Primum non nocere: First, Do no Harm

This Sunday, in the absence of one of the local Ministers, I will be preaching my first sermon for a while. I based it on the Latin phrase: Primum non nocere, which is contained within the Hippocratic Oath, taken by Doctors and other medical practitioners. I won't post it in it's entirety, because, written, it is far too long. Briefly, my Sermon examines those of the Ten Commandments that are, perhaps, unnecessary, if we hold to the simple precept contained within these four words. Of course the Oath goes on to give active guidance, for simply doing no harm does not cover necessary interventions if doctors are to save their patients limbs and lives, although walking away from, say, an accident, can be said to do as much harm as causing it in the first place.
     The first Four Commandments are specifically about our relationship as humans, with God, or duties, also given in the Fourth, to keep the Lord's Day Holy which, sadly, has for many in this country and others become just another working day. The Fifth expressly states how we ought to behave, with respect, to our Parents – who gave us this life.
     The second half, the last Five Commandments, are instructions about what we are NOT to do: Kill, Commit Adultery, Steal, Bear false Witness, or Covet that which belongs to others. And I would argue that, away from the practice of medicine, the Commandment to Do No Harm, sums them up.
I am the LORD thy God
No graven images or likenesses
Not take the LORD's name in vain
Remember the sabbath day
Honour thy father and thy mother
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness
Thou shalt not covet
And if everyone simply accepted and abided by the instruction, First, Do No Harm, think what a better world we would live in.
     You may be forgiven for wondering how I will manage to take the usual 15 minutes for this Sermon. I am a great fan of Just a Minute on BBC Radio 4 and, I believe, on The World Service, with fans everywhere that is received. A simple game, devised by Ian Messiter many years ago and based on the Parlour Game in which contestants have to speak for one minute on a particular subject without Hesitation, Deviation or Repetition and what a dread we experienced when it became our turn and were given something like: Why eggs are not Spherical or Why we See in Colour, A Day in the Life of a Penny, and Einstein's General Theory of Relativity!
     Yes, my Family – the extended Family – was rather peculiar, but those were happy days and we young people were brought up to respect others and treat everyone as we would wish to be treated ourselves. And we quickly learned how to speak for a minute without Hesitation, Deviation or Repetition, so a 15 minute Sermon isn't too great a challenge. Especially when it is written beforehand and practised ant therefore not extemporized!

     I have twice in my life been called on to make an impromptu speech at an event where I was supposed to be merely one of the guests. One was a Community Association Burns Supper where no-one had been prepped to give the Toast: To the Immortal Memory (of Robert Burns, for those who didn't know or have never been to a Burns Supper); and the other was at a Community Council's Annual General Meeting when the election was being held for the Officers – Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer, posts for which the candidates have normally either put themselves forward already or who have been browbeaten into accepting, nut on this occasion, when I was merely there as the friend of one of the newly elected Councillors with whom I was going out to dinner that evening. Normally someone, perhaps the retiring Chairperson or a local Regional or District Councillor calls for nominations, the new Chairperson is elected and he or she conducts the rest of the proceedings. Unfortunately no-one fitting those designations was present and all eyes fixed on my Clerical Collar, that bane of life for Ministers or Religion and one which I usually discard or cover with a muffler on
evenings off in the company of a woman friend – I don't often find myself spending the evening with a Man Friend, for obvious reasons. Anyway on this occasion it seemed, in the eyes of the villagers who had turned up, to qualify me for this initial task, and it took just over an hour to fill the post of Chairperson and my friend, who wasn't in the running having just been elected for the first time, said afterwards that I had spoken during that hour for 50 minutes without Hesitation, Repetition or Deviation and she felt I deserved a reward which she intended to give me in person once we got back to her cottage. That was one of the best prizes I have ever won and we are still very good friends and occasional lovers whenever our paths converge and we have some time to spare for more than pleasantries and the occasion permits.
     So, you see, although we are now adults and are expected to put away our childish things, there is often still a place for them in our adult lives and so we should not discard everything or we might throw away the baby with the bathwater and here I still my pen and reach for a warming Hot Toddy on a cold and wintry night, Amen!