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God is active in every time and place, meeting needs and electing people to join in holy mission according to the needs of each location, whether that be to establish churches or whatever social service agencies needed for gospel proclamation and service to humanity. Thanks be to God, because early on, over 100 years ago, the needs of Taiwan were seen clearly, and God dispatched James Maxwell, a missionary doctor from Great Britain, to conduct gospel proclamation and medical service work in Tainan. He not only spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ in this land, here in Tainan’s capital city he established the first Western Medical clinic in Taiwan, a work that has become today’s Sin-Lau Hospital.
The contributions of Sin-Lau Hospital are indelibly written into Taiwan’s medical history. They include medical training, establishing of obstetrical and nursing services, opium detoxification, leprosy and pulmonary wards, midwifery internships and more. As these services developed, Western medicine and medical skills continued to grow in Taiwan.
Sin-Lau Hospital has also had a history of highly competent and enthusiastic superintendents, who led all associated with the hospital to uphold the values of Service, Love and Hope in all aspects of the hospital’s work. This quiet example of compassion has, after more than a hundred years of history, led to Sin-Lau being a model regional training hospital. For this, we must give thanks to God, who through attentive protection and guidance, has brought us to this day when we celebrate the accomplishment. All Glory be to God.
There’s a story in the Bible about a man and a nation who faced a new and unknown future. When God commanded Joshua to lead his people into the land of Canaan, the first obstacle they faced was the Jordan River. How were they to get across? And, on the other side they faced Jericho, a fortress city. According to the story, God commanded the priests among the people to take up the Ark of the Covenant and to walk ahead of the people. In this manner, God led Israel’s tribes into an unknown future. In the fourth verse of the third chapter of the book of Joshua there’s a phrase, “you have not passed this way before.” The priests who bore the ark before the people strode along a road that they had not previously known. But it was the way they needed to go. Doing that sort of a thing is a difficult task for anyone.
Today, the medical mission work of Sin-Lau Hospital enters its 150th year. We continue forward, knowing the road behind us, but not content to rest upon our laurels. If we sit down, we stagnate. Though the road ahead is one that we have not walked previously, we must go. As Joshua long ago led the people of his nation, as the priests of those people bore the ark of the covenant before them, we admire those who took the first steps. We commend them for their faith, for the river before them was in flood as they stepped forth. The story tells us that when the feet of those who carried the ark dipped into the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, and remained there until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.
Logically speaking, if a group of people wants to invade the territory of another group, they send the soldiers first. But in this story, God worked counter to logic and intuition. The priests were sent even ahead of the army. They carried the symbol of God’s presence, the ark. In this way, the people experienced God’s leadership. Joshua, nominally the nation’s leader, depended on the Lord, on the presence of God with him and those people. He led the people across the river, where they besieged and conquered Jericho. He led them onward to take the city of Ai, and from there to all of Canaan’s fair and happy land, where they established a new and independent nation.
As Sin-Lau Hospital celebrates the 150th anniversary of its establishment, we must not pause for too long to revel in our past glories and recall the things behind us. We must continue to move forward in the company of the Lord God who fulfills promises. We must maintain the spirit that unites the love of Christ with the drive to serve. On faith alone, we As our hospital celebrates the 150th year of its establishment, we do not want to revel in our past glories, remembering the things of the past, but to remember the mission that is ours for all times. We move forward in the company of the Lord God who fulfills promises, maintaining a spirit that unites the love of Christ with a drive to serve. Based on faith, we go beyond the 150 steps behind us and move into an unknown future, creating something new that is built upon the foundations laid in our past.
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