October 1941
October 1941 Parish magazine
SALE OF WORK
This annual effort arranged by our Ladies’ Guild, will be held in the Parish Hall on Wednesday, 29th October, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. All the usual stalls will be there laden with useful and beautiful articles. The Guild and stallholders have worked hard. All that is needed now is the wholehearted support of all parishioners. Jams, cakes, produce of all kinds, sweets, flowers, books, toys, goods for overseas parcels, plain and fancy sewing work of all descriptions will be on sale. Afternoon tea will be served. With the help of everyone, the sale of work will be record success.
LAY READERS’ FESTIVAL
This great annual event is to be held in St Matthew’s Church on Wednesday, 22nd October, at 7.30 p.m. All the clergy and lay readers of the Wairarapa will be there, robed for the service. The service will be conducted by the Lay Readers and the address will be given by one of the clergy. Last year’s service was indeed inspiring, and all who can are asked to be present this year.
VALEDICTORY
Recently our choir gathered in the Common Room to farewell Mrs Burton, a faithful member, who, with her family, has left for Napier. Mr and Mrs Burton, together with Marjorie and Eric, have given a fine example of Christian service during the years they have been in this parish, and we shall miss their faithful and cheerful co-operation. On behalf of the Choir, the Archdeacon made a presentation to Mrs Burton. Mr J. Ninnes spoke on behalf of the Vestry and Mrs Burton, in reply, thanked the Choir and spoke of the happiness which had come to them through St Matthew’s.
PARISH NOTES
The special call for help on behalf of imperilled missions met with a great response. The total received through this parish was £83 11s 11d.
In spite of bad weather conditions, parishioners responded splendidly to the King’s call to the Day of Prayer. There were fine congregations everywhere, but special mention should be made of the great gathering at Bideford, where almost the whole district was represented.
There were many Communicants on our Patronal Festival and a large congregation in the evening, when the Choir rendered a very beautiful and appropriate musical service.
The memorial pews which are to be placed in St. Matthew’s Church in memory of Ted Denbee and Ivan McWhinnie will be dedicated by the Bishop on Sunday, 14th December.
SUNDAY SCHOOL CONCERT
This was an outstanding success. Held on Wednesday, 25th September, every seat in the Parish Hall was occupied. The programme presented was well balanced and a very high standard was attained. The various items followed quickly and the audience was most appreciative. Altogether the concert must rank as one of the best ever given by our Sunday School, and the children and those who trained them are to be congratulated on a splendid concert.
CHURCH AND PEOPLE
The Church is a great world-wide institution. It alone can be a world unifying force. We want to know what is happening in the greater Church beyond our own parish. First of all we want to know about the diocese of which we are a part. Then we want to know what our Bishop plans for us, what help and guidance he can give. Then we want to know about great world Christian movements. It is to meet just these needs that the Diocesan paper is published. The Church Chronicle is being placed on a new basis and the all has come to every parish to help make it a success. New features are being added and we want every parish family to take it. There are eleven issues each year and the cost is 2s 6d per annum. Mr R. W. Brooks, 18 McKenna St., is the secretary, and he will be glad to add your name to the list of subscribers.
C.E.M.S.
At the September meeting, Mr F. Thornton opened the study by reading the Archbishop’s address on “The Christian Man and the State.” An excellent discussion followed. On September 18th a good number of our members went to Carterton for a combined meeting there. The Rev. W. F. Stent opened the discussion on “A New World Order,” and the discussion reached a high level. The next meeting of our branch will be held on Monday, 6th October, at 7.45 p.m., in the Parish Hall. Mr K. Jaine will read Mr Gilligan’s paper on “The Christian Man and Education.” This is a subject in which many of our members are very interested, so we can look forward to a very good meeting.
THE STAFF
The Rev. V. W. Joblin has been given leave of absence and is now at Mangaweka, and later goes to Raetihi. There is a possibility of temporary help coming shortly, and in February next year the Rev. I. C. Edwards will join the staff of the parish. That is good news and in the meanwhile we must all help to keep the work progressing. Mr S. Taylor and his assistants are doing splendid work with the main Sunday School, Miss Kemp and her helpers are doing the same at Kuripuni, and Miss Percy at Upper Plain. The Lay Readers respond to every call and Mr G. Hyde is having many calls made on him. Indeed, there is a fine spirit of willing service in the parish, but much vital work is not being done, and it will be a happy day when we have our staff at full strength once more.
CONFIRMATION SERVICE
This was, indeed, an inspiring occasion. The Church was packed with a reverent congregation and there was a fine spirit of devotion and dedication manifest in the service. Seventy-two candidates were confirmed and the Bishop’s splendid message and challenge will long be remembered. The newly confirmed, members will be making their first Communion in St Matthew’s at 8 a.m. on Sunday, October 5. All Communicants are asked to join with them in that service and at the Fellowship Breakfast afterwards in the Parish Hall.
