Singapore - 02

Second day of relaxing and walking the streets of Singapore. We visited St Andrew's Cathedral. The original St Andrew's was destroyed by lightning strike and fire in the 1840's and rebuilt in the 1850s-60s by Indian convict labour. During the war it doubled as a makeshift hospital.

At the pulpit is the 'Coventry Cross',



made of nails from the former Coventry Cathedral, England. The Coventry Cathedral was decimated during World War II, and from the rubble, nails were recovered to form crosses. They were sent to the main Anglican churches all over the world as a symbol for the need for reconciliation. St Andrew's received theirs in 1950.

Bruce Johnson spoke about the Coventy Cross during his address when he was inducted as Moderator of the Queensland Synod of the Uniting Church. It was good to recall the need for reconciliation through this powerful symbol.

As well as the restored Cathedral

they recently built an underground 800 seat worship centre

used by their charismatic congregation. From the underground chapel you can look up and see the main Cathedral

We then travelled by train and bus to visit the Changi Chapel and Museum. We spent a quiet 90 minutes wandering through the exhibits reading about the atrocity of human behaviour and the bravery of people. Too much to mention happened here. Following on from St Andrew's it was a very worthwhile day.