Scripture tells us that St Joseph was a carpenter. There is a lot of woodwork in this church. Beyond the roof, the pews, the ornate pulpit, and the doors, there is a bit of wood in a glass case in the northeast corner. It is a small bit of the Burma railway which was built by slave labour for Japanese captors. It is a memento of dark times. Those slaves were allied prisoners of war and imprisoned civilians, some even relatives of our congregation.
One survivor was a soldier and skilled woodworker from the West Midlands named Jack Jennings. While unlikely, it is not impossible that Jack crafted the rail sleeper that gave us the small memento of these harsh times, for he made thousands of them. Thousands died. For many of them, it would have been as if Christ, himself an apprentice carpenter, were forced to make the cross upon which he died. For Jennings, it was a combination of luck, endurance, and skills (for his carpentry skills kept him from the most onerous duties) that saved him from an unmarked grave in the jungle.
Jack Jennings passed away in January. He is widely reported to have been the last of the living POWs who worked on the railroad. We know he came to St Martin’s at least once, as he is specifically mentioned as attending the FEPOW service in 2015. I’d like to think that, whether you come here once or come here weekly for decades, you are part of our family. It would be wrong of us to let his passing go unacknowledged. Rest in peace, Jack, and rise in glory.
Dan Kaszeta and John Subbiah
