CHURCH PARADE

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21199, 25 June 1934, Page 10

CHURCH PARADE

ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION SERMON BY REV. ALAN C. WATSON A total of 275 members of the Canterbury centre of the St. John • Ambulance Association and Bri- ' gade attended a church parade at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church ■ yesterday morning. The parade : was commanded by the Assistant '■ Commissioner (Dr. F. J. Borrie), while the president of the centre, Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, was also present. The sermon at St. Paul's was preached by the Rev. Alan C. Watson. About 40 members of the organisation, under Mr F. J. Ashworth, also attended a parade at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, The parade at St. Paul's, consisting of 16 members of the association, nine members of the district staff, and 250 other ranks, assembled at the association rooms in Peterborough street and marched to St. Paul's preceded by the Woolston Band. Included in the parade were members of the Christchurch, Selwyn, and Beckenham Nursing Divisions, the Girl Guides' Nursing Division, the Christchurch, Christchurch Railway, No. 3, New Brighton, and Kaiapoi Ambulance Divisions, the Linwood Rover Scouts' Ambulance Division, and about 100 cadets from the nursing and ambulance divisions. During the service the lessons were read by Sir Heaton Rhodes and Mr A. Williams, a member of the general committee. i Welcomed to the Church Mr Watson welcomed the representatives of the association and congratulated them on their'strength of numbers. "The work that you do." he said, "does not normally bring you in large numbers before the eyes of the public, but it must fill us all with gratitude to know that there are so many in our midst prepared to give their time and labour to the service of the sick. "There is no greater problem in life than the problem of suffering and pain, especially when there seems to be no reason at all why suffering should occur," said Mr Watson in his sermon. "Every great religion ,in the world has ,been faced with this problem and nearly every idigion has given its own explanation." The orthodox Jew, for example, believed that all suffering was caused by sin, either by the sin of the sufferer or the sin of his parents. "There is only one great religion in the world that does not have an explanation of suffering," said Mr Watson. "That is the Christian religion. But we have an answer to the problem, an answer to suffering. The answer is that when a Christian is faced with the problem of suffering there is always something he can do to alleviate it, to cheer and to help the sufferer. Though Christianity has no explanation it has the answer of service. It is good for us all to-day that we have among us such an organisation as the St. John Ambulance to witness to the spirit of service which exists in the Christian faith." Foundations of Religion Every great religion in the world, said Mr Watson, had started when one man had seen the suffering of the people and had wanted to do something about it. Buddhism and Judaism had begun in this way. The same thing was true of all the great organisations of civilisation, and it was surely true of the St. John Ambulance Association. Many centuries ago Christian Europe had united against a common enemy, Islam, and in the struggle there | had sprung up a new order of ! knighthood, that most famous order of chivalry in the world, the Order of St. John. It was not a fighting order, but a healing order, and was the oldest order of chivalry in Europe. In 1877 it had been revived and to-day the members of the St. John Ambulance Association were the true lineal descendants of the Order of St. John. History, of course, had its lessons, Mr Watson remarked. One of the reasons why the Order of St. John had declined was that it became too wealthy, too powerful and too proud. "I suppose there is very little chance of the St. John Ambulance. Association becoming too wealthy," said Mr Watson, "and I see very little sign of its being too proud. Still, it is always well to remember the lessons of history." Spirit of its Founders However, the association to-day preserved the spirit of the founders of the order, the spirit of knighthood and chivalry. Its members wore on their uniforms the eight-pointed cross of the order to remind them of the eight Christian virtues and to prove the connexion between service and religion. "There is only one foundation for all the works of service and charity which are performed daily in our country," concluded Mr Watson. "It is the Christian faith. If the Christian faith were deserted all these charities and services would surely_ die, because our religious faith is the true driving force behind them. If we want "a strong association, a strong church, and a strong belief in service, only one foundation, the Christian religion, will stand against the shocks of time."