Relations Lacking?

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31942, 20 March 1969, Page 2

Relations Lacking?

Fellowship no longer seemed to mean a deep relationship where people could be completely themselves, said the Rev. Margaret Reid, the first woman of the New Zealand Presbyterian Church to be ordained to the ministry, in Christchurch yesterday. "Fellowship should mean the kind of experience where people can see us as we really are,” said Miss Keid, who is secretary of the New Zealand Council of Christian Education. She was speaking on the final day of the annual interchurch school organised by the women’s committee of the Christchurch ‘branch of the National Council of Churches. Christian faith was never just one person’s relationship with God; it automatically embraced other people, said Miss Reid. “Our walk with God draws us closer to Him and to others on the walk. We come closer to other denominations because we are concerned about the same things,” she said. Many things stood in the way of communication between Christians and God these days. They included time, lack of quiet, the pressures of people and the pressures of the demands of modern life. “I am sure we do need some peace and quiet in modern life. Some people cannot read, or pray, without feeling guilty because they are not doing something active. We need the same kind of rhythm between retreat and advance, involvement and withdrawal, that Christ had,” said Miss Reid.