Daily prayer in the Kingdom Season: 10, Sunday 10 November 2024, Remembrance Sunday, Third Sunday before Advent

Wilting poppies in Comberford, between Lichfield and Tamworth in Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in the Kingdom Season, the time between All Saints and Advent. In the Church Calendar today is both the Third Sunday before Advent and Remembrance Sunday.

Later this morning, I hope to be at the Cathedral Eucharist in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching, at 8:30, when the Precentor, Canon Roannie Cannidy is presiding, and the preacher is Bishop Bolly Lapok, retired Bishop of Kuching and former Archbishop of South-East Asia. But, before today begins, before having breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Poppies in a small garden in Beacon Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 1: 14-20 (NRSVA):

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake – for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Poppies by the side of the road in Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflection:

The fear of the potential consequences of Trump’s election victory have not abated in the past few days. I truly fear for world peace and stability, about global change and about the course of world democracy over the next few years. I can only imagine an upsurge in violence, racism and antisemitism in the years to come, and worry that political violence is going to become increasingly acceptable in many places.

So, I am finding comfort this morning in the words of the Collects and the Post-Communion Prayer, as they ask God to ‘govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,’ seek God’s ‘just and gentle rule’, ask God to ‘look with compassion on the anguish of the world’ and to ‘bring near the day when wars shall cease and poverty and pain shall end’.

In this morning’s Gospel reading, the proclamation of the kingdom of God and the good news are linked to the call of the first disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John.

The disciples are called but not compelled to follow Jesus. On this Remembrance Sunday, I remind myself that those who fought and died in wars included both conscripts and volunteers. In hindsight, we often say they saw their war as the war to end all wars. But many had no choice, whether they were conscripts or volunteers. Many signed up because of the social pressures they faced, others hoped that by enlisting their wives and families would be looked after. Some in Ireland believed enlisting during World War I would advance the cause of Home Rule.

During a recent visit to Dublin, I picked up a copy of Bryan Cooper’s The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli in ‘The Last Bookshop’ on Camden Street. Cooper, who was a minor poet and an admirer of WB Yeats, was posted to Gallipoli and then to Thessaloniki.

Cooper’s book includes the poem ‘The Irish in Gallipoli’ by Francis Ledwidge and recalls many of the experiences my grandfather, Stephen Edward Comerford (1867-1921), must have shared in Gallipoli, the Balkans and then in Thessaloniki with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

Both Francis Ledwidge and my grandfather fought at Gallipoli, were later in Thessaloniki, and found themselves back in Dublin in the aftermath of the Easter Rising in 1916.

Cooper’s book reminds me too that had my grandfather not been stricken with malaria in Thessaloniki, he might have been sent back to the front, and like Ledwidge been killed on the western front or in the trenches in France or Belgium. Instead, my grandfather remained invalided in Dublin, my father was born in 1918, and so I am alive today.

Francis Ledwidge was born near Slane, Co Meath, in 1887. Family poverty forced him to leave school at 13. He became an active trade unionist, and began writing poetry in the Drogheda Independent. Lord Dunsany became his patron, he was admired by many leading figures in the literary revival, and was soon recognised as an important poet and writer.

Ledwidge was an early member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. When the Volunteers split at the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, he was initially sceptical of John Redmond’s support for the war. But in October 1914 he joined the 5th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 10th (Irish) Division.

He later said: ‘I joined the British army because England stood between Ireland and an enemy common to our civilisation, and I would not have had it said that she defended us while we did nothing at home but pass resolutions.’

Ledwidge became a lance-corporal, landed at Gallipoli in July 1915, and took part in the allied attack on Suvla Bay in August. The allied forces were attacked by the Turks, the 5th Battalion were trapped not far from the beach, and a stalemate ensued.

Ledwidge and the 10th (Irish) Division were withdrawn from Gallipoli in October 1915, and then found himself in Serbia during a harsh winter. They came under heavy attack from a larger Bulgarian force on 9 December and suffered 1,500 casualties. Ledwidge survived, but damaged his back during the retreat to Thessaloniki, and was sent to hospital first in Cairo and then in Manchester. At the same time, my grandfather was sent back to Dublin and never returned to war.

Ledwidge returned to the front in France late in 1916. He fought at the Battle of Arras in 1917, and was then sent north to Belgium in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres. He was stationed near the village of Boezinghe on 31 July when he a long-range German shell exploded next to him. Ledwidge was killed instantly alongside five other soldiers in his regiment. The battalion’s Jesuit chaplain, Father Francis Charles Devas (1875-1951), had given Holy Communion to Ledwidge that morning. He wrote in his diary, ‘Ledwidge killed, blown to bits’.

