IMPRESSIVE THANKSGIVING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 98, 16 August 1945, Page 4

IMPRESSIVE THANKSGIVING

COMBINED SERVICE HELD TOWN AND COUNTRY RESIDENTS '"Today after nearly six years of war we have received word that Japan the last of our enemies has fallen. Therefore we have gathered to give thanks to Almighty God that peace has been, restored." With these words His Worship the Mayor opened the combined thanksgiving service in the Grand Theatre on Wednesday.

The wet and broken weather had failed to deter the crowd which mustered in the Strand from the time of the first, announcement and > the theatre was comfortably filled. On the platform and associated with His Worship were Rev. J. C. J. Wilson (Anglican), Rev. A. F, Atfcwootl (Methodist), Mr J. Bigelow

(Presbyterian) Messrs J. L. Burnett (County ' L. Brown (R.S.A.) W. R. Boon (Harbour Board) t L. W. Lux ton (Celebrations Committee).

The service opened with the Na r tional Anthem which was accompanied by the Boys Band which provided music lor the hymns throughout .

The 'Victory' address was given by the Rev. J. C. J. Wilson who said that th'e day of peace was an occasion upon which to offer thanks to God from all hearts. It was be-> cause the world stood on the old of a new era, after a night of the worst suffering, sorrow and crime which the world had ever known. The immensity of the catas--trophe in which all mankind was involved was reflected in the joy which followed the advent of peace and enabled us to see before us a chance to make it real and lasting.

The tremendous 'cost of the struggle was a sobering thought which was brought home to us in the moment of our rejoicing. The broken homes and careers were a monument to the cost-and even in the midst of our celebrations it was meet that we should not forget the price which! had to be paid before peace could be restored. We should therefore thank God for the heroism and preparedness of those, who had given their lives.

He reminded his audience that those who had made the supreme sacrifice had not died im reality. They had but passed on to make other life possible and that was the way of eternal life.

We had to thank God too for out leaders during the war and the lessons in international relationship which had been made possible. During the war we had nad a vision of a higher way of life. We had learnt that nations were neighbours and that for their general welfare they were independent one upon the other.

! It was- therefore our responsibility to see that the world's goods were evenly distributed throughout all the countries inhabited by mankind. If we did not heed this vision -and continued to drift along the same old way then it meant merely a temporary cessation of hostilities and a future underlined by the. use of atomic bombs. These were the things which we had to remember. Peace demanded a contribution from every one of us. For two days we were to celebrate but alter that it was the responsibility of each and everyone to see that we did not slip back into the old selfish ways, but rather that we set ourselves to carry out the duties which had been shown us so clearly by the lessons of the war. An impressive interlude was the reading of the Litany of Thanksgiving, which was led by Mr J. low' and responded to by the audience as a whole;

The Scripture reading was taken by Rev. Attwood who selected, a passage from St. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews.

Hymns sung were 'Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,' 'Rock of Ages,' 'Through' the Night of Doubt and Sorrow,' and 'All Hail the • Power o£ Jesu's Name.*

The memorable service concluded with the Benediction pronounced by Rev. Attwood.