David Latimer service on the walls

"The journey back started when the package of funding was put in place and when we were highly favoured by Derry City Council, cross-party support, and at Stormont by our local political representatives - William Hay, Mark Durkan and Martin McGuinness, who have all been working to secure the huge amount of money of 1.6 million.

"The result is that we can meet here today to celebrate this defining moment in the history of this old church, which on this site dates back in 1690.

"So, this morning ladies and gentleman, I welcome you warmly onto the Walls and I want to inform you that unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain and unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

"In the Old Testament Book of Psalms we have an astonishingly accurate picture of life. Throughout that book there is joy and there is sorrow, there is pleasure and pain, there is health and there is sickness, shouting and whispering, feasting and starvation, gladness and misery.

"Think of all the memories, expectations and disappointments that get woven into the web of life and you will find them all mirrored in the psalms. But, when we get to the final psalm, do you think it ends in a whisper? Certainly not. This book gathers momentum right to the last psalm when there is a resounding crescendo which says 'let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.'

Moods and memories

"Why does this Psalm end in this kind of way? Because, it wants to convey that all that all the moods and memories, the heights and depths of everyday living; Christian people whereever they worship or whereever they labour, they are not travelling on a downward spiral into darkness. They are moving onwards and upwards to God's heaven, to ultimate glory, to that land that is fairer than day.

"In a previous era Spain stamped their coins with the pillars of Hercules and below them placed the words Ne Plus Ultra - which meant 'there is nothing more'. However, when Columbus discovered a new world, the Spanish government deleted the word Ne and left the words Plus Ultra-meaning 'more beyond'.

"Frequently, during the last seven-and-a-half years it looked like there was nothing beyond the dry-rot which forced us out of this building, nothing to replace a crumbling and dilapidated church. We could have so easily have lost hope, we could have so easily have given up. But, as I intimated earlier, a network of activity was put in place which has culminated in that money sufficient for us to begin work and to put in a firm of contractors.

"As minister of this church, delighted to be in this city, sharing this with our neighbours on the other side of the Walls, I am delighted to be able to announce to you, that in 18 months time, there will be more beyond for us. For, the scaffolding will be discarded, the workmen and their equipment will be gone. This church will be once again be alive. The sound of your voices, in praise to almighty God, who has been our help in ages past and who will be our hope for years to come.

"Therefore, in the words of that final psalm, we will be happy to declare-'let everything and everyone that hath breath praise the Lord.' He is good beyond measure, his love never fails.

"So, now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, glory and power forever. Amen."