BRITON AND GERMAN WORSHIP GOD TOGETHER

Wanganui Chronicle, 30 October 1946, Page 3

BRITON AND GERMAN WORSHIP GOD TOGETHER

SERVICES IN ENGLAND London, Oct. 28. The German language was used in two English churches on Sunday last. A German pastor preached in the 800-year-old Parish church at Warboys, where 150 uniformed German prisoners worshipped with the village congregation. The Dean of Durham spoke in halting German in Durham Cathedral to a mixed congregation, including 1100 Germans, who prayed “Vater Unset-” while the English churchgoers said "Our Father.” The German pastor at Warboys conducted the service with the rector, who read an Engl sb translation of the sermon. Pastor Schroeder was not ordained when war broke out and was conscripted as an infantryman. He was taken prisoner and became chaplain of the prison camp. He said the service was a visible sign of unity in the Lord. The rector, after the service, shook hands with each prisoner as he filed out. The Germans in Durham Cathedral sat with the congregation, six or seven in each pew. The British, after the service, lined up end passed out gifts of cigarettes as the Germans left the cathedral. Doctor Alington, thankin'? the Germans for assistance in gathering the harvest, said there were no national frontiers for food supplies Every sack of food harvested in Britain would heln Germany, “I hone you take a hapnv memorv from this service. May God bless you," he said. The cathedral was so crowded that many of the congregation stood in the aisles to leave room in the pews foe the Germans.