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December 10, 1927 WINNETKA TALK 15 line is asking, 'What do you want? | would cost three or four times as much | tional life? What place does it have in | heaven from God wherein dwelleth This community has very unusual power | as for this church to solve the problem. | the education of children and adults? righteousness. Count the refreshments it to get what it wants. It is not char- acteristic of the members of this parish to own heavy investments and have large capital accounts. But none the less, be- cause of income based on ability, it is characteristic of this community to get about what it wants. It wanted a new Village hall, a new fire station, a park system. It has them all. It wanted a Village plan, has it and believes it will be carried out. And wanted a larger Li- brary and is getting it. It wanted an enlarged Community House. It has it. It wanted a new Skokie school. It got it even though it had to follow extra- legal methods to raise the money, If we want mosquito abatement we shall get that too. Our people travel, join clubs, buy cars, build homes as very few people do. So far this Village has equipped itself pretty well. It is typical here to get what we want. The plumb line is asking, 'What DO you want? That is the meaning of this campaign. "Please notice, I am speaking in the plural. Though we have to give as in- dividuals, the question we must answer is a community question. It is what we want for the community. I pray we may be delivered from the folly that has cursed the life of many a church, the folly of building for some individual--a preacher of the hour, or a leading mem- ber of the hour. We must do something very different from that and much more important than that. In a community like this the time comes to a growing church when it must do something final. It builds for the generations. It builds for a long succession of preachers and leaders. Ite builds a home that may stand for two centuries or more. In the leadings of God it is such a problem that is laid upon us. The plumb line is ask- ing whether we can think in such terms. We must answer what we really want for Winnetka, for what we really want we shall get. Cites Practical Viewpoint "Of course, this brings us face to face with the unusual responsibility of this church. Business men have recently been talking to me very feelingly about that. One said, "We are building a big service station for something never be- fore attempted in America--to help keep a place like Winnetka united in its re- ligous life.' He was not clear as to when and how branch stations must be considered. But an adequate central service station seemed to him essential. He spoke of how China has recently been saying that it wants nothing of our out- worn denominationalism, the splitting of Christians who believe essentially the same thing and seek essentially the same thing into alien camps with their constant threat of misunderstanding and of war. He asked how great a calamity it would be if in such a time Winnetka, long hailed everywhere as a leader in this most vital problem of Christian unity, allowed 'itself a backward step. And he added that to make Christianity such a decisive influence in an otherwise well united community, to establish here a group of successful unrelated churches. Another business man added a few days later that, although it does not do to push the analogy between religion and business too far, there is a true com- parison between a church and an in- dustry. Both need facilities for produc- tion and, in the face of a growing mar- ket, must increase those facilities both to take care of present demand and to increase the demand. Otherwise they lose out. Neither of these men had a closed mind about the questions the May meeting wisely left open. But both saw this enterprise as a plumb line let down among us to ask us what we want. When the plumb line let down in Israel the horizon was dark with doom. Israel was threatened with a tearing asunder, a carrying away, a leading off captive, a desolation and emptiness, a falling of sons and daughters by the sword, a di- vision of the land by line. What do you want ? "What Do You Think of the Church?" "But, although included in them both, more searching than the question, 'Do you understand? and more searching than the question, "What do you want?' is the third question that this plumb line is asking us. It is the question, "What do you think of the Church of Christ? Is it more or less important than these other things that we get because we want them? Is it more or less important than Village hall or Fire station or Park sys- tem or library? Where does it come in in the Village plan and in our recrea- How does it compare with travel, clubs, cars, private homes? Is it something for mind and the gracious heart? which it is worth while keeping the open "Look at all the good in this commun- ity that the church has sired. Look at its age-long mothering of the arts, its nurturing of health, of education, of idealism. See it welcoming the last born child as a gift from God and shepherd- ing youth into the paths of Jesus. Hear it above all the greed and strife and agony of life singing the song of the new Jerusalem coming down out of brings to the weary in life's battle, its bestowals of a wealth that moth and rust cannot corrupt, its saints of yester- day and its saints of today. Remember its steady witness that we are not beasts that perish but each has a place all his own in the mind and heart of the infinite and eternal Father. Remember that Jesus loved it and gave himself for it and made it the keeper of the everlast- ing hope. What do you think of the church of Christ? 'Then said the Lord, Behold I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people." " and studied it in youth." many, many years. in Winnetka. "M usic's a great and never-failing treasure to those who've learnt The opportunity to study music is a gift that will bring happiness for We shall be glad to meet and talk with any interested in music study Mr. Meltzer will be at the Community House on Mon- days from-3 until 9 and on Saturday mornings and will be glad to help in the selection of an instrument and the details of instruction. THE MELTZER SCHOOL OF MUSIC Phone University 7615 --THEOPHILUS. is Christmas What a welcome strument will be to every member of the f: . the best of the The 572 Lincoln Ave. Its new method of reproduction plays all in a manner to bring out, clearly and truthfully, artists' performance. Let Panatrope WINNETKA BRUNSWICK SHOP Phone Winn. 2129 How are the hose connections on your radiator, better have them looked over --Anti-Freeze is too valuable to let leak out. evERREADy PRESTONE that's the new anti-freeze for radiators. filling lasts all season. One IVO-GLYCERIN and ALCOHOL Have your radiator filled now!