One by one: Faithful step up to fight AIDS
As AIDS kills more than 8,000
every day, faithful individuals step forward to fight the
disease
06:29 PM CDT on Friday, September 3, 2004
In Matthew 25, Jesus opens the curtain on a prophetic heavenly scene.
As the nations gather before him, he invites the righteous into heaven for
one reason: They cared for him when he was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick
and imprisoned.
The righteous respond in humble confusion -- when had they offered help
to Jesus? "Truly I tell you," he replies, "just as you did it to one of the least
of these who are members of family, you did it to me." More than 8,200 people die every day from AIDS, according to the United
Nations (6,300 of those are in sub-Saharan Africa). Last year, an
estimated 37.8 million people worldwide were living with HIV. Increasingly, they can be characterized as "the least of these."
Ninety-five percent of those infected live in non-industrialized nations,
according to Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Christian Churches and
the Global AIDS Crisis by Donald E. Messer (Augsburg Fortress Press,
$15). By the end of 2001 an estimated 14 million children had lost one or
both parents to AIDS, according to the U.N. Moral stigmas associated with homosexuality, promiscuity and condom use
have obstructed the church response to HIV/AIDS, Mr. Messer and others
say. "Because the disease is spread primarily through sexual contact, the
global church ... has often been a stumbling block, contributing to the
denial, discrimination and suffering of infected people and their
families," he wrote. A study in 2002 by the Barna Research Group found that only 5 percent
of Americans -- and 4 percent of born-again Christians -- said they
"definitely" would help children orphaned by the worldwide AIDS epidemic.
Most Christians said they would rather give to other causes or to their
church. The institutions may be slow to move. But as individuals fall ill one
by one, others witness the epidemic, and one by one, they accept the
challenge to live their faith. Bruce Wilkinson, author of the best-selling The Prayer of Jabez,
moved to Africa two years ago to assist in the struggle against AIDS. In
an interview with Beliefnet.com he described how an African church leader
persuaded him to write a course of study on God's answer to the AIDS
crisis. Mr. Wilkinson reluctantly agreed. He felt no passion for the project, so he prayed, "God, will you tell
me how you feel about this?" Later, Mr. Wilkinson plummeted into a fit of desperate, unexplainable
sobbing. He fell to his hands and knees and prayed, "What is going on?" He
says that God responded, "You asked me to tell you how I feel about AIDS,
and this is how I feel." Following are profiles of four regular people of faith who have been
moved to fight against HIV/AIDS and for those who live with the
disease. "I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the
individual. I can love only one person at a time. I can feed only one
person at a time. Just one, one, one." Mother Teresa, 1983 Dr. Keith Rawlings recalls attending a health conference in 1984 and
hearing for the first time about a disease that was transmitted through
needles and sex. Officials estimated that the disease would affect 1
million people by the year 2000 (a gross underestimate), and Dr. Rawlings
found himself listening not as a doctor, but as a parent. "I had a 2-year-old and ... it occurred to me that my child could be at
risk of what in essence was being touted as the most significant health
threat of our generation. So I had to decide what I was going to do about
that." In the 20 years since, Dr. Rawlings has devoted his career to working
with AIDS patients. Today he is medical director of the Peabody Health
Center, south of Fair Park, which provides HIV/AIDS outpatient care,
education and support services. Dr. Rawlings sees 20 to 30 HIV-positive
patients every day. Even in the mid-1980s, nearly all of Dr. Rawlings' HIV-positive
patients were black and, often, black women, he said. The number of cumulative AIDS cases in the United States reported
through December 2002 was 859,000. Of those, 59,772 were in Texas. In
Dallas County 10,521 people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2003. More than half of new HIV infections in the United States occur among
blacks, even though they represent only 13 percent of the population,
according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Insufficient AIDS education, poverty and poor medical care contribute
to the spread of the disease. "If you don't have access to health care ... there is a greater
possibility that you will not even be identified as positive," Dr.
