AFTER the recess of the summer months, it was a pleasure for the members of First Rathfriland Senior Citizens Fellowship to meet once again on Tuesday, 9th September, for the first meeting of 2008/2009.
They could join with the Psalmist when he said: "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord."
Seeing as we are still in the summer season with some on holiday, the attendance was most encouraging.
It was a pleasure to e
nter the church hall which has been given a new facelift along with the church renovations carried out during the summer months. The hall looks so bright with new window dressings and decorated to perfection.
The meeting began with a short time of hymn singing led by Mrs Gwen Frazer at the piano. The Rev Philip Thompson welcomed everyone and led in the opening prayer.
After singing the well known psalm "All people that on earth do dwell", Mr Thompson introduced the first guest speaker of the season in the person of Mr Noel Hamilton who serves the Lord in Japan.
Noel, who is a Rathfriland man, is well known to everyone and gave a very interesting account of his work in Japan. Having a great sense of humour, Noel shared the serious side of life in Japan as well as some not so serious incidents which happened in his day to day encounter with the Japanese people.
In September 1981 Noel first set foot in Northern Japan in a place called Sapporo which is 10,000 miles from Ireland. Winters are very cold with 15ft of snow from the end of November until the end of March. Living in a large city of Koshigaya, which is north of Tokyo with a population of 400,000 can become very noisy but one gets used to the sounds of trains which keep running day and night.
The church where Noel pastored was close to a Shinto Shrine and the belief of the Shinto religion is that there is a god in everything which must be worshipped.
Statistics prove that many Japanese people have very little hope in life. In the city of Tokyo with a population of 40 million there are 100 suicide cases every day, many of which are caused by people jumping from the fast running trains.
Japan is a country of natural beauty as Noel showed on the screen and especially in the Spring season the trees are beautiful, all laden with blossoms. There are lovely places such as Mount Fuji as well as others which are a great tourist attraction.
As well as his church work, Noel teaches in Sophia University.
The full article contains 453 words and appears in Banbridge Leader newspaper.
