60TH. ANNIVERSARY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 50, Issue 3056, 31 March 1941, Page 5

60TH. ANNIVERSARY

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

SERVICES IN PAEROA

COMMEMORATION OF EVENT

The commencement of the Presbyterian cause in Paeroa, was marked by the Presbytery of Auckland in February 1881, when the appointment of Mr Thomas A. Norrie as a student missionary to the South Auckland districts of Paeroa, Waihi, Te Aroha, Matamata and Morrinsville, was confirmed. Organising church services wherever he could gather some Presbyterians together for the worship of God, Mr Norrie made his headquarters in Paeroa. Mrs Norrie ably assisted him in youth work and organisation and they led the congregation in building a church' in Bradley street, which was opened in the year 1896. On Sunday, the Right Rev. G. H. Jupp, of Otago, Moderator of assembly, 1941, conducted. 60th. anniversary services in Paeroa in commemoration of this event, both services being well attended.

In the morning Rev. Jupp based his address on the text, “Awake, Awake, put on thy strength, O Zion,” and in a forceful and exhilarating manner, exhorted the people to give themselves to the work in preparedness for the coming of the Kingdom. Prayer alone, without work, he said, was getting very near to blasphemy.

Speaking at the evening service, Rev. Jupp said that to the youths and maidens, sixty years seemed so long, but to the older folk they were “as a day.” It was the object of our fore-

fathers to prepare for use, their children, and now we must exert every effort, if the world is to be made safe for those who will follow. » “Ye are a chosen generation, a purchased people, declare His wondrous deeds, you whom He has called out of the darkness.” This is our bounden duty, an honour, and a privilege, he said.

We deplore, he continued, the chaos of to-day, which is not through the actions _ of. one man, but due to the whole world’s forgetting of God. Thus, the opportunity arose for one man and his associates to plunge the nations into such turmoil. “Difficult times lie ahead, but it was no light thing for our ancestors to sail across the seas in tiny ships and uninviting ’ circumstances; by no means easy to journey to a new country of which they knew so little, breaking family ties and bonds of friendship. Facing our problems today, means weal or woe for the youth of to-morrow. It will be their joy or dread. We must prepare ourselves to set things right for the future, lay the foundation stone that our children may build to the glory of God, and the uplifting of His people,” he concluded.

Special hymns were chosen for each service.