DAY OF PRAYER

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 236, 3 September 1943, Page 2

DAY OF PRAYER

OBSERVANCE IN CITY

The national day of prayer, held at the request of His Majesty the King, was observed in Palmerston North to-day with a civic service in the Opera House as well as special services in a number of the. churches.

Rev. H. L. Ficbig (president of the Ministers'. Association) presided at the Opera House, and also on the stage were representatives of the association, the Mayor and Mayoress (Mr and Mrs Mansford), representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, Kairanga County Council and Inspector H. Scott. Mr Piebig explained that the day was being marked as one of solemn thanksgiving and remembrance, and they had assembled to join in an act of divine worship. Rev. C. Eaton recited prayers of thanksgiving and confession, and the Mayor read a passage from Psalm 124. An address was given by Rev. G. T. Hereus, who said that a jigsaw puzzle had only one solution ; it must be put together to form the picture the maker had in mind. What was true of a jigsaw puzzle was true of the world to-day. God made it and made it to His own wise plan, and that plan could not be worked out in any other way. Men had-tried to do it differently but had not succeeded, and the result was the appalling tangle we were in to-day. It was God's world and could bo rebuilt only according to .His plan. God's plan was very simple and He had made it plain. Corrupt men would endeavour to get enough power into their own hands to control the world, but they were doomed to failure. The severity of the present scourge was an indication of how far we had drifted from God. The King's call to prayer was a recognition of this. The fight on sea and land and in the air could not be won until we had won the fight in our own hearts. A new kind of moral lethargy had taken hold of the public mind. There was only one thing that would prevent the collapse of civilisation and that was religion, he concluded. Prayers of intercession and dedication by Rev C. B. Boggis were followed by the "Recessional," Benediction bv Mr Piebig, and a verse of the National Anthem. There was a very good attendance, and a pleasing feature to the clergy was the number of young people present.