ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 29, 2007  

Lutherans Observe World AIDS Day Through 'Keep the Promise'
07-200-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In observance of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1,
members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have
the opportunity to reflect with other Christians on the worldwide
response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic through "Keep the Promise -
Advent in a Time of AIDS" -- a devotional calendar that begins
with World AIDS Day and ends Jan. 6.  The calendar is available
through Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the ELCA.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA and
president of the Lutheran World Federation, provided the Dec. 9
devotion, "God comes to us in the wilderness."
     "Most people know how it feels to be lost in the
wilderness," Hanson wrote in the devotion.
     "During this Advent season we are particularly aware of the
many wilderness places in our lives:  the aching isolation of
shame; children without parents; too few medicines and over-
stretched medical facilities; the fear of difficult death; the
agony of losing those you love too soon.  It is precisely in the
wilderness places of our lives that God makes God's home with us.
God comes to us to prepare the way, claiming us for life, and
leading us into community and justice," Hanson wrote.
     Other contributors are the Rev. Walter Altmann, president,
Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, Jill
Schumann, president and CEO, Lutheran Services in America,
Baltimore, and the Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, Anglican archbishop
emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa.
     "The only hope for a comprehensive and therefore globally
effective response to HIV and AIDS is for strong leaders from all
walks of life to commit themselves and those they represent to
combating HIV and AIDS in all possible ways.  Many of these
leaders have made such commitments.  Governments have spoken
eloquently and made concrete promises at national levels in the
United Nations and at the G8.  Governments, including the United
States government, have committed themselves to universal access
to treatment," said the Rev. Rebecca Larson, executive director,
ELCA Church in Society.
     "Religious leaders have also made commitments.  Bishop
Hanson has called for a comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS
and the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly has called for an ELCA
strategy on HIV and AIDS.  The Global AIDS Campaign calls for all
leaders and governments and institutions to keep the promises
they have made to people living with and affected by HIV and
AIDS.  It is a global movement that moves beyond good intentions,
and it calls for accountability and action," said Larson.
     The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA) developed the Keep
the Promise calendar.  Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the EAA is
an international network of more than 90 churches and Christian
organizations cooperating in advocacy on global trade and HIV and
AIDS.  The ELCA is a participant in the alliance.
     Each day of the calendar features a reflection from
"prophets and pastors, leaders and lay people, women and men, HIV
positive and HIV negative, all united in the conviction that by
keeping our personal and collective promises, we can reach the
goal of universal access to treatment, care and prevention, and
work toward a future without AIDS," according to the EAA.  The
calendar is available in English, French, Spanish and Russian.
     "Keep the Promise" is an EAA campaign that holds
individuals, religious leaders, faith organizations, governments
and intergovernmental organizations accountable for the
commitments they have made, and that advocates for further
efforts and resources to fight HIV and AIDS.  Goals of the
campaign include fighting stigma and discrimination, promoting
prevention, mobilizing resources, advocating universal access to
treatment, and promoting accountability.
- - -
     Information about ELCA ministries on HIV and AIDS is at
http://www.ELCA.org/aids on the Web.  "Keep the Promise - Advent
in a Time of AIDS" is at http://www.e-
alliance.ch/hivaids_adventcal.jsp on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
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