Ebenezer Methodist Church in St. George’s will be observing Heritage Month with a special service tomorrow at 11 a.m. Guest preacher Reverend Dr. Erskine Simmons will preach on ‘Our Maritime Heritage and the Sea’.

Ebenezer’s minister, Rev. Margaret Sagar, will officiate, and the church choir, directed by organist Dianne Green, will sing an anthem and lead the congregation in the familiar sea-related hymns, ‘Jesus, Saviour, Pilot me o’er the World’s Tempestuous Seas’, ‘Will Your Anchor Hold in the Storms of Life?’, and the Naval hymn, ‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save’.

Members of Parliament, the Corporation of St. George’s, Harbour Radio, the Sea Cadets and other organisations, including the St. George’s Foundation and the St. George’s Historical Society, have been invited to attend.

All are welcome to remember and celebrate the heritage of this Island in worship.

Maritime connections are part of the history of Ebenezer Church, one of the congregations of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Bermuda.

The Bermuda Synod was associated with the Maritime Conference of the Methodist Church in Canada, headquartered in Sackville, New Brunswick. Following the formation of the United Church of Canada in 1925, the Bermuda Synod joined with it in 1930, maintaining its association with the Maritime Conference.

Ministry personnel come from the United Church of Canada. Rev. Margaret Sagar, the present minister, is from Nova Scotia and has never lived far from the sea.

“I love the sea, and am delighted to live in view of St. George’s harbour here on this beautiful island. My home near Halifax, Nova Scotia, also looks out onto the sea, and I grew up on the coast of the English Channel,” she says. “ I find the maritime history of Bermuda fascinating. So many of the congregation here fish, sail, or have maritime trading connections.”

Rev. Sagar noted that Ebenezer Church formerly observed Heritage Month, but the practice had been dropped in the last few years. Then Mrs. Rose Smith Douglas suggested that the church reinstate the special service, and she and Mrs. Barbara Dale Atwood have been responsible for tomorrow’s arrangements, including the design of a beautiful invitation card and poster by Mrs. Atwood with a photograph of a sunrise over the harbour.

“We will be delighted to welcome any who wish to join us for our worship on Sunday. Refreshments will be served in the hall following the service,” Rev. Sagar said. St. David’s Chapel of Ease will be holdings it annual Blessing of the Boats at 8.30 a.m. tomorrow at the church’s dock. A church service follows at 9 a.m. and the morning concludes with a codfish breakfast.