sleeper and sent
him to the snorting and battered Ford across the
street, where the two men and women were waiting
for him. They drove off. The preacher, no doubt,
will continue to preach—a blind leader of the
blind.

What a travesty! Throughout the Black Belt
there are hundreds of such “preachers,” who preach
and teach they know not what. Poor sinful men,
women, and children come to church seeking the
way that leads to life. They want to escape the
wages of sin—hell. They want to be saved. Sick
with the cares and burdens of this life, they long
and groan for a better life in yonder world. But
living in darkness, there is no one to show them the
way. How forcibly this pitiful condition of the
people was brought home to our mind again that
night on the lonely Alabama road! As impossible
as it was for the preacher, in that lightless Ford, to
direct his companions through the inky darkness of
the night to the city of Selma, just so impossible is
it for him to direct souls from the darkness of
superstition and sin to the light of the eternal Jeru-
salem. In darkness themselves, the great majority
of these “ministers” are unable to give to others the
light they themselves need so badly.

By the grace of God the Lutheran Church has
sent men into the darkness and gloom of the Black
Belt with the shining light of God’s precious Gospel.
At thirty different places this glorious.light shines,
leading souls to the foot of the cross — to Jesus, the
Light of the world. To Him we lift our hearts
and pray: —

O Christ, our true and only Light,
Enlighten those who sit in night;

Let those afar now hear Thy voice

And in Thy fold with us rejoice.

So they with us may evermore

Such grace with wondering thanks Saores
And endless praise to Thee be given
By all Thy Church in earth and heaven.

Selma, Ala. G. A. Scuminr.

Items from the Southeastern Field.

On Sunday, June 10, Candidate C. J. Mallory
was ordained at Kannapolis, N. C., in the presence
of the congregation by the undersigned. Rev. J. E.
Shufelt preached the sermon, basing his discourse

on 2 Tim. 4,1—5. Rey. C. J. Mallory is a graduate

of Immanuel Lutheran College, having completed
his studies there in May. May the Lord bless his
labors and make him a power for good!

On May 28 another of our laborers was called
from labor to reward— Mrs. Mary Kay. She was
the faithful and efficient teacher of our St. Paul’s
Lutheran School at Charlotte, N.C. For the past
quarter century she was a zealous member of this
congregation and served faithfully during these
years as a teacher in the Sunday-school. She was
confined to her bed since January, and during this
long illness she was a patient sufferer. Often she
would give expression to the lively hope she enter-
tained, which could be well summed up in the
words: “For me to live is Christ and to die is
gain.” She was buried May 30. The Rev. F. J.
Vorice preached the funeral sermon, basing it on
Phil. 1, 21.

It was touching to see the little pupils of the
deceased gathered in groups at the home, shedding
tears of grief as they mourned the loss of their be-
loved teacher. One little girl turned from viewing
the corpse to say, “I wanted to wear a black dress,
but I did not have one. Do you think this is all
right?” She was assured that her dress was all right.

At the church these little ones were forgotten by
the undertaker, as he tried to find seats for the older
people. But the children had got there first and
thus very well cared for themselves. When the
casket was opened for the last time, these little_ones
filed up, each bearing a bouquet of flowers as a last
token of love and esteem. Some of these children
were so small they had to be lifted in order to see
the face of her whom they had loved and now lost.

As I looked on, I wondered why the older people
do not thus honor, love, and esteem the faithful
servants who bring to them the Word of Life.

* * *

“What is wrong with the Lutheran Church?”
This was the question that for(five years bothered
one of my members. She tells me that when she
was married years ago, she simply came to the
Lutheran Church because her husband belonged
there. And for the life of her she could not get
anything out of the sermon, the songs, or the
teaching. Hence she would often ask herself, “What
is.wrong with the Lutheran Church ?”

After attending the church for about five years,
she said to herself, “Possibly the fault is with me.
Maybe I should ask, ‘What is wrong with me?”
So she changed her question and thus made it per-
sonal and found everything wrong with herself. She