Ledwidge was buried close to where he died at Carrefour de Rose, and was eventually reinterred at the Artillery Wood Military Cemetery.

‘The Irish in Gallipoli’ by Francis Ledwidge

Where Aegean cliffs with bristling menace front
The treacherous splendour of that isley sea,
Lighted by Troy’s last shadow; where the first
Hero kept watch and the last Mystery
Shook with dark thunder. Hark! The battle brunt!
A nation speaks, old Silences are burst.

’Tis not for lust of glory, no new throne
This thunder and this lightning of our power
Wakens up frantic echoes, not for these
Our Cross with England’s mingle, to be blown
At Mammon’s threshold. We but war when war
Serves Liberty and Keeps a world at peace.

Who said that such an emprise could be vain?
Were they not one with Christ, who fought and died?
Let Ireland weep: but not for sorrow, weep
That by her sons a land is sanctified,
For Christ arisen, and angels once again
Come back, like exile birds, and watch their sleep.

Poppies in the War Memorial Park at Islandbridge in Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 10 November 2024 (Remembrance Sunday, Third Sunday before Advent):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘A Look at Education in the Church of the Province of Myanmar’. This theme is introduced today with a Programme Update by Nadia Sanchez, Regional Programme Coordinator, USPG:

Despite being rich in resources, Myanmar remains designated as one of the least developed countries in the world. Access to education was severely affected by Covid-19 and the civil disobedience movement which led to teachers and medical professionals leaving their jobs. This in turn has led to much of the population being left without adequate public services.

The Church of Province of Myanmar’s Provincial Education Development Initiative is a holistically developed integrated education programme. It aims to facilitate school-aged children to receive continuous education by upskilling teachers and providing access to materials, uniforms, teaching aids, classroom facilities and safe boarding houses. It will also provide theological education activities for students so they can learn how to effectively take care of the Church and be promoted for leadership in the diocese. Finally, it will seek to improve health awareness through training on things such as Covid-19 and personal hygiene so that communities can look after themselves better and share knowledge with their peers.

This programme will strengthen and improve secular education, theological education and health education for an estimated 3,000 people across the nine dioceses of the Church of the Province of Myanmar.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 10 November 2024, Remembrance Sunday, Third Sunday before Advent) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:

Peaceful God,
Teach us to forsake division and violence.
Let us serve each other in peace,
And live side by side in harmony.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
whose will is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of all:
govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,
and bring the families of the nations,
divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin,
to be subject to his just and gentle rule;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God of peace,
whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom
and restored the broken to wholeness of life:
look with compassion on the anguish of the world,
and by your healing power
make whole both people and nations;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Additional Collect:

God, our refuge and strength,
bring near the day when wars shall cease
and poverty and pain shall end,
that earth may know the peace of heaven
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Poppies by the side of the road in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Poppies on my grandfather’s grave in Saint Catherine’s Churchyard, Portrane, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Japanese Building in Kuching is a reminder of war-time prison camps, forced labour and divisions

The Japanese Building in Kuching … the only administrative building built by the Japanese Occupational Force in Sarawak during World War II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Carpenter Street with its Chinese shops, restaurants and temples in the centre of Kuching should lead naturally lead west into India Street, with its Indian-owned clothes shops and spice shops.

Instead, however, the Chinese and Indian communities were forcibly divided and separated in the 1940s by the occupying Japanese forces when they used forced labour to build the Japanese Building.

The Japanese Building in Kuching is the only administrative building built by the Japanese Occupational Force in Sarawak during World War II (1941-1945). Located awkwardly between two of Brooke’s buildings, the Japanese Building is the only construction built by the Japanese Army that still exists in Kuching.

The Japanese forces first landed in Sarawak at Tanjung Baram in Miri on 16 December 1941; by late on Christmas Eve they had captured Kuching.

The Japanese imperial forces occupied Sarawak for almost four years, and during that time they the introduced a policy of ‘Japanisation’, forcing local people to learn Japanese language and customs. Despite these policies, few remnants of the Japanese occupation can still be seen in Kuching.

The former Batu Lintang prison camp … originally a British Indian Army barracks (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

One of those surviving markers is the Batu Lintang prison camp, which was originally the British Indian Army barracks, while the other is the Japanese Building, which divides India Street, which houses many Indian-owned businesses, from Carpenter Street, with its Chinese-owned shops and eateries.

General Toshinari Maeda became the first commander of the Japanese forces in northern Borneo during World War II. Initially, his headquarters were in Miri before he decided to move them to Kuching.

