Bro. Chris Tarry (The Hague, Netherlands) had a surprise for us oldies when he visited Jamaica in March. It was a set of 34 photographs that were 43 years old. They were black and white pictures of ecclesial activities and brothers and sisters in Jamaica in 1959 and 1960.
Those photographs are marvellous. Those were wonderful days of dramatic growth in the Caribbean. Nearly two hundred people appear in the pictures, some children but mostly brothers and sisters who had been baptized within the previous three years. An astonishing thing, looking at them now, is the youthfulness of our ecclesial population at that time. The photograph of the Kingston ecclesia shows a group of 28 brothers and sisters with only two over 35 years old — Bro. Herbert Burke and Bro. Harry Whittaker. Of those brothers and sisters in that picture, only seven are still alive, of which four are shut-iris.’ But the truly amazing thing is that of the twenty-eight brothers and sisters, twenty-one are asleep in Christ, and the seven alive still live in him. Over 43 years, not one has made shipwreck or lost faith.
There is a photograph of the Old Hope ecclesia, taken in front of their old thatched hall, before it became Broughton. Seventeen brothers and sisters: just two still alive. Not one was lost.
The photograph of the Epping Forest ecclesia shows their hall made of zinc sheeting. It was a furnace inside! A smiling group of 11 brothers and sisters. One of the group — a converted witch — went back to practise her old craft. The rest died in faith, with just three surviving now, only one still in Jamaica. There are nine members of the old Mandeville ecclesia beside their little meeting hall. Two are now just hanging on to life still. None left the faith.
There is a wonderful old photograph of the Lances Bay ecclesia, with its fine meeting hall before the enemies of the gospel invaded and hacked it to pieces with axes. Again, with 15 brothers and sisters in the picture, every single member died strong in faith or still lives today rejoicing in the truth.
There is a group of ten at the Rockfort Mineral Baths, witnessing a baptism. Nine Jamaican stalwarts of faith. The only backslider has been one English brother who happened to be visiting Jamaica at the time.
What giants of faith were they! What a wonderful harvest the Lord was reaping in the Caribbean in 1960!
Some individual close-ups actually brought tears to our eyes. Bro. Sidney Tomlinson of Kingston, cruelly racked with TB but radiant and smiling; Bro. Alfred Bingham of Old Hope; Bro. David McLeod of Mandeville; Bro. Larry Henry and Sis. Joyce Silvera of Kingston; Sis. Ruby Pinnock of Epping Forest. These all died tragically, or were killed, in their prime, while still in the full flower and power of ecclesial life.
Then there are the dearly beloved ones who lived so long and faithfully that it seemed that they would always be with us: Bro. Willie Watson of Broughton, Bro. Herbert Burke of Kingston, Bro. Charlie Lamb of Epping Forest, and that amazing Sis. Etta Young of Old Hope who, we recall fondly, was baptized as a dear old lady in 1957 and is still praising God today in Broughton.
These old photos make you want to shout for joy because of what God has wrought. The faces in all those photographs are just fantastic. Black, brown, white, they absolutely radiate joy.
If you want convincing evidence that God is, and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, then look at those thirty-four old photographs, as we did, and thank Him from your hearts!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One