World AIDS Day

About a month ago, I was asked by a friend to help with a community World AIDS Day event at the UMC in town where we had the show back in the summer.  I immediately said yes, especially since I could help out a friend and a sister church in the process.  My friend's first question to me was if I thought the event was a good idea and a plausible idea for a church to pull off in Terre Haute, IN.  My opinion was, of course it's a good idea and a NEEDED gesture.  At the time he asked me to help, I was in the middle of teaching the Social Principles class, where the UMC takes a strong stand on persons with HIV/AIDS and that the church should support, welcome, accept, and love persons with HIV/AIDS, regardless of how it was contracted.  The church also encourages people to educate themselves about it so that we have the best understanding possible.  So here was a chance for a church to reach out to a community to say "We are here, we care, we want to support and listen, honor, remember, and give hope."

I'll admit that I haven't done much to observe World AIDS Day in the past, but I am so glad I decided to be a part of this event.  To our knowledge, it was the only community event being held in Terre Haute.  We had a few speakers address different things: 2 counseling people talked about grief and loss, a person who is HIV positive shared his story, and a woman who lost her brother to AIDS shared his and her story.  We heard some wonderful soloists, and the cabaret group I sing with did a medley from "Rent."  We closed the service with a candle lighting, which I had the privilege of leading.

It was a great event and an inspiring night for all.  The purpose was to reach out, to come together as a concerned community, to grieve, to hope, and to encourage.  For me, it was not so much the content of the event, but the mere fact that we created and carried out the event to begin with.  That there are people in this area who wanted to come together to bring this message to the community, and that a church was the venue in which to make it happen.  For me, it was about the overall message, the togetherness, and the effort itself.

I hope that this event and events continue to happen in Terre Haute.  I believe it's a community that should do more to give a voice to persons with HIV/AIDS.  I was honored to be a part of it and to represent the church, especially in the midst of all of the negative attention the church is getting right now (such as the church in KY banning an interracial couple!  Seriously?!)  Anyway, events such as the World AIDS Day event remind me that there are churches doing wonderful things and showing the true Spirit of Christ in a hurting world.  Let's hope that more media attention gets drawn to things that bring hope and the good messages...

Here's hoping....!

"No day but today!"