Daily Prayer for use on World AIDS Day
Introduction The theme for World AIDS Day 2021 is “END INEQUALITIES. END AIDS. END PANDEMICS.”. As we are all living with current effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effect that this pandemic has had on health services around the world have prolonged suffering for some and endangered progress made on ending AIDS. According to UNAIDS - Without bold action against inequalities, the world risks missing the targets to end AIDS by 2030, as well as a prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and a spiralling social and economic crisis. Forty years since the first AIDS cases were reported, HIV still threatens the world. Today, the world is off track from delivering on the shared commitment to end AIDS by 2030 not because of a lack of knowledge or tools to beat AIDS, but because of structural inequalities that obstruct proven solutions to HIV prevention and treatment. Economic, social, cultural and legal inequalities must be ended as a matter of urgency if we are to end AIDS by 2030. Although there is a perception that a time of crisis is not the right time to prioritize tackling the underlying social injustices, it is clear that without doing so the crisis cannot be overcome. Tackling inequalities is a long-standing global promise, the urgency of which has only increased. In 2015, all countries pledged to reduce inequalities within and between countries as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Global AIDS Strategy 2021–2026: End Inequalities, End AIDS and the Political Declaration on AIDS adopted at the 2021 United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS have ending inequalities at their core. As well as being central to ending AIDS, tackling inequalities will advance the human rights of key populations and people who are living with HIV, make societies better prepared to beat COVID-19 and other pandemics and support economic recovery and stability. Fulfilling the promise to tackle inequalities will save millions of lives and will benefit society as a whole. But ending inequalities requires transformative change. Political, economic and social policies need to protect the rights of everyone and pay attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized communities. Governments must now move from commitment to action. Governments must promote inclusive social and economic growth. They must eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices in order to ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities. It is time for governments to keep their promises. They must act now, and we must make them accountable. Please join me in praying for action this World AIDS Day. The prayers are set out in the form of Daily Prayer, but please feel free to adapt. It can be said alone or part of a group. Stephen Spillane, November 2021
Opening Sentences
O Lord, open to us the gates of righteousness, That we may enter through them and give thanks to you. This is the day that the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good; God’s steadfast love endures forever. (based on Psalm 118: 19, 24 ,29)
Opening Prayer God of Promise, today we are mindful of our sisters and brothers suffering with HIV and AIDS. We ask your healing presence on millions of people living with the disease today; particularly the children who are infected or who have been orphaned by the disease. Make of us a safe haven for those who are abandoned, discriminated against and rejected on account of their illness. Inspire us to speak out for a just distribution of health care and medical aid in this country and for generosity in sharing our resources with those struggling under the weight of this epidemic overseas. As we begin our Advent celebration of waiting in hope for the birth of your Son, let us remember those across the world who wait in hope for a cure. Amen. Confession Forgiving God, today as we remember the untold lives lost because of the AIDS pandemic and those who today continue to live with HIV, we, your people confess before you that: • We have a dearth of courage to speak up and take action against injustice and exploitation. • We lack the faith in your power, to challenge stigma and discrimination and to work harder to transform society. • We have neglected to live in hope each day; to wait on you and to give hope to those who are marginalized, by extending adequate support, care and treatment. • We have not loved others as ourselves, and have not acknowledged the presence of the Divine in them. • We have stood by silently and even contributed to the suffering and exploitation of the vulnerable and those in need. Forgive us, we have disobeyed you. Even our best efforts are but faded and dried leaves; Blown away by the constant gusts of our inequities. Reading: Proverbs 31:8-9 Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The Word of God
3
He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore. Gospel Reading – Matthew 22:33-40 And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching. When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ Prayers of Intercession O God, we come before you this day with longing, with hungering, with tremendous need of your healing presence. We pray on behalf of ourselves, our loved ones, our community, and our world on this World AIDS Day and commit to “Getting to Zero” together. Loving God, we receive your gentle, powerful, healing touch. For people who have tested HIV positive and endure tension-filled waiting; sometimes hopeful and optimistic, sometimes frozen with fear and despair …(silent prayer); loving God, We receive your gentle, powerful, healing touch. For groups of people who are viciously scapegoated as the cause of the spread of AIDS, and too often pronounced “non-innocent” sufferers of AIDS diseases because they are poor, or black, or gay, or African, or a prostitute… (silent prayer); loving God, We receive your gentle, powerful, healing touch. For the families of someone dying of AIDS that are torn apart and divided because of ignorance and prejudice, or that are rendered entirely invisible, not recognized as a “real family”… (silent prayer); loving God We receive your gentle, powerful, healing touch. For people stricken by grief at the death of a loved one from AIDS…(silent prayer); loving God, We receive your gentle, powerful, healing touch.
