was a department store in the shopping centre in Summerside and I brought along some of their grocery bags to be used in the prelude to the sennon. After handing out pencils and slips of paper, I asked individuals in the congregation to write one thing on the paper that stood as a tower that was too tall, too wide, too long, and too deep to get beyond. Members of the congregation were assured that this was a private matter and that no one but they would know what had been written unless they revealed it themselves. The congregants were then asked to hold on to the paper on which they had written their “tower” while I preached my message. At the close of the wor-

An undated newspaper clipping from a scrapbook kept by Mabel (Mrs. Amett) Simpson. The clipping was probably dated 1974:

Rev W _] MacDougall, currently acting minister of Bedeque North United Church, has completed his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Edinburg in Scotland. The

Ph. D will be conferred on Rev. MacDougall sometime in july. He is the son 0er and Mrs. james L. MacDougall of Summer Street, Summerside and is married to the flirmer Patricia Ann Campbell of Lawrencetoum, NS. They have two children, Shane and Chris- iana. Rev. MacDougall returned from Scotland in December. He obtained his BA. from the Prince of VI/Zzles College and his B.D.flom Pine Hill. 8

ship service I asked people to think about the piece of paper in their hands and to real- ize that it symbolically represented the very thing that prevented them from a close walk with God. I told them that, following the sermon, we were going to collect the papers on which their words or phrases or sen- tences were written and that we would place them at the foot of the cross on the Com- munion Table. Again they were assured that no slip would be read but all slips would be collected by an usher and brought to the Communion Table at the front of the sanctuary. They were carefully placed on the table with the word “Towers” plainly visible to the congregation. We then entered into a time of prayer during which people were encouraged to consciously release the

item written on the paper into God’s care.

We then asked God to remove the “tower” from the individual’s life so that they might develop a deeper relationship with God. Once completed the worship service concluded with a hynm, a prayer and the benediction. A few days later I received a call from

Arch MacGregor asking me to come to visit him. When I did he told me about what had

130 LOT16 UNITED CHURCH AND ITS PEOPLE