“BRIGHT” CHURCH SERVICES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 464, 10 July 1909, Page 2

“BRIGHT” CHURCH SERVICES.

The following remarks contained in a sermon recently delivered by Canon Mayne,, of Napier, afford some scope for thought. Preaching on “Public Worship” he deprecated the modern tendency to attract people to Church by elaborate music and ornate ritual, and asked; “Was it bright and attractive services that gathered together the disciples on the first day of the week in the upper chamber in fear of their lives from their enemies ? Was it bright and attractive services that gathered the slaves and outcasts of. the great Roman capital as they gathered in fear and darkness in the Catacombs to break bread and worship Christ ? Was it bright and attractive services that caused the Scotch Covenanters of old to go out and worship God on the wild hillsides ? Eastly, was it bright and attractive services that caused the old Huguenots to gather together in secret chambers, dreading lest the sound of their hymns should reach the ears of the cruel and licentious soldiery of a tyrant king? No! No! What gathered those men together was this: They felt that the life they needed for their souls, they could find nowhere else, and they felt that they must perish if they could not obtain it, and this it was that drew them together for Communion. Talk to me about attractive services for the people ! What we want is a spirit of worship in the people, and then they will come, whether the services are attractive or not.”