Easter in the mission field
In August 1948, Joyce Peel wrote her first Annual Letter to
the Church Missionary Society in London, outlining her first five months of
work in the South Indian mission field. She expressed enthusiasm about the Easter
play performed by the children of the mission school at Palamcottah. ‘[A]s they
acted that well known story,’ she recalled, ‘something became apparent: the
Hero Who never appeared in person but Whose presence was indicated by a
movement a look or a hush, was Himself really there. This was no play acting,
it was the drawing of the audience into the very presence of their Risen Lord.’
She was surprised to learn, when asking afterwards about the children, that
most of them were Hindu. ‘Hindu in name perhaps,’ she told the CMS, ‘but
Christian in spirit.’[1]
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| St James' Church in Delhi |
For many women missionaries, however, celebrating Easter in
a non-Christian land was a rewarding and heartening experience: a time of joy
and hope. Serving in the mission field was tough. Converts were few in number
and disappointments aplenty. Promising young Christians in whom missionaries
had invested much time, effort, and love fell by the wayside. Sickness,
loneliness, and depression loomed. The Easter observances, particularly the
celebrations on Easter morning, served to remind missionaries of their purpose,
providing much needed spiritual sustenance.
Women missionaries were touched
and encouraged by the participation in the Holy Week services of the children and
adults with whom they worked. They saw this as a sign that their work had not
been fruitless; that, at this time, ‘the teachers and the children’s hearts
[had been] touched, by the love of the Lord Jesus.’[3]
At the CMS station at Meerut, Miss Tucker reported that pupils purchased ‘The
Story of the Cross’ by Laubach to read on Good Friday.[4]
This story was re-enacted in churches. On Easter Sunday, baptisms were held and
missionaries noted the number of communicants. In her report to the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in 1942, Stephanie Broomfield described the
little Easter service prepared by children in the village of Yeli, Ahmednagar
district. There was a procession, singing hymns and stopping at every house.
The children called out loudly: ‘Christ the Lord is risen to-day’ and each
householder ‘(duly prepared) popped out with an answering ‘Alleluya’ and an
offering of grain.’[5]
Special treats were organised and missionaries’
Indian co-workers enjoyed a well-earned break. The nurses and doctors at St
Stephen’s Hospital in Delhi went on a picnic outing – half the staff on Easter
Monday and the other half on Easter Tuesday. This treat was partly financed by
gifts from patients. ‘I believe they enjoy it immensely,’ the doctor wrote,
expressing regret that she was unable to join her colleagues due to a previous
engagement.[6]
The message of Easter and happiness of the mission’s Eastertide celebrations emboldened women missionaries to continue in their difficult daily work. Dr Haythornthwaite concluded her report to the SPG in
good humour: ‘The ants are so pleased Lent is over!’ she joked. ‘I was given
some sweets in a tin on Easter Day, and the lid wasn’t quite down. When I came
back to my room I found a double pilgrimage going on. Their house is apparently
on the roof or somewhere, but they were coming all the way down the wall,
across my writing table into the tin, and out again, each with a fragment of
sugar. One doesn’t realise how far reaching our abstinences are – how many ant homes
have been destitute, I wonder!!’[7] India may have been vastly different from 'home' but for women missionaries, the joy of Easter remained the same.
May you have a happy Easter! And may any eggs or sweets you receive be kept far from hungry ants!
[1]
CMS Archives, Birmingham. Annual Letters. 1940-1949. Joyce Peel, 1948.
[2]
SPG Archives, Rhodes House, Oxford. Medical Missions Department. 470. St
Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi. Reports, circular letters etc. 1919-1925. Dr Hilda
Haythornthwaite, 1924.
[3]
CMS Archives. AL 1940-1949. Miss G.E.G.
Tucker, 1945.
[4]
Ibid.
[5]
SPG Archives. E series reports. E95/12. Nasik. Stephanie Broomfield, 1942.
[6]
SPG Archives. Medical Missions Department. 470. Dr Hilda Haythornthwaite, 1924.
[7]
Ibid.
