Reflecting on World AIDS Day

Well, I've been away from the blog for awhile. The fall has been full and I've focused my writing time on my thesis for my doctoral program (not as successfully as I might like). Today seems like a good day to jump back in.

I was home all day today, mostly resting from the impact of what I'm sure my doctor would tell me is a virus. So, following the orders I could hear without him saying it, I made sure I drank plenty of liquids and I rested. The resting part wasn't hard!

The irony of my day did not hit me until this evening. Here I am at home resting comfortably with a mild virus that will be gone quickly. I'll soon be back to my normal, healthy life (in other words, by tomorrow). I don't need to take any medication. I don't need to see the doctor. I don't need to worry about my health insurance. All of this on World AIDS Day, a day on which we remember the millions in the world who live with HIV/AIDS and the tragic loss of so many who have died because of this disease.

Perhaps what bothers me the most at the moment is that I did not spend any time today (until this evening) remembering or praying for those living with and dying from AIDS. It never entered my mind. I suspect I'm not alone. For those of us not impacted on a daily basis, it is too easy to forget. I find it difficult to forgive myself for forgetting because I lost a beloved uncle in 1999. Although the cause of his death was a heart attack, it had been brought on in large part because he had been living with AIDS for many years (15 or so). How could I not think of Gene today? How could I not pray for his soul and the souls of so many others? Over 33 million people in the world live with AIDS. It is so important to remember.

Wanting to make up for not remembering throughout the day I went on the Internet and googled "World AIDS Day." There were more sites than I could possibly look at this evening, but I found a couple of sites that struck me as important.

One was a video for World AIDS Day from Lambeth Palace featuring the Archbishop of Canterbury. While I'm not a big fan of the Archbishop I appreciate what he is doing through this video. It's not the most exciting video you will find (definitely too slow to appeal to younger generations), but the conversation he has with the four women who deal with AIDS every day in their lives and their work is important to hear.

At one point in the video the Archbishop says, "The Body of Christ lives with HIV." Yes. That's true. And this is why we need to remember on World AIDS Day. The church, the Body of Christ, is filled with all sorts of people: black, white, Asian, rich, poor, middle class, gay, straight, bisexual, etc., etc. It certainly is filled with people who live with AIDS. If we accept that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are members of the same body, then as long as one member lives with AIDS, we all live with AIDS. I don't understand this to mean that we all suffer from HIV/AIDS equally. We clearly do not. I understand this to mean that we all share responsibility for remembering those who have died from AIDS, caring for those who live with AIDS, advocating for better healthcare for those with HIV/AIDS (especially in the global south where so many suffer), teaching our children ways to prevent the spread of AIDS, encouraging research that will produce a cure for AIDS, and praying for those who live with AIDS.

Here's the challenge I am setting for myself: What can I do during Advent that will have some impact? What can I do to make a tangible difference? I have some ideas, but perhaps I'll share those in another posting.

The second site I found helpful contained a variety of prayers offered by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (there are links on this page for other information on HIV/AIDS, some of which is outdated). What I want to offer from the ELCA site is a beautiful and comprehensive prayer that articulates a vision of a loving, merciful God, of a community bonded together in hope and purpose, and of a society in which barriers are broken down so that creation is whole. This prayer comes from the Maryknoll sisters of the San Salvador Diocesan HIV/AIDS program and the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. Perhaps you can pray this prayer this evening or whenever you read this. We don't, after all, need to restrict our prayers concerning HIV/AIDS to one day a year.

God of all compassion,
Comfort your sons and daughters
Who live with HIV.
Spread over us all your quilt of
Mercy,Love and Peace.

Open our eyes to your presence
Reflected in their faces.
Open our ears to your truth
Echoing in their hearts.
Give us the strength

To weep with the grieving,
To walk with the lonely,
To stand with the depressed.

May our love mirror your love
For those who live in fear,
Who live under stress and
Who suffer rejection.

Mothering, fathering God
Grant rest to those who have died
And hope to all who live with HIV.

God of life, help us to find the cure now
And help us to build a world in which
No one dies alone and where
Everyone lives accepted
Wanted and loved.
Amen.