A MEMORIAL WINDOW.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2344, 20 October 1921, Page 2

A MEMORIAL WINDOW.

UNVEILED AT OHAU.

An impressive ceremony took place at St. John the Baptist’s Church, Ohau, during the morning service on* Sunday, 9th inst., when Qr Ifj Sprott, the Bishop of, Wellington, unveiled a memorial window presented, to the church by Mr and Mrs John Kebbell, in memory of members of their family. The window, which is situated in the eastern end of the chancel, is beautifully coloured, the central subject depicting the Ascension, flanked on either hand by the figures of St. Katherine and St. Dorothy. The lower portion of the window bears the following inscription’:— v “To the Glory of God and in loving memory of Sergt. John Randall St. John Kelibell, Sixth Wellington Mounted Rifles, died at Gallipoli, 30th May, 1915, from wounds received in action, aged 22 years; also of Katherine Mary, aged 11 years, and Dorothy Anne, aged 9 years, drowned in the Ohau River, 22nd January, 1890, children of John and Mary Grace Kebbell.”

At an appropriate time in the service, the draping consisting of the Union Jack, was removed as the Bishop engaged in prayer, in which he solemnly dedicated (lie window to the memory of those whose names it bears.

Talcing as his text the 23rd Psalm, his Lordship based his sermon on the beautiful yet simple parable of the shepherd and his (look. He said that in the days of the Psalmist the care of the flock by the shepherd was quite different to what we understand it in these days. The flesh of none of the domestic animals was eaten for food, the sheep was kept for its wool, and the cow for its milk. When flesh was required, the hunter went forth to hunt the wild animals of the forest and ravines. The shepherd was a shepherd in the true sense —he watched his flock by day, and placed it in the safety of the fold by night. The flocks were not large, but the shepherd knew each individual, and called it by name, exercising always a. tender and loving care*for his charges. And so in the spiritual sense the Great Shepherd was ever near His flock, a help and inspiration in the greatest trials and sorrows. Continuing, his Lordship said they had that morning unveiled a memorial window to the memory of three members of a family that had been closely associated with the district and church of Ohau, and one that had had a full share of life’s trials and sorrows. The death of the son occurred in the service of his country at a time when life was opening out before him; and he had in a very real sense given his life for us. In the sorrow of the bereaved there was yet comfort, for we all realised that these young lives taken from our sides had passed the Valley of (he Shadow of Death to the Great Beyond. We would not see their faces here again, yet in memory they lived on, and in spirit they were with God. They were in the keeping of the Good Shepherd, and He was leading them, as He leads us, to the fountains of living water. So when we think of those we love who had gone before, they made real to us that unseen place, and were there, still ours and still loving us. It helped to soften our losses when we knew that in the company of heaven are those we loved, whom for a tinie we had lost. — Chronicle.