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WOMEN'S WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
This year the service will be held at Ruislip Methodist Church, Ickenham Road, Ruislip starting at 1.30 p.m. on Friday 2nd March. The Revd Anne Richardson (Chaplain to the Diocese of London Deaf Church) will be speaking at the service, which has been prepared by Christian Women of Paraguay entitled "United Under God's Tent". Everyone is welcome to attend the service and the refreshments afterwards.
MOTHERING SUNDAY – 18TH MARCH
There is an old Jewish saying:
God could not be everywhere, and therefore He made mothers.
Mother Church, Mother Earth, Mother of the gods - our human mothers - all of them have been part of the celebration of ‘Mothering Sunday’ - as the fourth Sunday in Lent is affectionately known.
In Roman times, great festivals were held every spring to honour Cybele, Mother of all the Gods. Other pagan festivals in honour of Mother Earth were also celebrated. With the arrival of Christianity, the festival became one honouring Mother Church.
During the Middle Ages, young people apprenticed to craftsmen or working as ‘live-in’ servants were allowed only one holiday a year on which to visit their families, and their ‘Mother’ Church - which is how ‘Mothering Sunday’ got its name. This special day became a day of family rejoicing, and the Lenten fast was broken. In some places the day was called Simnel Day, because of the sweet cakes called simnel cakes traditionally eaten on that day.
LADY DAY - THE ANNUNCIATION – TRANSFERRED TO 26TH MARCH
This story (Luke 1.26-38) takes place in Nazareth, when Mary is already betrothed to Joseph. The Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary, greets her as highly favoured, tells her not to be afraid, that she will bear a son Jesus, and that her elderly cousin Elizabeth is already pregnant (with John the Baptist).
The church calendar is never quite as neat as some would like it. To celebrate the Annunciation on 25th March does indeed place the conception of Jesus exactly nine months from his birth on 25th December, but the latter part of March almost inevitably falls during Lent. But the birth and death of Jesus are intrinsically linked - he was born to die, and thus fulfil God’s purposes.
The Annunciation is a significant date in the Christian calendar - it is one of the most frequent depicted in Christian art. Gabriel’s gracious strength and Mary’s humble dignity have inspired many artists. Certainly Mary’s response to the angel has for centuries been an example of good faith in practise - humility, enquiry of God, and trusting acceptance in his will for her life.
TRIP TO THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI
 A memorable visit during our Thai trip over Christmastide was in Kanchanaburi province to the River Kwai, and the site of the infamous World War II Death Railway Bridge. Our friends drove us north from Bangkok for about an hour and we went straight to the JEATH Museum – named for Japan, England, America/Australia, Thailand and Holland - featuring a mock-up of a bamboo hut, filled with moving drawings, photos and letters from survivors. These are rather weathered but there is an air-conditioned museum and research centre near the bridge that is still a sobering reminder of the awful conditions suffered by the 68,000 Allied prisoners, a quarter of whom died, and three times as many Asian labourers (about half lost); “a life for every sleeper” of the two hundred and fifty mile track which the Japanese ruthlessly rushed through, to connect Burma with Thailand, in 1942-3.
Thereafter our friends negotiated the hire of a long-tail boat and driver for four hours from the nearby boatyard, and we set off low in the water to speed up-river to the Bridge. Yes, it is just as you see it in the David Lean film in 1957, one can almost hear the “Colonel Bogey” march. Although that bridge was mocked up in Sri Lanka, the bombing of the real bridge actually did happen in June 1945; so the round truss spans are original, but the angular replacement supports were installed by the Japanese subsequently as part of war reparations (some trains do still use the track). We whizzed under it and then moored for lunch at a floating restaurant within sight of the Bridge.
Next, our boatman took us along the River to walk over a portion of the Railway, then clamber down nine progressively deeper caves called Wat Than Pu Wa, each stalagmited cave containing a Buddhist shrine. The Japanese had used these to shelter in from the Allied bombs, which fell in 1945, and two halves of one bomb casing, fitted with clappers, now hang outside on a frame as bells of peace.
Our final destination was to one of the three cemeteries in the area. The biggest is near the Bridge and contains the graves of 7,000 men. The riverside one at Chungkai, which we visited, is smaller with about 1,700 graves and is impeccably maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The graves are in straight endless lines, mostly with personal details and maybe a short message from family, the saddest being those that just say, “Known unto God”. We felt quite humbled by this “corner of a foreign field……”
Diana May
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