More Light Presbyterians & Friends --
December 1st is World AIDS Day. It is a day of remembrance, ministry and action. HIV/AIDS has been with us for more than 25 years. College and high school students have not known a world or life without HIV.
"Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise" is the World AIDS Day Campaign theme for 2006.
Since the first reported case of HIV in 1981, over 65 million people worldwide have been infected, over 25 million people have died. 39.5 million people worldwide are living with HIV with only a fraction of those receiving treatment and health care. This year alone, 4.1 million persons are newly infected, with 2.8 million deaths.
These are not just unsettling numbers, they are all beloved children of God, created in the image of God and loved by God just like everyone else. They are our sisters, brothers, mothers, daughters, fathers and sons, they are our friends, they are us and we are them.
December 1 is a Day of Remembrance, Ministry and Action.
What can you and I do? What can my church, MLP Chapter, youth group, campus ministry or seminary community do? What can my local Presbyterian Women's group, Deacons, or Presbyterian Men's group do?
We can remember. We can remember those we loved and lost to HIV/AIDS. Light a candle, say a prayer. For those we know who have lost loved ones, reach out with a call, note or visit. Let them know you remember and your care.
We can minister. Join your church's local HIV/AIDS Care Team. If your church does not have one, start one. Locate the Interfaith AIDS Alliance nearest you or your local Community HIV/AIDS Service and ask how you and your church can be of help to them. Contact PAN, our Presbyterian AIDS Network and support its outreach and ministries.
[http://www.panonline.org/about.html;PAN], our Presbyterian AIDS Network, of PHEWA, the Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Network, offers an additional theme for this World AIDS Day of "It's A Matter of Faith." [http://www.pcusa.org/phewa/networks/pan/AIDSWorship.pdf;Special worship, education and preaching materials] to assist you in preparing for a candlelight AIDS vigil, a healing service and blessing for those living with HIV/AIDS, a commissioning service for those working in HIV/AIDS ministries, a memorial service, etc. have been collected by PHEWA and our International AIDS Ministries Office, PCUSA.
We can act. Our words, our prayers are a start, a good start. And, as we enter the 26th year of the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS, as people of faith, as Christians, Presbyterians we can and must act. Knowledge and understanding are prerequisites for thoughtful and helpful action.
The first World AIDS Day was held in 1988. The international theme this year focuses upon accountability. For more information on the World AIDS Day Campaign - [http://www.worldaidscampaign.info/]
For more information on how our world is affected by HIV/AIDS go to UNAIDS - the United National Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS - [http://www.unaids.org/en/]
During the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, I remember a profound shift in language --- from the question "Who is infected by HIV?" to "Who is affected by HIV? and the answer was, all of us. It was a moment of transformation for the movement, for who we are as a nation. It can be a moment of transformation for our Church, your local church and presbytery.
All of us are affected by HIV/AIDS. It is the hope and prayer of More Light Presbyterians that all of us will remember, minister and act.
For all those who have lost loved ones to HIV/AIDS recently or long ago, you are not forgotten. Please know that you are in God's hands and our prayers.
For all those children of God in our midst, in our families, in our congregations, on our college and seminary campuses who live with HIV, please know that you are in God's hands and our prayers.
A prayer by St. Theresa of Avila --
"Christ has no body now on earth but yours;
No Hands, but yours;
No Feet, but yours;
Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion looks out into the world;
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless now."
with hope and grace,
Michael
Ref: http://www.mlp.org/article.php/20061129122003213