Rawlings said. "As a result, you may not be diagnosed until you have a far
more advanced disease." Dr. Rawlings, a member of St. Luke Community
United Methodist Church, said the church should respond to HIV/AIDS the
same way it responds to other needs. "What can the church, or the synagogue, or the mosque, or the temple
do? ... That's a long list. The easy answer is that one should do what one
is best at -- caring, supporting, nurturing and helping people to heal on
a spiritual and emotional level." Dr. Rawlings' patients often confront
HIV and AIDS alone, having lost the support of families, friends, and in
some cases, spiritual leaders. "The first thing I ask of the church is the ability and willingness to
continue to provide what it always has provided and to not let that
individual -- that sheep -- be alone in the wilderness." When wilt thou save the people? Oh, God of mercy, when? The people,
Lord, the people, not thrones and crowns, but men? Flowers of thy heart, O
God are they. Let them not pass like weeds away. Hymn, "When Wilt Thou Save The People?" Ebenezer Elliot, 1850 Stephen Sprinkle, 53, an associate professor of practical theology at
Texas Christian University, was a young minister struggling with his
homosexuality at the time of the AIDS outbreak in the 1980s. He had
resigned himself to a life of celibacy out of fear that his Disciples of
Christ church in North Carolina would not accept his being gay. He was teaching at Eastern North Carolina University in 1986 when a
former student called him in desperation. The young man, in his early 20s,
had learned he was HIV-positive. "I asked him why I was the person he chose to call, and he said,
'Because you are the only minister I know who I thought wouldn't hate me,'
" said Dr. Sprinkle, who was not open about his sexual orientation at the
time. He accompanied the former student for his first treatments, and their
friendship continued until the young man's death. Others learned of Dr.
Sprinkle's response and came to him for counseling and to ask theological
questions about their condition. As a minister and a teacher, Dr. Sprinkle spoke out against prejudice
and the cruel judgments of those Christians who said it was God's will
that gay people die. When churches in the late 1980s hung out signs welcoming visitors, he
said, "there was always a subtext to that. A person had to be healthy. A
person had to be straight. A person had to be white. Those were homogenous
communities, and yet, in every single community of faith, somebody was
suffering from HIV, or had someone in their family who was suffering from
HIV. And usually what happened -- those people were quietly put
aside." There were, of course, exceptions. In 1986 a group of clergy and
counselors helped establish AIDS Interfaith Network in Dallas to assist
people with the disease. And predominantly gay churches dealt with the
crisis straightforwardly: Their members were dying. But overall, churches were minimally involved, Dr. Sprinkle said.
"There was always a firewall between the official church and anything it
would consider controversial. The church loves to play it safe." He served on the board at Samaritan House of Tarrant County, which
provides housing and support to people with HIV/AIDS. He also has led
spiritual support groups at AIDS Interfaith Network in Tarrant County. Now an ordained minister in the Alliance of Baptists, he has provided
counseling and preached funerals for those people with HIV/AIDS. As a
teacher, he has included the disease as a topic for study. He has preached
on AIDS at the City Church of Dallas, where he attends, and at other
churches by invitation. The judgment day described in Matthew 25 addresses the difference
between those who talk their faith and those who walk it, Dr. Sprinkle
said. "It's got to be a combination of walking and talking at the same time
for it to be validly Christian." In facing the AIDS crisis Dr. Sprinkle said he's comforted by classic
Christian hymns that provide a call to action. "The hymnal of the churches is filled with those kinds of calls, and
you know, every once in a while, you get somebody who actually believes
it." Hold them close to your heart, my God. Give them courage. Give them
strength to survive many, many years on Earth, as they'd like. You are
their only hope. You are their only one. AIDS prayer, Guguletu Youth Choir in South Africa In the South African township of Guguletu, the J.L. Zwane Memorial
Presbyterian Church has a ritual for those who become infected with HIV. A
person shares his or her story in front of the whole congregation, which
then stands to sing "Never Give Up." Occasionally the person brings a baby
and everyone passes the child around as if to say, "This baby belongs to
all of us." This church is leading the way there in welcoming and supporting
victims of HIV/AIDS, said Susan Rutherford, 57, senior editor at the
Office of Clinical Affairs at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She is an
elder at Dallas' First Presbyterian Church, which helps support the
Guguletu church. A mother of two, Ms. Rutherford has taught humanities at Richland
College for 25 years. She became involved in AIDS outreach through her
interest in African art and her interaction with African students. Since 1999 Ms. Rutherford has been on three trips to the township near
