CCOW Prayer Email: World AIDS Day, Advent Resources 2017

In this week’s prayer email:

  • Advent Resources for Prayer and Action
  • World AIDS Day: Children and the ‘Right to Health’
  • To Do … To Watch … To Read
  • Events

Advent Resources for Prayer and Action

New Lectionary-Based Prayer Resources

He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants for ever, just as he promised our ancestors.

Luke 1:52 -55

The songs of Zechariah and Mary in the opening chapter of Luke’s gospel are profound declarations of God’s ongoing story of love for the world and its people. These glorious prayers precede the Christmas birth narrative and reflect many of the great themes of Advent: the songs look both back and forward – back to God’s covenant with Abraham and forward to God’s unfolding salvation; they are full of waiting and watching – waiting for God’s purposes to be revealed, watching for the Lord’s coming; they are about now and not yet – singing of an upside down kingdom, which is both here now and still to come; and they are shot through with the confident hope that light will overcome darkness.

During Advent we will be offering four reflections that develop these themes, based on the Sunday readings set in the Revised Common Lectionary. Each week, a short written reflection will be accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation of images and selected verses from the set passages.

The four reflections show a progression through the season of Advent: the first, for example, focuses on longing and lament; the next on promise and preparation; the last on revelation and response.

We hope you will find these reflections helpful for both personal prayer and in church services: we will be bringing the prayer email out on a Friday so that they are available for Sunday service planning.

A Challenge

This Sunday the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel is Matthew 25:31-46. Christ in glory separates the ‘sheep’ from the ‘goats’, inviting into the Kingdom those who fed the hungry, gave drink to those who thirsted, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked and visited those who were sick or in prison.

“But when did we see you?” both groups ask Jesus. He responds “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.”

During Advent, we often talk about being prepared so that we recognise the Messiah when He comes. What Christ reminds us is that we are called to see Him every day in the people around us. So as we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation of Christ seen as a vulnerable baby in the manger, our Advent Challenge will call us to see and serve Christ by following his command to serve Him in His brothers and sisters.

Each week of Advent we’ll take one of the areas mentioned in this week’s Gospel and tweet (@ccowinfo) daily suggestions for living it out. We’ll retweet other people’s suggestions, too – so please follow and send us your thoughts!

 

World AIDS Day: Children and the ‘Right to Health’

This Friday we mark World AIDS Day.

The theme that UNAIDS has picked for this year is ‘Right to Health’. What is the ‘right to health’? In his World AIDS Day statement, UNAIDS Executive Director Michael Sidibé uses the definition from the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”  The UNAIDS 2017 Report gives a detailed and rich history of the concept in various international agreements  – which involves guaranteeing access “to the information, services and conditions [including social and economic conditions] that we need to be healthy and to stay healthy” and within that making sure that healthcare is accessible, available, acceptable (treating all with dignity) and of good quality.

In the UNAIDS report, Sidibé notes the strong role that people living with AIDS have played in promoting this right: “The AIDS response,” he says, “has been a pioneer in the expansion of the right to health. Its hallmark has been giving a voice to people living with HIV and giving affected communities and civil society the means to demand their right to health. People took to the streets, demanded access to life-saving  medicines and for prices to be brought down. They demanded confidentiality and treatment with dignity and without discrimination …They became part of the solution, at the forefront of service delivery.”

The report recognises, however, that some groups living with HIV and AIDS still do not have access to the information, services and conditions that would qualify them as enjoying their full rights. A poor family in a rural area, for example, may have no means of receiving vital information about HIV testing, live at a distance from the nearest clinic – and hence be hesitant to go for testing or treatment, be unable to access medication even if they can attend the clinic, lack sufficient income for nutritious food,  be in an area without ready access to proper sanitation, and fear knowing their status because of their community’s stigmatising of people living with HIV.

Among those who often have difficulty accessing their rights are children and young people. Because of the considerable successes in breaking mother-to-child transmission, we tend to hear less about children living with HIV and AIDS.  The reduction in transmissions is cause for rejoicing. In the report, Chip Lyons,  President and Chief Executive Officer of the Elizabeth
Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), notes that since 2010, “the number of new paediatric infections has been reduced by 53% in the 21 priority countries.” The latest UNAIDS data show that overall, new infections among children have decreased by 47%.

But the successes don’t cover all children. According to UNAIDS,  2.1 million children (aged 0 to 14) globally are living with HIV.  Dependent on adults for access to both testing and treatment, many receive neither: in 2016, AIDS charity CABSA and the WCC state, “only 43 percent of HIV-exposed infants received the recommended diagnostic test within the first two months of life.” Unsurprisingly, only the same percentage of children are receiving proper treatment. “Without treatment,” CABSA and the WCC note, “half of children with HIV will die by their second birthday.”

For young people, the situation is equally critical. Young women between 15 and 24 account for 20% of all new HIV infections; young men in the same age group account for about 14%. These figures reflect economic and social vulnerabilities and – clearly – gender imbalances.

In recognition of the particular difficulties faced by children and young people, this year’s CABSA World AIDS Day service, produced in conjunction with the WCC, focuses on prayer for and with children and adolescents.

Please join in praying for a world in which “no child is born with HIV, children and adolescents stay free from HIV, and those who are living with HIV will have their rights fulfilled.”
You might wish to use this prayer, adapted from the service:

Gracious loving Father,
Today we pray for the 5 million children who have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the HIV epidemic.
We pray for those living with, or affected by, HIV and for their loved ones.
We pray to receive strength and courage to fight injustice and inequalities and to work so that HIV testing and treatment are accessible to all, including those living in poor settings.
Forgive us, Lord, if we do not always stand up against a system that perpetuates injustice. Show us how we can serve your children.
If we are to see a day when there are zero AIDS-related deaths, zero new HIV infections and zero discrimination, guide us, oh Lord, to work together to ensure that the practical
efforts, political will and financial commitments continue.
As we give thanks for what has been achieved, we commit ourselves anew to doing all we can to make sure that no one is left behind.
Amen

To Do … To Watch … To Read

Every week we come across a variety of interesting materials on areas related to our work. Links to films or reading materials do not necessarily indicate CCOW’s endorsement of particular media outlets, organisations or positions.

  • To Do:
    • A simple 16 Days action from the Mothers’ Union: “link hands with one another to represent our unity in ending gender based violence; reach out hands to represent our connection with those around the world affected by, or campaigning against gender-based violence; and lift hands up, as a sign of prayer for an end to gender-based violence.” A way to engage churches or small groups in prayer around an issue many find difficult – could you try it?
    • Sign the Hope for the Middle East petition, calling on the UN Secretary General to use his good offices to secure legal rights for all citizens in Syria and Iraq, ensure dignified living conditions for the displaced, and identify and equip religious leaders and faith-based organisations to play a constructive role in reconciling and rebuilding after conflict

  • To Watch:
    • Two videos from Carbon Brief
      • a href=”http://bit.ly/2i6ncQt”>Transcription and video clips of an interview with evangelical climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe.
      • Three need-to-knows from the recent UN climate talks in Bonn

  • To Read: