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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Baroness Julia Neuberger, Rabbi of West London Synagogue

Good morning.

On this day back in 1747, the first clinic opened in London specialising in the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. The new Lock Hospital became immensely popular, even though the treatments then available were thoroughly ineffective. And they never readmitted a patient once they’d been discharged!

But that turned out to be a problem. Some of the female patients had been on the streets and had nowhere to be discharged to- a problem that still exists in the NHS with homeless patients and people who need extra ongoing care. So the hospital governors opened a new institution, the Lock Asylum for the Reception of Penitent Female Patients, (an awful name!), for women who had received treatment at the Hospital but had no steady life to return to. They were taught needlework and other skills so that they could go ‘into service’ and earn their living. That institution grew, was renamed, moved, and grew again, until it became a Military Isolation Hospital during World War II.

So when we read in the Bible that we should care for the orphan and the widow, because God does, we should think of these places of safety, however old fashioned they may seem now. The biblical book of Deuteronomy, says "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. So you too should love the stranger; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Lock hospital governors knew a thing or two. We have a duty to look after the vulnerable- whoever they are. As we go through this busy day, and other busy days, may we keep our eyes open for those who need our help, for the present day orphan and the widow, the stranger and the destitute, who we so often pass by in the street and ignore. If life had been different, we could have been there.