Cape Town. Last fall Ms. Rutherford and three other church members, along
with a research coordinator from Parkland's AIDS service and two AIDS
educators, visited Guguletu. They took medical supplies, clothes and shoes and assisted the church's
AIDS ministry, which includes education, counseling and hospice. The
church also runs an after-school program that helps children with homework
and provides meals. "We're told that these people are inspired to be a part of a church
that embraces them because they're shunned by most every other church,"
Ms. Rutherford said. First Presbyterian also has paid school fees of 23 children over the
past five years, recognizing the role of education in preventing the
spread of HIV. On her second trip, in 2002, she listened to a gaunt young AIDS victim
share his story. After, he asked Ms. Rutherford a question that still
haunts her. He could not understand why those with power and money to
provide treatment would let Africans die rather than give them
life-prolonging drugs. "He had this incredulous look on his face, and I said, 'I don't know
why.' I had come with the experts, but the one question he asked I
couldn't answer, and I still can't answer," Ms. Rutherford said. The church outreach has increased with the number of AIDS deaths in
Guguletu. Since her first trip in 1999, the church has grown from about
500 members to 1,800. People sit on top of each other at services, the
crowd spilling into doorways and windows. She has used her connections at UT Southwestern to help generate
support for the church. Representatives from First Presbyterian, Parkland
and UT Southwestern are looking for money to pay for an on-site
coordinator in Guguletu to work in the church, the hospice and the local
clinic. "This is something I've needed to do for a long time," Ms. Rutherford
said. "So spiritually I feel drawn to it, I feel passionate, I feel like
it's my mission in life." We heed, O Lord, your summons, and answer: Here are we! Send us upon
your errand, let us your servants be. Our strength is dust and ashes, our
years a passing hour, but you can use our weakness to magnify your power.
Methodist hymn, "The Voice of God is Calling," words by John Haynes
Holmes, 1913 The Rev. Milton Traylor, 42, recalls a time about four years ago when a
member of his church approached him to ask for a condom. The minister
invited the man to his office to discuss his decision to have sex and to
encourage him to consider abstinence. But when he found the man determined to go his own way, he gave him a
condom. "That may have been the very time he would have been infected. That may
have saved his life," Mr. Traylor said. As senior pastor of Praise Cathedral Ministries, Mr. Traylor became
involved in HIV/AIDS ministry when he recognized the disease spreading
through his South Dallas community. He decided he could either turn his
head or work to reduce his congregation's risk of becoming infected. "It was a scary thing when people in the community began to show up
positive," Mr. Traylor said. "I had to face the reality of these issues
with my children. And it changed the whole direction of the church because
the church didn't deal with sexual issues." Today he preaches about AIDS from the pulpit, discussing risky
behaviors and encouraging testing. He promotes abstinence, but gives
options for safer sex. "God may not like the behavior," he said, "but he still loves us." As a young man in Dallas, Mr. Traylor abused drugs. A pastor from his
church, Vivian Curtis, took him in. Living with her family changed his
life, he said. "Before I knew it, God told me, 'Don't come out of the pulpit,' and
I've never been out of it since." Mr. Traylor has created a program called the Pastors' Initiative that
brings together health organizations, nonprofit groups and ministers. He's
committed to getting pastors involved in HIV/AIDS ministry because of
their influence over their congregations. "I pray that we pastors can come together and not be afraid of
addressing the issue of HIV/AIDS, and develop a support system to help our
congregations and our communities," said Mr. Traylor, who also volunteers
for AIDS Interfaith Network in Dallas. "We can do it for everything else. Let's do it for this disease." He has agreed to work with the Nigerian village of Abeokuta, assisting
churches, the government and families in AIDS education and intervention.
He's developing a program that includes Dr. Rawlings, who will help train
physicians there. "We've always housed, always fed and clothed and always counseled those
in need," said Mr. Traylor about his church of 40 to 50 members. "But this
disease has taken us to another level." If one person can make a difference in the fight, the question lingers:
What would happen if every denomination, every church, every member became
involved? Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus came together for a
time of prayer before 17,000 people gathered for the opening of the 15th
International AIDS Conference in July in Bangkok. "Never before had people of faith from the world's major religions met
together to face the world escalation of the AIDS pandemic," Mr. Messer
wrote. There are models of partnerships among churches, nonprofit
organizations and governments. In Uganda, churches have promoted a "Love
Faithfully" campaign alongside the government's "Love Carefully" program.
