Liturgy
Resurrection and New Life
The Revd Canon Jan Joustra Rector, Parish of South Perth
The central theme of the whole Easter story is resurrection, new life. Resurrection was not just something that happened to Christ near two thousand years ago but is a reality in our own lives today. It is an optimistic world view, a view that says even out of the worst circumstances, the worst events, even death itself, new life can spring up.
As I ponder this theme, I am in Hong Kong where I joined in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of my former church in Hong Kong, St Stephen’s Chapel in Stanley. The chapel stands as a testimony to resurrection as it was born out of one of the worst periods of Hong Kong history, but for 75 years has been a beacon of hope, a place of peace and quiet reflection and place where many feel the power of resurrection in their lives.
On the 8 December 1941 the Japanese troops began their invasion of Hong Kong Island. Stanley in the south of the island was the last place to fall on Christmas Day. The troops invaded the isthmus on 25 December, early in the morning. St Stephen’s College, where I used to live, and where the Chapel is now located had been made into a field hospital and the former student dormitory into hospital wards containing many, mostly wounded Canadian soldiers evacuated from the north side of the island.
As the Formosan troops, many of whom I’m told were drunk, stormed the college they encountered two doctors at the door of the dormitory pleading for the lives of the wounded soldiers and the nurses attending them. They were both shot on the spot. The troops then entered the dormitory and bayoneted the soldiers in their beds. The nurses tried to protect them and themselves, but to no avail.
The blood shed continued throughout the college as it held the high ground on the way to Fort Stanley where the British were attempting to evacuate. I’m told over 30 Middlesex gunners lost their lives in the grounds of the house where I used to live. The following days large pyres were lit to dispose of the many bodies - Chinese, Japanese and Western.
Later, the whole of the grounds became a civilian internment camp with many thousands of people, women, children and men living there in incredibly difficult circumstances.
Following the war, it was decided to build the memorial chapel on the highest point of the school grounds. The chapel is used by the school and by a multinational congregation that meets every Sunday.
The window depicts the suffering and the faith of those who were interned, those who were executed and those who died during that black period of human history.
We are a resurrection people, and we believe that new life can come from the most dire of circumstances. We need ever be mindful of this in the present age and in the years to come. We must hold fast to this faith, we must celebrate it in our communities with our families and in our own lives.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Alleluia!
