World AIDS Day

AIDS is an epidemic that some Christians have dismissed as a disease that only infects the gay population. Some have gone so far as to suggest that anyone who gets AIDS is being punished directly by God for immoral sexual behaviour. But missionary doctors and nurses, as well as relief workers, tell us that there are many who are AIDS victims because of sexual abuse or sexual ignorance. Their hearts bleed for these victims and their strategy is simply to love each patient and to educate them about prevention.

I'm glad that my denomination, the Christian Reformed Church, has taken a very compassionate stand on this issue. Too often, the church is known only for what it is against, rather than what it is for. But in places like Africa where 12 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is pro-actively providing home based care programs for AIDS sufferers, HIV/AIDS education and values formation in schools, and programs that help community leaders provide pastoral care, counseling and funding for medications and clinics. This ministry of the Christian Reformed Church is called Embrace AIDS.

In Jesus' day it was lepers who were rejected and isolated by the community. Today's lepers are the world's AIDS victims, of whom there are now 33 million. Our thoughts and feelings about these infected persons should reflect the loving way Jesus dealt with those who were labeled "unclean" two thousand years ago.