SENIOR CITIZENS FELLOWSHIP MEETS AGAIN
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 enter 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. He has been given the opportunity in the University to give Bible classes for the students.
Out of 25,000 students, there are only ten young people who attend the classes since the majority are of the Buddist and Shinto faith.
As Noel finished his very interesting talk, he drew comparisons to Genesis 1 v 1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” and compared it to the belief of the Shinto and Buddist religions which worship 800 million gods.
After a very interesting morning hearing and seeing the work Noel does in Japan the meeting came to a close by singing the hymn “To God be the glory”.
Mrs Maude Harbinson thanked Noel for his challenging talk which enlightened everyone with so many things about life in Japan.
The next Senior Citizen’s meeting will be on Tuesday, 23rd September and the speaker will be Pastor Marineni Jacob from India. Do plan to attend and you will be made most welcome.
Moment of reflection - The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Banbridge
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 5 mph
Wind direction: North west