MISSIONS
Bishopscourt, Sept. 15, 1941
My Dear People,
You all have heard that as a result of the great spirit of giving manifested in your own and nearly all the parishes of the province last year, a record sum was contributed for the missionary work of our church. In the Wellington Diocese, for instance, we had been asked to give £3985 and instead we gave £4805. I want you to stop for a moment and think how our missionaries in the field will be thanking God for this wonderful answer to their prayer that they might be spared the agony of being given the order to retreat.
So much for last year. What about this year? The Board of Missions very wisely, I think, refused to change the quota for the diocese and so the minimum for which they ask is still the old quota with the addition 15%. But at the same time the Board hopes that if you are animated by the same spirit as you were last year it will be able to increase its grants to its missionary agencies by sums roughly commensurate with the increased cost of everything in the mission field. It asks and trusts that the response of the Church will be such that Melanesia will receive £8,000 instead of £7,500, the New Zealand Church Missionary Society £6,000 instead of £5,200 and the other missions in similar proportions. The Board makes no demands; it leaves the issue to the free vote of the Church.
By this decision the Board gives us the opportunity of experiencing again the joy of doing the extra bit, going the second mile as well as the first, which is the true champagne of life. I want you to know this at the beginning of your year’s effort so that you can make your plans accordingly and with God’s help maintain the fine standard of last year.
Your friend and Bishop,
HERBERT WELLINGTON[1].
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain:
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his Name in vain.
It is a poor country which has no national shrine, no sacred places, which mean much to its people. Places become sacred by reason of actions done there, or words uttered there, and to ignore such places, to fail to be stirred by the memories and ideals symbolised by them, is to reveal a mind insensitive to truest greatness.
For those sacred places represent the spirit of a people. Our Cenotaph, for example, speaks of the spirit of Anzac, and God is a Spirit, so that, in the last resort, the spirit which makes a place sacred comes from God, just as we feel instinctively that true courage and noble service are manifestations of that Spirit.
Everything which reveals God, or speaks of Him, is sacred. The “Name of God” is all that has been made known of Him--all that He is--just as our name stands for what we are, recalling to all who hear it the bodily, mental and spiritual characteristics which makes us what we are.
We do not speak lightly of things which mean a lot to us. If we know a man who is really great we will be careful to uphold his honour. If God is really first with us we shall show that it is so by our reverence.
All irreverence, profanity, blasphemy, swearing and cursing are forbidden by this Commandment. Often the careless use of holy words is just the result of bad and careless habits. That does not excuse it, of course. Rather does it show the poverty of some minds. In moments of stress some irreverence in words slips out. Some people can hardly express anything at all without mixing up swear words. They do not mean the words literally--sometimes, in fact, they do not even know the meaning of the words they use. These minds are so empty of great expressions that they cannot reveal their feelings without swearing. What a silly habit it is, revealing an empty or a little mind.
The tongue is a little thing, says St. James, but if we can control it we have gone a long way towards being master of ourselves. A false oath, perjury as we call it, is punishable by law, but for a Christian that need not concern us very greatly for a Christian’s word should always be trustworthy.
Irreverence is best cured by being reverent--forming the habit of reverence so as to overcome the habit of irreverence. Reverence in Church, reverence in our handling of the Bible, reverence to God’s Name, all help to form the habit of reverence to the Reality represented by the Church, by the Bible and by God’s Name.
So, too, the human body, human life, is sacred. It is the home of the Spirit. That is what the Bible means when it says that we are made in the image of God. It is not surprising that many who most abuse their bodies are most irreverent.
So this Third Commandment teaches us that we must show that God really comes first by our reverence. To be reverent in word, in action, in worship, forms the habit of reverence which will leave no room for irreverence to enter.
KURIPUNI NOTES
A happy and successful social function, with a delightful programme, wa held by the Guild in the Epiphany Hall during the school holidays.
The Guild and Knitting Circle have met regularly each fortnight during the winter months and have done patriotic work in addition to preparing for the Guild’s annual effort.
MAGAZINE DONATIONS
Mrs Billington, £1; Mr Brooks, 4/6; Mesdames Whiteman, Betteridge, Alderson, Loft, Latimer, Allen, 2/6 each. Church Chronicle paid to December: Mesdames Dohnt, Chapman, King, Messrs Tregurtha, Marsh, Hyde, Brooks, Miss J. Sellar, 2/6; Mrs A. O. Jones, 2/6; Mr Winhall 5/-; Miss Wyber 3/-.
[1] The Rt. Rev. Herbert St Barbe Holland.
[2] The third in a series of sermons on the first four Commandments, given by the Vicar, Archdeacon E. J. Rich.
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