World Vision has partnered with governments and communities, as well as
churches, agencies and organizations, including the Bill Gates Foundation.
Celebrities who speak openly of their faith, including Oprah Winfrey, Bill
Clinton and Bono, have led significant efforts against AIDS. "Jesus went to the lepers. He dealt with the lame and the afflicted,
the poor and the outcasts, the lesser amongst us," Dr. Rawlings said. "And
through grace and through faith he tried to show by example and to teach
us to follow in that guidance. The question of what we should do is
actually a fairly simple one to me: We should do." Karen Blessen is a Dallas artist and writer. She is a member of the
HIV/AIDS Leadership Council of Save the Children. Her e-mail address is
kblessen@karenblessen.com. Lisa Rodriguez is a Dallas writer. Her e-mail address is
lisadrod@hotmail.com. Stephen Sprinkle, Susan Rutherford and the Rev. Milton Traylor offer
advice to places of worship and members. * Establish a group to educate the congregation about the worldwide
scope and challenge of AIDS. * Invite speakers, especially people living with HIV/AIDS, to address
fellowship meals. * Ask your denomination for AIDS advocacy and education resources. * Observe World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) with a special service, possibly with
other congregations in the community. * Budget money for local and global AIDS-related organizations. * Publish a list of AIDS fund-raisers and events. * Publish the names and addresses of legislators who make policy and
budget decisions about AIDS research and assistance funding. Encourage
members to contact them. * Urge worship leaders to preach on the pandemic, testing and
education. * Host a celebration honoring the staff of local HIV/AIDS service
organizations. * Sponsor a supper club to cook meals for residence facilities for
HIV/AIDS. * Establish a care team to visit and assist people living with the
disease. * Create a job fair or a job switchboard for people with HIV/AIDS. * Encourage your pastor to contact the Pastors' Initiative about
getting HIV/AIDS training. (Contact Mr. Traylor at 214-538-7629.) * Establish prayer teams to pray for people with HIV/AIDS and their
families. * Volunteer skills -- marketing, communication, Web design, grant
writing -- to AIDS groups. * Contact media outlets with concerns about the AIDS crisis and request
more public service announcements and programming. * Form mission trips to visit people suffering from HIV/AIDS or their
orphans, and serve accordingly. * Support medical mission trips and send groups of medical
professionals. * Send care packages of children's shoes, clothing and minor emergency
medical supplies (bandages, antibiotic ointment, aspirin, etc.) to a
church in a hard-hit area. AIDS Arms Inc., Dallas Offers support for patients living with HIV/AIDS AIDS Interfaith Network Inc., Dallas Programs are designed to meet the practical, emotional and spiritual
needs of people with HIV/AIDS. Also offers support for caregivers and
education for people at risk of infection. Tarrant County AIDS Interfaith Network 817-923-2800 Provides in-home respite care by trained volunteers to people with AIDS
and their family members. The program also offers wellness classes,
delivery of prescription medications, household assistance and
transportation for AIDS patients. Grief counseling is available for family
members. UNAIDS A United Nations program that promotes prevention of HIV, care for
patients and support for effected communities World Vision A Christian humanitarian organization serving the poor worldwide. J.L. Zwane Church and Centre Church and community center in Guguletu, South Africa World Council of Churches Represents more than 400 million Christians worldwide Save the Children Helps communities in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia provide care and
support for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS Provides updated information, including treatment news Artists Against AIDS Worldwide provides music, videos and an instant
accounting of AIDS deaths since Jan. 1. Christian Connections for International Health promotes health and
wholeness with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance coordinates Christian advocacy efforts
internationally. Lutheran World Federation has a global campaign against HIV/AIDS. United Methodist HIV/AIDS Ministries Network provides updated
information on the pandemic. The Invisible People: How the U.S. Has Slept Through the Global AIDS
Pandemic, the Greatest Humanitarian Catastrophe of Our Time Greg Behrman (Free Press, $25) Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Christian Churches and the
Global AIDS Crisis Donald E. Messer (Augsburg Fortress Press, $15) AIDS and the Church: The Second Decade Earl E. Shelp and Ronald H. Sunderland (Westminster/John Knox Press,
$17.95) The Churches Speak On: AIDS J. Gordon Melton (Gale Research) Sources: DMN research, Breaking the Conspiracy of
Silence
