Today is a day to remember and respond. A time to recall that we live in a world wear every day people experience sickness, disease and death. There are many diseases that make life in this world a living hell for so many people and those who love them. Breast cancer, cancer of all kinds, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and so much more. One disease in particular seems to have had a hysteria in it's onset that became labeled the "gay disease" in the 1980's and even many today think it is "God's punishment for homosexuality." Such is a very sad testament to the Religious Right. HIV/AIDS continues to be known not only among gay and bisexual men, but also women especially in South Africa, children, among drug users and individuals who have had blood transfusions. HIV/AIDS has even changed the way institutions clean up bodily fluids of all kinds. The stereotypes and cries for justice in health care and State, Federal and International funding combined with education is so important.
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote the following in her Letter on World AIDS Day.
The world lives in painful silence and gathering doom. More than 30 million people around the world are living with HIV, and at least 2.5 million persons will be infected in the coming year. Developing countries experience HIV and AIDS as major links in the chain of poverty and instability binding so much of God's creation. In the United States HIV rates are also rising among the poor. An increased need for American funding of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment has been met with silence and retreat, as other pressing challenges vie for national and global attention.
And yet silence and doom do not have the last word. The UNAIDS report released last week notes that the rate of new HIV infections has either stabilized or been reduced significantly in 56 nations. New infections have fallen 20% in the past decade, and AIDS deaths have fallen 20% in the past five years. The director of UNAIDS urges the world to break "the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic with bold actions and smart choices." The Centers for Disease Control identify HIV/AIDS as one of six diseases which can be overcome. Research results released last week show promising results in clinical trials of a new prophylactic drug, designed to prevent HIV infection in at-risk communities. This success comes in the wake of recently publicized advances in identifying HIV 'controller genes,' which may lead to advances in vaccines or treatment.
This contrast confronts us on World AIDS Day: great progress and even greater hope despite public discourse and political leadership that rarely prioritizes an end to this deadly and stigmatizing disease. What can Christians do to ensure the victory of hope and new life in the face of silence and death?
The first priority: continue to advocate forcefully for government investment in the fight against AIDS both here and abroad. The U.S. government's has, in the past two years, decreased our nation's promised investment in HIV/AIDS abroad. This reduction had included both funding for particular countries, and our investment in the multinational Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote compellingly of President Obama's unfulfilled commitments in a New York Times op-ed this past summer. As the President prepares his budget for the coming fiscal year, I urge Episcopalians to challenge him and the new Congress to keep America's promises to the world. Joining the Episcopal Public Policy Network will connect your voice to those of other Episcopalians working in this and other areas of social justice.
The second priority: Episcopalians must continue to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS within our own communities. This Church still has AIDS, and urgent challenges remain. Stigma continues to be a major issue in the United States and around the world. Encouraging routine testing is essential, particularly among adults over age 50. I commend to all Episcopalians the work of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition, which has done much to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS and avenues of healing within our own communities.
Finally, I urge your prayers. As we prepare to mark the thirtieth year of the world's awareness of HIV and AIDS in 2011, pray for all who have died from this terrible disease. Pray for those living now with HIV and AIDS. And pray for a future without AIDS.
These past weeks have brought us new signs that such a future is indeed possible. Pray that we will use our collective resources, imagination, and will to make a world without AIDS a reality.
As the world and even the Church has moved in our concern over individuals who live with HIV/AIDS it is important that the messages of comprehensive sex education in our schools nationwide receive the support of every concerned person of good will. The subject of sexuality remains a big taboo even in many of America's homes. Many conservative Christians all across the board do not want public schools to deal with the subject of contraception including the safe use of condoms to help protect their children from HIV/AIDS. Yet, many homes remain places where sexuality whether it be heterosexuality or homosexuality cannot be discussed in healthy and open ways. The absence of such conversations leaves the children of today with confused messages that sexuality is dirty or just needs to be learned on it's own terms. Those places in America that insist on abstinence only sex education also have the highest rate of teen pregnancy and HIV infections. Yet, many conservative Christians still want our children to not have the information they need to make informed decisions about their bodies. Decisions that not only affect their lives, but the lives of anyone they may come into contact with.
The Episcopal Church today also commemorates the Deacon Nicolas Ferrar who brought a sense of religious observance to the newly established Church in Virginia. The Gospel reading for today's commemoration follows.
