Battle of Britain Commemoration Service, 1958

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
PALMERSTON NORTH

BATTLE OF BRITAIN
COMMEMORATION
SERVICE

Sunday, 21st September, 1958
at 11 a.m.

Officiating Ministers:
Rev. JOHN HUBBARD, M.A., B.D.
Rev. M. N. DICKEY.

Page 2.

LET US WORSHIP GOD

FANFARE OF TRUMPETS

NATIONAL ANTHEM

We are gathered here today to remember in the presence of
God the victory vouchsafed to us in the Battle of Britain; and to
pray that we may have such devotion to duty that neither the
loving kindness of God nor the heroism of those who fought may
have been in vain.

HYMN 230 (Tune: Old Hundredth)

Before Jehovah’s awful throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and He destroy.

His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us
men;
And, when like wandering sheep we
strayed,
He [brought] us to His fold again.

We are His people, we His care—
Our souls and all our mortal frame:
What lasting honours shall we rear,
Almighty Maker, to Thy Name?

Wide as the world is Thy command,
Vast as eternity Thy love;
Firm as a rick Thy truth must stand,
When rolling years shall cease to
move. Amen.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Psalm 124.
Dr. W. C. DUNCAN, President of the Brevet Club

PSALM 121 (Tune: French)

I to the hills will lift mine eyes,
from whence doth come mine aid?
My safety cometh from the Lord,
who heav’n and earth hath made.

Thy foot he’ll not let slide, not will
he slumber that thee keeps.
Behold, he that keeps Israel,
he slumbers not, nor sleeps.

The Lord thee keeps, the Lord thy
shade,
on thy right hand doth stay:
The moon by night thee shall not smite,
nor yet the sun by day.

The Lord shall keep thy soul; he shall
preserve thee from all ill.
Henceforth thy going out and in
God keep for ever will. Amen.

NEW TESTAMENT LESSON: Hebrews 11:32 — 12:2.
Group Captain D. F. ST. GEORGE, D.F.C., A.F.C.
Commanding Officer R.N.Z.A.F. Station, Ohakea.

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THE COMMEMORATION HYMN OF THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
(Tune: Darwall 135)

O Thou that hearest prayer,
Our brothers shield and guide,
Who through the spacious air
On high adventure ride,
To watch or fight
Near and afar
On wings of war
For truth and right.

Give skill of hand and eye
And quick discerning mind,
Through lonely wastes of sky
Uncharted ways to find.
Nor faint or fail
Nor evil fear,
But know thee near,
Whate’er assail.

And as that hero band,
The young, the few, the brave,
To shield our menaced land
Their eager manhood gave,
Nor turned aside
From danger’s call
But for us all
They dared and died.

So until us today
Thy strength and aid impart,
Our country’s call to obey
With brave unfaltering heart,
Till sufferings cease
And victors come
Rejoicing home
On wings of peace. Amen.

CONGREGATION REMAIN STANDING,
THE MINISTER SAYING:
Let us praise God for the men who with foresight and wisdom
laid the foundations of the Royal Air Force.
Let us praise God also for those who planned and prepared,
to the end that our country should not be helpless before the
challenges of an invader.
And let us praise God for that small band of youth who
bravely met the armada in the air, stayed the assault and won us
respite.
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by
so many to so few.”

CONGREGATION RESUME SEATS

LET US PRAY: Here follows Prayers of Thanksgiving; Intercession
and the Lord’s Prayer

INTIMATIONS

SOLO — Mrs. A. T. LAWN
A HYMN FOR AVIATORS — C. Hubert Parry

Lord, guard and guide our men who
fly,
Through the great spaces of the sky,
Be with them traversing the air,
In dark’ning storm or sunshine fair.
Thou who dost keep with tender might
The balanced birds in all their flight,
Thou of the tempered winds be near
That having Thee they know no fear.

Control their minds with instinct fit,
What time adventuring they quit
The firm security of land,
Grant steadfast eye and skilful hand.
Aloft in solitudes of space
Uphold them with Thy saving grace,
O, God, protect our men who fly,
Through lonely ways beneath the sky.

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THE SERMON
Padre M. N. DICKEY, Ohakea

THE OFFERING WILL BE RECEIVED
When the offering is brought forward to be placed on the
Communion Table the Congregation will stand and remain standing
for the Prayer following.

LET US PRAY: Here follows the Prayer of Dedication

THE CONGREGATION SHALL RESUME SEATS

HYMN 601
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last
And our eternal home. Amen.

THE MINISTER SHALL SAY:
Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage: hold
fast that which is good; render to no man evil for evil; strengthen
the faint hearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honour all
men; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy
Spirit.

FANFARE OF TRUMPETS

HALLELUJAH CHORUS (Choir)

BENEDICTION

W. & E. Ltd.