FOUNDATION STONE LAID

Taranaki Daily News, 5 December 1933, Page 5

FOUNDATION STONE LAID

WESTOWN ANGLICAN CHURCH RESIDENTS MAKE STEP FORWARD. ADDRESS BY BISHOP OF WAIKATO. POSSIBILITY OF A NEW PARISH. A step forward was made by the Anglican residents of Westown yesterday afternoon, when the foundation stone of the church that is to be constructed by the hall was laid by the Rt. Rev. C. A. Cherrington, Bishop of Waikato. With North Taranaki clergy of the church over 100 people, including clergy of other denominations, gathered about the foundations of the church being sunk in a grassy paddock. Archdeacon G. H. Gavin, vicar of the parish of St. Mary’s, within which the new church is situated, assisted with the service. “I will remind you before I go any farther what a. church is,” said the bishop in opening his address. “Some people have amazing ideas about the meaning and reason of a church. Some think it is a preaching house for the glorification of a man where they can hear his eloquence and opinions, and some think it is a place where they can get rid tain people when, for instance, un-Chris-' tian parents send their children to -be taught, but never think of going themselves. “If there is any name for a church which may be taken from the Bible the only one that we can get is that it is a house of God. If we put that first we can quickly arrive at the reasons for having a church. If there is anything cheap about putting up a house of God it would be better to do without it. If you like, to live in a stable or a whare, then make that do for a church, but if you like to have a house with good surroundings that is worthy of adornment it is easy to carry over that idea to the house of God." ERECTION OF GOD’S HOUSE. i Referring to the pains taken by the early church builders, to whom nothing was too much trouble and nothing too rich for the adornment of their churches, the bishop said the manner of building a church showed the worthiness of the idea people had of the God to whom they were erecting a house. It was infinitely necessary to have a lofty idea of the Almighty Father in order to rise to a height at which one could be called one of His sons. “A house of God stands for three things,” continued the bishop. “In the first, place, for it to be of any use - it must stand as a witness, as some outward evidence that there is in use a -real belief in God. That is the reason in many churches for the erection of a lofty tower or a delicate spire, that it may impress all who are present that here they have no continuing city but that they hope to have one. “The burden of the last Lambeth Conference was that whit the Christian needs to do more than anything else at this time is to bear definite, open and certain witness. By building this church in this age and at this time we declare that we are bearing palpable and open witness to the truth in which, we believe and the faith which we confess. In however wonderful ways the world is evolving there is still need for a definite witness in the truth of Almighty God and the fact of our redemption by Christ.”

NECESSITY FOR WORSHIP. In the second place, the bishop continued, a church was for worship. To many' that fact needed emphasising again and again. “We cannot worship with nothing in our hands. Both heathen, and pagan will tell us that. One knows that a good deal is done by them in ignorance, but there is still in the minds of those people the 'right idea of the deity. They conceive their deity adequately represented for their needs by some image or shrine in a temple where they believe their deity resides. When they go to worship they do not go emptyhanded, but they present their greatest treasures to the image.' In doing so they bow their heads to the ground and addre their god. That is worship. It is possible the pagan has a very faint idea ,of the nature of his deity or his particular requirements, but there is no doubt of the genuineness of his worship. ; t “From that we can learn a lesson. We come to worship, but unless we have something in our hands our worship is of ho avaiL There is no offering we can make except Jesus Christ the Lord,” the bishop continued, in exhorting his listeners, in and through the ■ all-atoning and all-sufficient sacrifice,. to approach with reverent humility and an utter sense of unworthfness. Many could go farther than that, for what they did in prayer they were privileged to do in act when they came together for the Lord’s Supper. The essence of worship, the bishop summed up, was prayer in Christ’s name and the receiving of the last sacrament. . . ’

FELLOWSHIP CARDINAL ASPECT. “A house of God should be for fellowship,” said the bishop in making his third point. “That is the reason a church is needed in this particular locality because of the fact that the people have no other church where they can cement their fellowship one to another, which is the cardinal aspect of religion. We are supremely ignorant of the fellowship of God because we have not „used the church for the right purpose.” - In building the church the people of the district were continuing the work that has gone on through the agency of the Christian Church for hundreds of years, commencing with St. Paul. May God grant that what, you have begun this afternoon be crowned with success, that the building in a short time will be well and truly built and that the time will not be long before we gather together in a consecrated : house, the / bishop added. . Reference to the staffing of the church was made by the bishop, who said he believed it would soon be possible when the church was built for a minister to be appointed to look after it and the people round it. Experience had shown that that was the best way. In the diocese were two important towns, New Plymouth and Hamilton, which were very much of the same size and whose problems were exactly the same—when to divide what are very large parishes. Like New Plymouth, Hamilton had two parishes, but last January a part of the Hamilton parish was cut off and formed into a conventional district, to whic.i was appointed a curate in charge who was x solely responsible for the church and the district, while the people of the district = were responsible for his stipend. T district did not cost the vestry of Hamilton a penny. It was hoped that by next synod the district would apply for recognition as a parochial district, though there was no church, which was necessary for a parochial district. “I do want you to give c^ ™ n ~ sideration to the urgent need of having d man whose sole business it will be to look after this particular part of the parish,” the bishop said. I am nor sure that the best way to begin is not to obtain first the spiritual agent and put him in place to do everything for himself. Make up your minds that one day Aw particular district ought to be a separate parish. I am perfectly certain that if you expect a lot from people you will receive a lot from them. Therexor;i pray that this afternoon will Ae beginning of a successful step forward.