“Prayer Achieves More Than Gossip”

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29860, 28 June 1962, Page 2

“Prayer Achieves More Than Gossip”

“Prayer achieves more in preventing the break-up of a home than gossip, or even wise counselling,’’ the Dean of Christchurch (the Very Rev. \V. A, Pyatt) told delegates to the annual meeting of the Christchurch Diocese Mothers’ Union yesterday.

“Don't underestimate the power of prayer,” the Dean said. “This way you will fulfil your vocation as handmaids of the church, without trying to take the parish over or interfere in its affairs.” Using the New Testament story of Mary and Martha as a simile. Dean Pyatt likened Martha to a “committee woman, rushing round with an air of self-righteous-ness, self-confidence, and selfimportance.” Such women were inclined to use their organisation to fulfil their own ego. and forget what the organisation was really there for. Efficiency and spirituality could go side by side, making a person kinder and more understanding. It would be beneficial to spend more time

on prayer and fellowship at a meeting and less on business, he said. While he advocated that members uphold the sanctity of marriage. Dean Pyatt challenged them to be uncritcal of those whose morals and private lives were less fortunate, to help restore them to pride in themselves and uplift them into a new confidence. Where an unmarried mother, for example, was concerned, sniggering gossip and unciuousness were uncalled for, Dean Pyatt said. Deep compassion and a desire to help were required. Persons who had been unable to maintain the high standards of marriage sanctity should not be judged on their past, but rather on their present needs. Such a woman seeking the help of the church should be given its fullest pastoral care. "Otherwise we are denying the principles of absolution and penitence and making nonsense of the New Testament,” Dean Pyatt said.