Matthew 13:47-52 (NRSV)
Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
"Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes." And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."
If the kingdom of heaven is a place where there are all kinds of fish which I think means there are all sorts of people too, then this world and the Church must continue to do all it can to make room for everyone no matter where they are on their faith journey. The one phrase that makes St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis such a wonderful place to worship is: "Wherever You Are On Your Faith Journey, St. Mark's Welcomes You."
Now for all those Christianists who are about to take the other part of this Gospel about the angels separating the good fish from the bad, I think some reconsideration is in order here. The good Christians in this world are often regarded as the "not so good liberal Christians" by the arch-conservative right. I am sure there are those who are conservative, who read my blog and think that I believe that Christianists are bad Christians. That is not entirely true. In conservative Bible believing Christians I know it is their deepest desire to serve Jesus with devotion and love so as to "win" people to follow him. Indeed that is what Christians are called to do in the work of evangelization. The problem that has arisen from that is the idea that the Bible condemns lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people to the point that unless we surrender and allow God to "change" our sexual and/or gender diversity or cease physically loving others of the same sex, we are damned to hell. The Bible verses that have been quoted over the years to suggest such have been erroneously interpreted and used. As a result LGBT people have been marginalized and stigmatized so badly by well-meaning Christians that many LGBT people just prefer not to be involved with any religion at all. Individuals who live with HIV/AIDS have heard some pretty crude statements from devoted Christians and Catholics to the point where they don't know what to listen to or what to believe anymore.
What we in the Christian Church need are people so devoted to God and Jesus that they are willing to consider that there is more to the Christian Faith than what the Bible reads. We Episcopalians love our glorious music and worship and that is all good. I would not be an Episcopalian today if I did not love how we worship. But the Christian experience for all of humankind cannot stop at interpreting the Bible so literally that we condemn LGBT individuals and those living with HIV/AIDS, when that is simply not what Jesus Christ was about or taught. As Christians we cannot continue to condemn comprehensive sex education that helps our teenagers and youth make informed decisions that help them stay alive and healthy should they make the choice to be sexually active. We also cannot continue to ignore the issue of HIV/AIDS here in the United States or abroad as if we have no responsibility to love our neighbor as ourselves.
What is living A Day with HIV is like in America? Read a great article by the Bilerico Project here.
There continues to be terrific news coming around about the Military Survey to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). Even though there is much stalling in the US Senate. Meanwhile Civil Unions have passed in the Illinois Senate giving LGBT folks a lot of hope for marriage equality there. Yet amidst all of this great news are those who are willing to allow unemployed Americans go without some kind of benefits, while giving tax breaks to those who make more than enough to survive a year on. Clearly we have many good things going on, but we also have folks who consider themselves very good followers of Christ placing heavier burdens on those who already have a lot to carry, while making life easier for those who line their pockets with campaign contributions. Is it possible this was what Jesus was talking about in referring to separating the fish?
As we remember World AIDS Day as well as LGBT individuals, Nicholas Ferrar and those who are struggling with this terrible economy, let us also reflect on our own work as Christians. Christianity does not check our brains at the door when we read our Bibles, or leave our "love our neighbor" theology when we walk out the doors of our churches. The Gospel needs to come alive in our active concern for those who need a message of love, acceptance, inclusion and hope in this world. There is way too much violence and hate sometimes at the hands of Christians who are looking at the world through one set of lenses. It is past time that we start seeing that all individuals are members of Christ's family, and represent Christ himself to us, the world and the Church. Amen.
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday of Advent, Book of Common Prayer, page 211)
Lord God, make us worthy of your perfect love; that, with your deacon Nicholas Ferrar and his household, we may rule ourselves according to your Word, and serve you with our whole heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Nicholas Ferrar, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 93).
O Lord Jesus, Healer of our every ill, during your ministry you cured those who suffered from both the disease and the stigma of leprosy. Now we confront the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Today, as before, support and heal all people living with the disease, comfort those who have lost friends or lovers, strengthen and encourage families, caregivers and activists in their daily tasks, guide doctors and researchers on their quest, lead politicians and governments to policies of compassion, and enlighten those whose hearts are filled with prejudice, hate, and error. Amen. (For Persons with HIV/AIDS By Stephen Helmreich ).
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