CHURCH JUBILEE

Evening Star, Issue 18807, 4 December 1924, Page 2

CHURCH JUBILEE

ST. MATTHEW'S CELEBRATIONS. CHORAL EVENSONG. ' The jubilee cr 1 o 1 1 rations of Bt. Matthew's Church were continued yesterday ami Inst night. .Holy Communion was celebrated at. 7 and 11 a.m., and in the evening a. choral evensong was held in 1 the church in commemoration of the actual opening of the church on 1. hursday, December 3, 1874. Archbishop Julius was the preacher for the evening, and the vicar {the Rev. W. A. Hamblett) conducted the, service, while the first and second lessons were read by Canon E. R. Novill and the Rev. A. Wihafiold respectively. The service, which was of a thanksgiving nature, opened with a hymn, which'was followed by the choir singing the anthem ‘Glorious is Thy Name, Almighty Lord.’ Archbishop Julius took as his textt" And he went and looked, and said; There is nothing” (1 Kings, xviii., 43). The preacher said that as ho thought of the man who went up to the top of Mount Carmel ho also thought of the many men in the world’s history who had gone up and seen nothing. The present season of Advent was a reminder of that. In the early days of Christianity, after the Resurrection, men looked for Christ’s return within a, few years. In his earlier writings St. Paul had said that it was useless to take up human tasks, "for the Master cometh”; but-in his later writings ho had said that certain things would come to pass before the return of Christ. Tho belief in Christ’s return had existed right through tho ages, and at different periods in history men’s hopes had risen high. Such was tho case in the days of St. Augustine, in tho tenth and thirteen centuries, and so again and again up to the present time. Yet tho days of Christ’s return drew near. People told us of the coming of the end of tho world, and they looked for His return. It was no wonder, continued the Archbishop, that with hope so long deferred another hopo should spring up in the human breast._ Such a hope was the promise of a Utopian world in which each would ho like his neighbor, and each would live in exactly tho same kind of house. There were at present problems of such complexity that we could find no answer to them. It was no wondor when our great thinkers came down and told ns that “ there is nothing; there is nothing.” Referring to tho jubilee, tho preacher said that fifty years was not a great period in tho life in some of tho churches of tho Old Land, but fifty years meant much to tho churches of tho dominion. The jubilee history showed faithful work by the clergy and parishioners throughout tho years. There was nothing very eventful in the history of the church, and it was all tho more useful because it had been uneventful. The history of St. Matthew's was very much like that of other parishes in New Zealand. Sometimes petty squabbles and little difficulties arose in the parish, but still the work went on. They had only to think of tho beautiful lives lived by devoted parishioners. If they had climbed up to tho top of the mountain and had seen nothing, they must go again and again. They should hot forget to pray; if they were to gain anything there must bo prayer. If they had hopo and faith in their hearts God’s work would not fail. It might not be in this life, hut the day would come when Christ would fulfil his promise. Bishop Richards pronounced ■ the Benediction, and tho hymn ‘The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended’ was sung as a recessional.