At first, the Japanese used the Old Courthouse as their administrative centre in Kuching, before deciding to build the Japanese Building to link the Old Courthouse and the Treasury Building, which had been built in 1929. Before the Japanese Building was erected, Carpenter Street and Indian Street were one continuous commercial thoroughfare, passing between the Old Courthouse and the Treasury Building.

The Japanese Building was built with the blood and sweat of Prisoners-of-War (POWs) from Sabah and Sarawak who were being held at Batu Lintang Camp. The were forcibly marched each morning for three miles from the camp to the site to provide the labour force needed for building the house, and forced to march back again in the evening.

POWs and male civilian internees were also forced to work at Kuching Harbour, Seventh Mile landing ground and other sub-camps.

Batu Lintang camp was the biggest POW and civilian internment facility in Borneo. It opened in August 1942 and closed in September 1945. The camp commander at Batu Lintang, Colonel Tatsuji Suga, was from Hiroshima and the prisoners and inmates were disturbed to hear he was a Christian.

Batu Lintang was unusual as it housed both Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian internees. The buildings were originally a British Indian Army barracks. It was extended by the Japanese until it covered about 50 acres (20 ha), and it held up to 3,000 prisoners. Life was harsh, with food shortages, disease and sickness, scant medicine, forced labour, brutal treatment and lack of adequate clothing and living quarters.

Most of the POWs in Batu Lintang were officers from the Brooke forces from North Borneo and from the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, British Indian Army personnel and soldiers, and Dutch East Indies soldiers. The civilian internees included Roman Catholic priests, nuns and missionaries as well as British civilians. The 110 Catholic priests, brothers and religious men were mostly Dutch and Irish. initially Mother Bernardine, an English Catholic nun, was the first camp mistress in the women’s compound.

The Japanese paid the men in the work party with ‘camp dollars’. These banknotes were also called ‘banana money’ because of the images of banana trees printed on the $10 notes.

The Japanese paid the men in the work party with ‘camp dollars’ known as ‘banana money’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945. But the camp commander at Batu Lintang, Colonel Suga, waited until 24 August to announce officially to the camp that Japan had surrendered. In the intervening days he had been plotting their mass execution.

The Japanese remained in control of the camp until 11 September, when the Japanese forces in the Kuching area eventually surrendered. When the camp was liberated by Australian troops, its population was 2,024, including 1,392 POWs, 395 male civilian internees and 237 civilian women and children.

A thanksgiving service in the camp on 12 September was led by Bishop Francis S Hollis of Sarawak, who had been an internee, and two Australian chaplains from the liberating force. Repatriation began that day, but some prisoners were still in Batu Lintang a week after liberation. Suga died by suicide on 22 September five days after being taken prisoner by the Australian forces and while he was awaiting trial.

The Japanese cemetery beside the site of the Batu Lintang camp (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

By June-July 1946, the bodies in the cemetery at Batu Lintang had been exhumed and reburied in the military cemetery on Labuan island. But Suga had destroyed all Japanese records at the camp, and a large number of the graves at Labuan have remained unidentified.

The Union Jack that had been draped over the coffins of POWs at the camp and that was raised in the camp when the Japanese capitulated, was placed in All Saints’ Church, Oxford, in April 1946, along with two wooden memorial plaques. The flag and plaques are now in Dorchester Abbey.

The huts have been replaced gradually over the years, although a few remnants of the site remain, including a single hut, the old gate posts, the gate bunker and stump of the Japanese flag pole. A teachers’ training college moved onto the site in 1948.

The Japanese cemetery near the site of camp predates the Japanese invasion of Kuching in 1941, and includes the graves of Japanese immigrants who came to work in Kuching offered by at the invitation of the Brooke administration in 1910s. A separate monument commemorates the 81 teenage boy fishermen from Yaizu who volunteered for the Japanese navy in 1942-1945.

Among the graves and monuments in the Japanese cemetery at Batu Lintang (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

After World War II, the Japanese Building in the centre of Kuching was first used as the court’s library. But for decades, the building continued to totally cut off the connection from Carpenter Street to India Street. That link was only restored in 1989 when a passageway through the building was created.

Over the years, the Japanese Building has had different uses. Part of it housed Little Lebanon, a Middle East restaurant, in the early 2000s, and the building has been a venue for exhibitions during the Rainforest Fringe Festival. Charlotte Hunter held a photographic exhibition, ‘The Tinsmiths of Kuching,’ in the Japanese Building in September-October 2019.

The Japanese Building was revitalised and renovated as a coworking space, iCube Studio, at the end of 2020, providing affordable coworking space for entrepreneurs, freelancers, start-ups, innovators and business owners, with a live studio and meeting rooms. However, the building is not open to the public on a daily basis.

The Japanese Building has had a variety of uses in recent decades (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)