Presbyterian Assembly Opens

Chronicle (Levin), 3 November 1948, Page 2

Presbyterian Assembly Opens

O1 WELLINGTON, Nov. 2. A packed church arnl maiiy listeniug to tli e service over a loud speaker systeiu in the church hall, attended the opening service df the Presbyterian neneral Assembly and the installatiou ot' the new iloderator, the Rt. Eev. vecil J. Tocker, of Invercargill, in fSt. Andrew's t'hurch tonight. The service was couducted and the serinon preached b'y the out-going Moderator, the.Very Rev. J. Douglas,, Smith,, "of Auckland. "Our church is a • strong church," said the Rev. Smith in his sermon. ■ ' Her people supply a good deal of the 'Udney for- church purposes. They are. strong 011 moral rectitude. Mainlv they belong to tlie middle and lower middle class. They tend to desire security for a comfortable wav of life. They are noted for graciousness or outward manifestations of friendliness. There is among them a strong tendency to be sjplf-sufficient so they are in grave danger — danger t>f missing the mark of failing the King and the head of the church in witnessing with a religious life which is inadequate to the world 's ueed of salvation. There is no salvatiou1 for men playing for safety or in self-sufficiency. We must be true to our Lord and so live in and by Him that a trulv venturesome faith shall direct our action,.. We must abandon safety first and take the risk of the loss of all. casting ourselves upon God as our Saviour did. We must liave the same concern that He had to scrve man's real need — not to save men in rheir wav but in God 's way. ' ' The Eev. Smith then addressed three groups within the church — veterans, those in mid-cayeer and the voung people. To each he suggested that they had their particular task and duty to accomplish. The assembly was then formallv eonstituted and the appointment of the Et. Rev. Tocker as Moderator for the coming year confirmed.