Prayer guide focuses on people with serious illnesses
Nov. 30, 2006
NOTE: Photographs and related stories are available at http://umns.umc.org.
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - "The cry of my heart is a cure for HIV and AIDS worldwide."
Those are the words of Mathabo L. of South Africa, one of the writers living with HIV/AIDS who has contributed to a special prayer book for people suffering with serious diseases.
Prayers for Encouragement: Hope for Persons Living with HIV & AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and Other Serious Diseases is being printed by Upper Room Ministries in partnership with the Africa Upper Room Office.
The English edition will be available for World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. Editions in French, Portuguese, Kiswahili, IsiZulu and other languages will be available in early 2007.
The idea for the prayer book was born when the Rev. Don Messer, executive director of the Center for the Church and Global AIDS, discovered copies of the Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide in the waiting room of Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya.
There is a large population of Methodists and a "raging epidemic of HIV/AIDS" in the Meru area of Kenya, according to Messer. Many people come to the hospital to be tested, get counseling and be treated with anti-retroviral drugs. "It's a pretty stressful time when people come to be tested and face these issues," he said.
Seeing the battered, 10-year-old copies of the devotional guide in the waiting room prompted Messer to contact Upper Room Ministries about publishing a special collection of prayers for people suffering with HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
He realized that people sitting in the waiting room "must have been worrying and thinking and praying, and they'd turned to these Upper Room magazines for guidance and support," he said.
"Where there is human suffering and crisis, Upper Room Ministries wants to provide openings to God's healing and reconciling grace," said the Rev. Stephen D. Bryant, editor and publisher of The Upper Room Devotional Guide. "When Dr. Don Messer contacted us, we knew this was consistent with who God has called us to be."
Growing crisis
Since 1981, the U.S. AIDS epidemic has been steadily growing, and by the beginning of 2005, more than 1 million people were estimated to be living with HIV and approximately 415,000 were living with AIDS. AIDS is believed to have killed more than half a million Americans, nearly 10 times the number killed in the Vietnam War.
On the African continent, 25 million adults and children - most of them in sub-Saharan countries - are living with HIV/AIDS. Every week, nearly 40,000 Africans die of the disease.
"Governments can bring and must bring needed medicines and programs and the church can participate in those, but the church has a special role in providing spiritual comfort and strength and prayers for encouragement to people in need, " Messer said.
The meditations in Prayers for Encouragement represent the faith journeys of people who live with HIV/AIDS and those involved in HIV/AIDS-related services. Two United Methodist bishops, along with well-known medical and church leaders, are among the writers.
Though this is the first time Upper Room Ministries has specifically published a resource for HIV/AIDS, it has provided booklets of meditations and prayer to soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq and their families, people in the path of the Asian tsunami, and churches affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.
Upper Room Ministries, part of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, compiled the booklet in conjunction with the Center for the Church and Global AIDS. The project is being funded by friends and supporters of Upper Room Ministries and the center.
The booklet will be distributed through Upper Room Ministries' global editorial and distribution network; United Methodist leaders, clergy and lay people who are in ministry with those affected by HIV/AIDS; and community, national and international health and service organizations.
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. Information for this story was provided by Jeanette Pinkston, director of media relations, United Methodist Board of Discipleship.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org
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