SPECIAL SERVICES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 64, 13 September 1943, Page 4

SPECIAL SERVICES

THANKSGIVING FOR VICTORY

Special thanksgiving services were* held in many of the churches yesterday, thanks being rendered to Almighty God for the outstanding success achieved by the Allied Nations . during the last week. In accordance • with the request Of the Bishop of Wellington, services in Anglican churches embodied special psalms, lessons, and prayers, and, at the conI elusion of the Evensong, the singing of the Te Deum. ' . At St. John's Presbyterian Church, Willis Street, the Rev. Gladstone,. Hughes, in his morning address, stress-< f ed that in the fight for the liberty of mankind the United Nations had become the instruments of God s pur--1 pose. Therefore it. was possible to isay with one voice: "Thanks be unto God Who-giveth us the victory." The evening service at St John's included, the Te Deum, Blake's "Jerusalem, '^and Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance,' the. last-named as a closing voluntary. t Commissioner J. Evan-Smith conducted a special series of Salvation i Army meetings in the Wellington South Hall, Constable Street, on Saturday and yesterday. A note of grateful thanks to God for victory over Italy ran throughout the meetings and th^ Commissioner made appeals to men and women to enlist in the service of Christ to fight against prevalent evils Of the day. There was a special service at tne Wellington Synagogue on Saturdaymorning, attended by a very large congregation. Rabbi Katz offered a special prayer for a speedy end to the war which would bring liberation ior mankind and security and peace for the Jewish people. In his address, the Rabbi said that the transition from the apparently hopeless situation of the earlier days of the war to the present outlook brought hope of a speedy victory. The Greek community in Wellington celebrated the victory over Italy with marked enthusiasm. The Greek. flag was run up on a flagpole on the site of the prospective new Greek Church in Lloyd Street, and special thanksgiving services were held in the temporary church. ; .^.. _