Evening Prayer December 1, 2011

For World AIDS Day

Lover of Life you join us in grief tonight, as we remember all those who have died from HIV, as we hold onto those who struggle with the disease now, as we love and care for and encourage those who have lost family members and friends. We have lost so many bright spirits, so many gifted, wonderful people and yet this disease surges on, winding deeply into communities already facing many challenges, tearing up neighborhoods and families and friends. Lover of Life, mourn with us; grant us steadfast love to bear up and bear on, to live and love boldly, compassionately, and generously, to tend to what is needful in disease prevention, in mourning, in caring for the sick, and in raising the children left behind, in healing communities, in dreaming a world free of this terrible disease. In loving courage, we remember those who have died, those we miss terribly, those whose names and hearts we did not know, those who struggled long, and those who were consumed in very few days. We remember, and we carry on in their memory, with the labors of love that lie before us, weaving their stories into our songs and into our beings, and bearing hope into each night and day. Amen.