A reflective evening on Covid 23/3/21
Over 50 people from across the circuit joined the Zoom meeting to hear Dr Brian Gennery and David Morgan.
Soba opened the meeting with prayer, and David and Brian gave their backgrounds. Pandemics appear in the Bible—for example in Numbers 25:9 there was a plague that had killed 64000 people—likely to be bubonic plague.
Similarly something that looks very much like a clinical trial is described in Daniel 1:11-16 where Daniel suggested that eating vegetables and drinking water was better than eating the royal food and wine.
Vaccination has been successful in almost completely eradicating smallpox and polio. The flu vaccination many of us have each year has cut the number of cases. Although it looks as if the Covid vaccine was developed very quickly, no short-cuts have been taken. Brian has looked at the adverse events/reactions to the Covid vaccine here, and even the blood clots recently reported, when investigated, show that fewer blood clots have occurred in vaccinated people than what would be expected in the unvaccinated population.
David shared a graph of the result of having the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in over 55s showing a significant reduction in cases after 14 days.
Our Christian response? The pandemic won’t go away unless we do something about it using the tools God has given us. We should also pray for those affected, bereaved. Helping and caring is part of the teaching of Jesus. Carefully and prayerfully listen to official advice.
There followed a question and answer session and Catherine closed the meeting with prayer.
The session was recorded and can be available through the circuit office, David Morgan or Rev Sharon.