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Letter for World AIDS Day 2008 ? Uncommon Hope
By Joshua L. Love, San Francisco, California, USA
Dear MCC Family,
AIDS IS NOT OVER.
This one simple statement of fact must surely awaken a response in the hearts and spirits of people of faith. AIDS is not over and World AIDS Day has come again. This annual time of remembrance, storytelling, and recommitment has become a [...]
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Letter for World AIDS Day 2008 - Uncommon Hope
by Rev. Elder Ken Martin
Dear MCC Family,
As a young preacher many years ago, I went to the Bible in search of a definition for ?hope? and was surprised to find that there was none! Hope is talked about and described but never defined. I did find an obscure Greek work used to describe hope and [...]
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Sermon for World AIDS Day 2008 - Uncommon Hope: First Sunday in Advent
by Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson
Moderator, Metropolitan Community Churches
Reading
Mark 13: 24-37
?But in those days, after that time of distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will fall from the sky and the powers in heaven will be shaken. Then they will see the Promised One coming in the clouds [...]
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Spiritual Activity for World AIDS Day 2008 - Writing Psalms for World AIDS Day
by Lewis Reay and Rev. Maxwell Reay, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Thirty-Three Million and Counting: A Psalm for World AIDS Day 2008
By Lewis Reay
Thirty-three million and counting,
Each one known to you,
Each one loved by you, O God.
As if the population of Canada or Algeria
All living with HIV.
I thought it would be over now.
Yet, last year, 2 [...]
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Reflections on Uncommon Hope in the Journey with HIV and AIDS: World AIDS Day 2008
By Rev. David Farrell, Palm Springs, California, USA
Looking back over the last 28 years of HIV/AIDS, what surprises you the most?
After nearly 30 years, though progress has been made, we still have not found a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. Still, I am enormously pleased today that, due to medical advances in medication regimens and [...]
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Reflections on Uncommon Hope for World AIDS Day 2008
by Christy Ebner, Dallas, Texas, USA
?The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is today.?
- African Proverb
As a lesbian in the 50+ age group the words of this African Proverb ring so true. Almost 30 years ago men began falling ill and dying of something ? a cancer [...]
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Reflections on Uncommon Hope and Multi-Faith Partnerships in HIV/AIDS: World AIDS Day 2008
By Bobby G. Pierce, San Francisco, California, USA
I am an openly HIV-Positive Jewish man and a member of MCC San Francisco.
When I tested positive in 2001, I knew very few openly HIV-Positive people, and none who professed a faith of any kind.
For a few years, I held my status a secret. I only [...]
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Reflections on Striving for Uncommon Hope in the Face of Difficulty: World AIDS Day 2008
By Preben Bakbo Sloth, Copenhagen, Denmark
David hid himself from Saul. David feared for his safety and life.
After the crucifixion of Jesus his friends hid themselves from the religious leaders of their time. They feared for their safety and lives.
The first Christians hid themselves in the catacombs. They feared for their safety and lives threatened by [...]
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Reflections on Uncommon Hope, Grieving, and HIV/AIDS: World AIDS Day 2008
By Rev. Axel Schwaigert, Stuttgart, Germany
To grieve. That pain in our very soul, this deep inner feeling of despair. One should think that it is something that happens automatically. Once a person experiences loss, once a person loses a loved one, grieving comes naturally. Nothing could be more wrong than this assumption. To grieve is [...]
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Reflections on World AIDS Day - One of These Things is Not Like the Other: Facing HIV Exposure in a Transgender Body
By Jakob Hero, Berkeley, California, USA
The reality of what happened didn?t sink in until the Emergency Room. It was the morning of Good Friday, as a church employee I had many other plans that day. My HMO offers no other option for urgent care than triage through the ER. Within an hour of my HIV [...]
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