I'm grateful to News-Press reporter Lacey Storer for her story in today's News-Press about tomorrow's worship service where we will observe World AIDS Day.I've wanted to observe the day in worship ever since I heard about several churches in New York that did so when I worked on Long Island. Around NYC, the gay and lesbian community was more visible than St. Joseph and due to a lot of lobbying and sympathetic press coverage the needs of people with HIV/AIDS are better known. I guess it's newsworthy here--unfortunately. It would be nice if every church was observing the day and marking how Christians through ignorance and intolerance have helped this scourge to spread across the earth.
To be fair, I'm not sure that this is the first time First Christian has observed the day. It certainly is not the first time that the church has faced the issue in a public way. Back in the early 90's, the church started the Interfaith Care Teams with the purpose of caring for the needs of people with HIV/AIDS. That organization is now Faith in Action and the work they were doing in regards to HIV/AIDS has been taken over by other groups and organizations. I'm proud of that history at First Christian and glad to write a new chapter in my time here.
We'll see how tomorrow goes.
Grace and Peace,
Chase
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