Today commemorates two nurses, Florence Nightingale and Clara Maass. Unless you’re from New Jersey where the Clara Maass Medical Center is located, you’re probably unfamiliar with Clara. I didn’t know about her until I was working in a contract post office when the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in her honor. People asked who she was, so I had to learn about her to answer the questions.

Clara Maass was born in East Orange, New Jersey in 1876. She was from a devout Lutheran family and became a nurse. She volunteered as a nurse in the U.S. Army serving in Jacksonville, Savannah, and Santiago, Cuba, and later in the Philippines.  In 1901 she volunteered to participate in the yellow fever experiments being conducted in Cuba. She allowed herself to be bitten twice by a mosquito thought to be the carrier of the disease. She contracted a virulent form of yellow fever and died on August 24, 1901.

Some people to whom I told her story were impressed at the courage of the young woman. Others thought she was crazy to risk her own life.

The example of Clara Maass raises the issue of sacrifice for Christians. What are we willing to risk on account of our faith? We don’t sacrifice in order to get something from God, but rather because of what God has done for us. Our sacrifice is for the sake of others. What we sacrifice is a decision we have to come to for ourselves in prayerful consideration as God gives us means and opportunity.

Read Romans 12:1-2 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne