ALL THAT ACTIVITY IN THE CHURCH!
As most will know, the final two windows in the sanctuary are to be installed
before ANZAC Day 2015 and in preparation for this to happen, the reredos has
been moved. This allows the stained glass artist to make accurate measurement
and also get an overview of the east end of the church.
There has been much consultation before
a final design was approved and we are
all very appreciative of the persistence of
those who had the final carriage of these
duties.
The artists’s drawing was displayed at
the back of the church for many weeks to
allow comments from parishioners. It has
been reassuring to see that the design is
in keeping with the other windows
throughout the church.
The reredos, designed by Mrs Olive Withy
and given by the Ladies Guild in 1920, has
been moved behind the pulpit.
The story of the windows and reredos are
known to most, but Dr John Campbell,
our very own historian, has recorded it
in
‘A Guide to the Jewel Box, The Story of
St Augustine’s Church, Hamilton 1920-
2000’
thus –
“At the east end of the Church the central window was to be filled with stained
glass so that the rising sun would fill his ‘temple of silence’ with the Glory of God.
“A general design was agreed upon and a Melbourne firm ordered the window from
Germany in 1919. This was to be a fitting move to end the ‘enmities of twenty
generations’. There was an outcry – a memorial window in a memorial church
being made by the very people against whom we had been fighting! Arguments
became heated. The Rector (The Rev John Brodie Armstrong) was adamant.
An ex-serviceman threatened to throw a hand-grenade through the window when
it was installed.
“In a heated debate the Rector resigned, his Council refused to accept this gesture
and won the day and the order was cancelled. A reredos was designed by Mrs
Olive Withy, working for our architect at that time, to cover the window …”
And so we come, 95 years later, to 2014 and the original intent will be honoured
finally. There will undoubtedly be a celebration when the windows are unveiled
and we have “the rising sun … filling his temple of silence.”
9
A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five
and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honour thy father and
thy mother,” she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our
brothers and sisters?”
Without missing a beat one little boy answered, “Thou shall not kill.”
