Written by Lyn Lloyd-Smith from the Village Church
I love graveyards. There is so much to be learned about a community in reading the headstones and seeing families buried together through the generations. I love researching birth, marriage and death certificates, and following family lines through history. And yet, my heart breaks a little every time I see the deaths of so many small children, taken by epidemic and infection, diseases not seen today. This was brought home to me in January when I was helping a friend with her family tree and discovered that between 1920 and 1930 her great-grandfather had lost 7 of his grandchildren, as babies and toddlers, to diphtheria, whooping cough, and pneumonia. While doing this research two of my own grandchildren, in the space of three weeks were in hospital on IV antibiotics, thanks to medical care they both recovered quickly and are back in good health. I thought of Matthew 10:8 where Jesus says “Heal the sick…. Freely you have received; freely give.” Christians, in monasteries and homes, through the ages have sought to follow this calling but for many centuries their tools were of comfort and care, bringing the love of God to the sick and the dying; often there was little they could do practically. However, the rapid expansion of medical science and community health since the late 19th century, and particularly since the 1940s with the introduction of widespread vaccination and antibiotics, has changed our world. Today I give thanks for the hand of God, the love of Jesus in the medical research, the scientists and doctors who have made this a healthier world for all our children.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. [Matthew 10:8]
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