Reflection from our Eyam Pilgrimage last Spring
Last Spring, a group from our parish walked the Peak Pilgrimage to Eyam. In recent days, as our churches have shut for public worship and many of us are isolating at home, we have been reflecting again on the story of the Eyam villagers quarantining themselves to protect their neighbours from the plague.
This is the reflection that Cate Jacobs gave at the concluding service at the boundary stone:
“This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.”
Worship at the Eyam boundary stone led by Cate Jacobs, April 2019
When Jesus said this, his disciples and followers would probably not have fully comprehended that he meant this quite literally and within days of having said it he would be arrested and crucified.
We can only imagine how seriously the Rev Mompesson and people of Eyam took this verse when they made the decision to quarantine themselves from the rest of the world, to stop the spread of the plague. I would dare to say that the certainty that many of them would die, made this act, in essence, as sacrificial as the crucifixion.
In recent times we have seen many heroic acts of sacrifice when people have, in an instant done things that meant other’s lives were saved – most recently we have the horrific shooting in the mosque in New Zealand and the stories of those who stood in the line of fire to protect the ones they loved.
When we love someone, it is all too easy to say ‘I would die for you’ but do we really mean it or is it merely a theoretical expression – most of us will never know because we will never be in a position to have such a statement tested in reality. And in that we are truly blessed.
But the people of Eyam made their decision knowing full well that many of them would die; and because of their sacrifice, many more people lived.
Jesus gives us two commandments to live our lives by: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and Love one another as I have loved you – the decision to quarantine the village showed great faithfulness to these commandments and because of their sacrifice we are here today. That may seem like a bold claim but if they hadn’t had quarantined the village, the plague would definitely have spread and the likelihood is that most of our ancestors would never have been born and neither would we – a sobering thought.
We are survivors of the plague, the living water that flows on through the generations carrying it with it our faith in Christ.
Jesus said:
“Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
As we depart this place with thanks giving. Lets us go forth quenched by the living water, to live out the way of love laid down for us by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.