For the sickness and indifference that infuses the fabric of our wealthy nation, tolerating policies that would cut funding or which supports price gauging of the necessary elixirs of health…(silent prayer); loving God, We receive your gentle, powerful, healing touch. For the nations that are being decimated by the disease of AIDS and apathy…(silent prayer); loving God, We receive your gentle, powerful, healing touch. For the people who continue to yell, “Enough,” give us strength for the struggle, and bring your justice now…(silent prayer); loving God, We receive your gentle, powerful, healing touch. God, we lift up all those suffering from HIV and AIDS; bring your healing and restoration to their bodies. Help us to do our part in ministering in loving care, support, and patience for your people who suffer with HIV and AIDS. Lead us to do whatever it will take to eradicate this illness from the lives of those who are touched by it, both directly and indirectly. Trusting in you and the strength of your Spirit, we pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Act of Commitment This Advent, we stand firm, waiting on the Lord; alert and awake. The spirit of the Lord God is upon us; Anointed to bring good news to the oppressed, to lead by example. Adorning a mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit; We commit ourselves to ensure that the 13 million children, young people, women and men living with HIV who are yet to receive antiretroviral treatment, will get the care, treatment and services that they are deprived of. We commit to heal and care for the sick and broken-hearted; Bearing one another’s burdens, fulfilling the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ. We commit to proclaiming liberty to the captives; And release the enslaved. We commit to acknowledge you and serve you, Lord, in the other; Seeing you Lord, in the neediest and most vulnerable. (Adapted from Isaiah 61:1, 3 ; Galatians 6:2 ; Matthew 25: 40) Closing Prayers God, open our eyes to the systems around us that oppress, hold down, and disadvantage the most vulnerable in our society, so that we may increase and abound in our love for one another and for all people. God, open our ears to the myths, stereotypes, and lies that keep these systems going, so that we may increase and abound in our love for one another and for all people. God, open our mouths to challenging conversations about race, sex, and differences, so that we may increase and abound in our love for one another and for all people.
God, open our hearts to the understanding that we are all affected by HIV/AIDS, so that we may increase and abound in our love for one another and for all people. Blessing Listen, learn and live! Keep open to life’s changes. Be ready to be transformed by the power of love. We are open to life’s changes. We are ready to be transformed by the power of love. Listen, learn and live! Take strength from each other, so that you may always be hopeful and have comfort, even in great loss. We take strength from each other, so that we may always be hopeful and have comfort, even in great loss. Listen, learn and live! May the One who creates and sustains you be with you and bless you this day, and always, whoever you are and wherever you go. The One who creates and sustains us is with us and blesses us this day, and always, whoever we are and wherever we go. Listen, learn and live! Amen!
Figure 1: The AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, (pic by Author 2017)
References Chausa.org. 2017. Prayer for World AIDS Day. [online] Available at: <https://www.chausa.org/prayers/prayer-library---archive/national-and-internationalobservances/global-and-international-prayers-and-reflections/prayer-for-world-aids-day> [Accessed 29 November 2021]. General Board of Church and Society - The United Methodist Church. 2017. A prayer for World AIDS Day. [online] Available at: <https://www.umcjustice.org/news-and-stories/a-prayerfor-world-aids-day-580> [Accessed 29 November 2021]. Mccchurch.org. n.d. World AIDS Day Prayers – Metropolitan Community Churches. [online] Available at: <https://www.mccchurch.org/world-aids-day/world-aids-day-prayers/> [Accessed 29 November 2021]. Sojourners. 2009. Prayer of the Day: World AIDS Day. [online] Available at: <https://sojo.net/articles/prayer-day-world-aids-day> [Accessed 29 November 2021]. World Council of Churches. 2020. World AIDS Day 2020 Order of service. [online] Available at: <https://www.oikoumene.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/WAD-liturgy2020%20final_0.pdf> [Accessed 29 November 2021].