Title: Lutherans Observe World AIDS Day Through 'Keep the Promise' ELCA NEWS SERVICE
November 29, 2007
Lutherans Observe World AIDS Day Through 'Keep the Promise' 07-200-MRC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In observance of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have the opportunity to reflect with other Christians on the worldwide response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic through "Keep the Promise - Advent in a Time of AIDS" -- a devotional calendar that begins with World AIDS Day and ends Jan. 6. The calendar is available through Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the ELCA.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA and president of the Lutheran World Federation, provided the Dec. 9 devotion, "God comes to us in the wilderness."
"Most people know how it feels to be lost in the wilderness," Hanson wrote in the devotion.
"During this Advent season we are particularly aware of the many wilderness places in our lives: the aching isolation of shame; children without parents; too few medicines and over- stretched medical facilities; the fear of difficult death; the agony of losing those you love too soon. It is precisely in the wilderness places of our lives that God makes God's home with us. God comes to us to prepare the way, claiming us for life, and leading us into community and justice," Hanson wrote.
Other contributors are the Rev. Walter Altmann, president, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, Jill Schumann, president and CEO, Lutheran Services in America, Baltimore, and the Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, Anglican archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa.
"The only hope for a comprehensive and therefore globally effective response to HIV and AIDS is for strong leaders from all walks of life to commit themselves and those they represent to combating HIV and AIDS in all possible ways. Many of these leaders have made such commitments. Governments have spoken eloquently and made concrete promises at national levels in the United Nations and at the G8. Governments, including the United States government, have committed themselves to universal access to treatment," said the Rev. Rebecca Larson, executive director, ELCA Church in Society.
"Religious leaders have also made commitments. Bishop Hanson has called for a comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS and the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly has called for an ELCA strategy on HIV and AIDS. The Global AIDS Campaign calls for all leaders and governments and institutions to keep the promises they have made to people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. It is a global movement that moves beyond good intentions, and it calls for accountability and action," said Larson.
The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA) developed the Keep the Promise calendar. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the EAA is an international network of more than 90 churches and Christian organizations cooperating in advocacy on global trade and HIV and AIDS. The ELCA is a participant in the alliance.
Each day of the calendar features a reflection from "prophets and pastors, leaders and lay people, women and men, HIV positive and HIV negative, all united in the conviction that by keeping our personal and collective promises, we can reach the goal of universal access to treatment, care and prevention, and work toward a future without AIDS," according to the EAA. The calendar is available in English, French, Spanish and Russian.
"Keep the Promise" is an EAA campaign that holds individuals, religious leaders, faith organizations, governments and intergovernmental organizations accountable for the commitments they have made, and that advocates for further efforts and resources to fight HIV and AIDS. Goals of the campaign include fighting stigma and discrimination, promoting prevention, mobilizing resources, advocating universal access to treatment, and promoting accountability. - - -
Information about ELCA ministries on HIV and AIDS is at http://www.ELCA.org/aids on the Web. "Keep the Promise - Advent in a Time of AIDS" is at http://www.e- alliance.ch/hivaids_adventcal.jsp on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog