The CPSA calls on all members to focus thought, prayer and teaching on compassion for the month of August. This talk formed part of the response at St. Thomas' Linden.
Today's gospel reading [ Mark 6:30-44; the feeding the 5000 ] describes a situation which is very parallel to one we face in our country today. As followers of Jesus faced with the challenge presented by HIV/AIDS , we are very much in the same boat as the disciples were, faced with the challenge of over 10 000 hungry people. There are two ways in which we can react.
The first is the way in which the disciples responded. They approached Jesus with the request that He would 'send the crowd away' to find food. Often our first reaction to the magnitude of HIV/AIDS can be that of denial, of wanting to wish the crowd away, of denying or disowning the reality. Faced with the possibility that they may have to meet the need themselves, they panic, asking 'where and with what shall we buy?' The boy who volunteered his lunch of 5 loaves and two fishes prompts the question 'what is that among so many?' Those of us who serve on the HIV/AIDS task group, can readily identify with these feelings of helplessness and paralysis. The challenge, weighed against the resources, seems insurmountable.
On the other hand, there is the reaction of Jesus. According to John's account of this event, He already had in mind what He would do. For Him there is no situation that is out of control. Instead of doing as the disciples asked and sending the crowd away, He suggested that they should meet the need and give them something to eat. He further asks them, 'What do you have?', and then suggests that the people be seated in orderly groups of fifty. The reaction of Jesus, so different from the natural reaction of most of us, provides a number of principles on which we can build a Christ-like response to HIV/AIDS.
The first of these is prayer. It is through prayer that we can get in touch with what Jesus Himself has in mind, for in this situation also, He knows what He is going to do. Before becoming any kind of activist, we do well to sit and listen, seeking in quiet to become aware of His thoughts, His compassion, His intentions.
Another principle is to recognise that each of us is part of the crowd. The disciples wanted to see the hungry people as something which was 'out there', removed from them. Jesus pointed out that they were affected, that they needed to acknowledge the need as their own. It is easy for many of us to convince ourselves that HIV/AIDS has nothing to do with us-it is something to do with 'them' (whoever 'they' may be). If we are to look through Jesus' eyes, we are to see that we share the need, the pain.
But we not only need to see that each of us is affected, but that we must become part of the solution. Jesus says to us too, 'You give them something '. Like the disciples, we want to say, 'Let them go somewhere else for their needs to be met'. Jesus didn't allow that option. He challenges us to look inside ourselves, whether we are infected or affected (and that includes all of us) to find what we can do in the situation.
Jesus then asks us to look at the resources we have. The disciples had to scratch around to find one willing boy with a small lunch pack. The resources we as individuals have in the face of HIV/AIDS are as pitiful as five sandwiches for five thousand men, but Jesus doesn't stop there. He invites us to bring our resources to Him, and this is where transformation becomes possible, and the meagre can become the miraculous.
A further principle is that Jesus approaches the shared meal practically, instructing the disciples to seat the crowd in an orderly fashion. In the face of a challenge as great as HIV/AIDS, it is easy to run around like a headless chicken in an effort to 'do something'. This was never part of Jesus' approach. We need to also be calm and orderly, looking at appropriate ways to link up with others in order to offer a comprehensive, equitable service.
The HIV/AIDS task group at St Thomas' grew out of a challenge put to the members of the counselling team to broaden the scope of their work. As an initial response, they facilitated a workshop in 2000 which provided information and personal insights into HIV/AIDS, and sparked a process of exploring ways in which HIV/AIDS concerns could be integrated into the life of the church. This was done by looking at existing ministries and the ways in which these could address those affected and infected by HIV. An essential element of our approach to involvement has been to look around at the situation in which we each find ourselves, and ask what we could be doing as an individual or group. The type of activities which have arisen out of this include the following:
Information gathering & dissemination,
Support visits to organisations & individuals,
Creating support & advisory networks,
Donations in cash & kind.
Calvin Coolidge once said, 'We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.' We invite each of you to think about your own context-whether it be as an employer, colleague, employee, family member, and consider what you could do at once.
We would like you to consider taking a red ribbon at the end of the service, not as a sign of support or concern, but as a symbol of commitment to action.
As each of us thinks about this, I would like to ask you to listen prayerfully to a letter sent to all our churches by the Christian Members of the African Religious Leaders Assembly [ the letter was then read to the congregation, followed by the prayer from the Lectionary for 2001-2 ]
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