ST. BARNABAS CHURCH
OPENING SERVICES AT KHANDALLAH
ADDRESS BY BISHOP SPROTT.
The opening services of the new Church of St. Barnabas, Khandallah, took place yesterday.. The church, which was designed by Messrs. Clere and Williams, architects, and built by Messrs Swanson and Ashton, is of concrete, ■ and is early English in style. It is well furnished, and has a pleasing interior. At present only something more than half the building is completedl—the east end being temporary. When the church is finished, it will accommodate 450 people comfortably.
The church was opened at 10.30 a.m. fey the Right Rev. Dr. Sprott, Bishop of Wellington, assisted by Archdeacon Johnson, Archdeacon Innes-Jones, Archdeacon Russell, the Revs. A. W. -Payne, W. Fancourt, J. H. Sykes, N. S. Barnett, H. A. Walke, J. E. Jones, A. T. B. Page, E. J. Rich, Burgin, and the vicar of the parish (Rev. W. J. Hands). The church was filled by a large con. gregation, which joined heartily in the service of dedication. :
Bishop Sprott, in- his address, congratulated the parishioners on the erection of a new and permanent church. The building, he said, was an example of what could be done by faith, courage, and devotion. He went on to speak of the strength and inspiration which came from membership in the universal' Church of God, and sadd that such an occasion as the opening of a new church reminded us of the work 'which church people were called upon to do for mankind in general. The opening services were continued last evening, when the Bishop again preached, taking as his text Ephesians' v., 15; "Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as . -unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil." He said that on an occasion such as that, -when they were dedicating and thanking God ■ for the erection of a new church in the parish, it was a fitting time to ask themselves why they built churches. What did the Church exist in the world for? It was not a useless question to ask, "because it was a common danger in our institutions—especially of all old institutions— in course of time to forget, the objects for which they existed, and to become, content just to keep themselves in existence. ' The Christian Church even -was not exempt from that danger. There had been oftentimes in ite history occasions when it seemed content simply to keep- itself in existence. There were several answers that could oe given, out •perhaps the words, of St. Paul were the most important- answer for them to l>eajr in mind. The daily newspapers had familiarised them with the phrase "the moral' slide" or "the moral landslide." It was apparently going on all the world over just now. He had just come back from the General Synod at Auckland. One day a deputation came to them of the Young Citizens' League, headed by Mr. Cutten, senior Magistrate at Auckland, who was the speaker, and who gave them an account of his experience; and sad it was to hear it. Mr. Cutten's statements had since been questioned by letters hi the newspapers. He was not in a position to say whether.Mr. Cutten had exaggerated or not, but he knew that' it was futile'to think that statistics could tell them the moral condition of the country. Only certain classes of cases could be brought up by the rather oumbrous_ machinery of the Police Court and Magistrate." Some of the worst ■evils that plagued mankind never came under the cognisance of the Police Court. It
was only a certain kind of wrong that could be dealt with by that machinery. It _ was no part of his business to make tilings look darker than they were, or to try to make out that the conditions were worse than they really were, be'Cauae the daily papers showed that therewas a moral landslide going on all the world over. It was the duty of the Christian Church to try and rescue the world from the existing evils he had referred to. The laws of morality differed from the laws of nature, i« this way: the laws. of nature, or what we called natural laws, were simply descriptions of how things in this universe were observad to act; but our moral law did not desoribe.how people acted; it described how they ought to act. The speaker concluded by setting forth in impressive terms the duty of the Church and of m-embers of the Church in all the spheres of life. The Eev. N. S. Barnett, and the vicar (Rev. W. J. Hands) assisted at the evening service. There was a large attendance. Both services were marked with great heartiness—a particularly strong choir led the singing.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 138, 14 June 1922, Page 10
Word Count
789ST. BARNABAS CHURCH Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 138, 14 June 1922, Page 10
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