(Sankei News 2011.4.22 14:35)
In Sendai’s Miyagino Ward, where destruction by the earthquake and tsunami was devastatingly total, the cross of the “Seaside Bible Chapel”, dug out from the ruins and rebuilt, is giving new hope to the people in the area.
The church building, located roughly 700 meters from the shoreline, was washed away by the tsunami and the wide area surrounding it reduced to piles of debris. But three days after the quake, members of the church and other volunteers dug the foundations of the cross out from under the rubble and reconstructed the cross on top of it.
With nothing but mud and rubble for as far as the eye could see in any direction, the first worship service after the quake was held around the cross by approximately 50 church members and volunteers from various parts of Japan, and prayers were offered for the Japanese people. “We just wish to provide any hope we can to help the victims”, explains Pastor Tomohiro Naito, who himself lost his home to the tsunami.
(Original Japanese Text)
東日本大震災の津波で壊滅的な被害を受けた仙台市宮城野区の「シーサイド・バイブル・チャペル」で、がれきの中から掘り出され、再建された十字架が被災者に希望を与えている。
海岸から約７００メートルの場所にあった教会は、津波で流され周囲はがれきの山と化した。だが、震災から３日後に信徒やボランティアががれきの中から十字架の土台部分を掘り起こし、失われた十字架本体を作り直したという。
見渡す限りのがれきの中で行われた礼拝には、全国からボランティアを含めておよそ５０人が参加し、震災で亡くなった人々に祈りをささげた。自身も被災して家を失った同教会の内藤智裕牧師は「少しでも被災した方々の希望になれば」と話している。
