DEDICATION SERVICE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 109, 25 May 1937, Page 10

DEDICATION SERVICE

St. Columba's, Taradale ALEXANDER MEMORIAL PULPIT For the second successive Sunday, St. Columba's Presbyterian Church, Taradale, was filled to overflowing for the morning service on Sunday, and extra seating accommodation had to be provided. The occasion was the dedication of the memorial pulpit presented to the church by the family of the late Mr and Mrs Torrens Alexander, who for a very great number of years were closely identified witb the life and work of the congregation. The pastOr, the' Rev. James Cumming, based his address on the text: " Wliat ,doth the Lord require of- thee, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk liumbly with thy God." This, said Mr Cumming, was surely the beauty of holiness. Someone might say that beautiful furniture jn the house of God was: merely a show, but that jvas a mistake.- What was a home? A place wliere two souls, as man and wife, had m love agreed to share life. Love constitutes the home, but who would say that they should not spend some time in choosing furniture, deciding on the wall-paper, and laying out the garden? What was the house of God? The l.?lace where, as Jacob of old, we meet God face to faee. But should that simple truth hinder us from bringing into His house our best gifts of inaterial things, of music, or arehitecture? lly. so .doing 'we worshipped in the beauty of holiness, well aware of its higher meaning— -the beauty of character. "To-day," said Mr Cumming, "we dedicate a pulpit and ' communion dais which are two central things in the church — things which we associate with the Word and the Sacrament. The one reminds Us of the will and purposes of God, the other of how they may be achieved through the xedeeming love of Christ. May this morning' s service be to us a call to holier life and nobler service, that we may by so doing he responding to the invitation: 'Worship' fche Lord in the beauty of holiness." • A most inspiring service concluded with the singing of the hymn "Tho vTiurch's One Foundation."