June 2000

Meditations from Forward in Faith

By The Rt. Rev. Rodney Michel

Meditation 1

O God, we are told that You console us in all our affliction, and we pray that we may be able to console those who are afflicted with the same consolation that we enjoy from You.

Why is it, O God, the consoler of the afflicted, that AIDS will kill as many people in the next decade as all the wars in the 20th century combined?

Why is it, O God, that of the 33.6 million people infected by the AIDS pandemic, 23.3 million of them are in sub-Saharan Africa where it would take 2.3 billion dollars to deal with the crisis?

Why is it, O God, who consoles the afflicted, that even though there are medicines to prolong the life of those infected, that those medicines are not available to the majority of those who need them and United States pharmaceutical companies are trying to block the manufacture of generic AIDS drugs in South Africa and other places? Where is the justice and consolation in that scenario, God?

Why is it, O God, consoler of the afflicted, that already 11.2 million children have been orphaned by AIDS, not to mention the countless numbers of children who have died in the Pandemic?

Where do we see You consoling the afflicted in all of this, O God?

[pause]

William Blake wrote: “For Mercy has a human heart; Pity, a human face. And Love, the human form divine, And Peace the human dress.”

There is an old German proverb that says: “Begin to weave and God will give you the thread.”

My friends-God has no hands but our hands to do justice. God has no voice but our voices to proclaim the Kingdom and God’s consolation. God has no arms but ours to hug the afflicted. So much begins with us and many others like us who pray and work and call for justice, for healing, for prevention.

Every single one of you is important. Everyone has something to offer. Remember that children’s song we once sang? “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.”

God is counting on us to help console the afflicted and bring this pandemic to an end.

Meditation 2

Someone has written: “It hardly takes any practice to learn awareness — just a heart that sees as well as the eyes.”

Robert Kahn in his book Lessons for Life writes: “When life is spent and all added up, what are the memories that warm the heart? The happy laughter of a child as we swing him high, the joy of an after-dinner hour when we put aside the dish washing for a bit and just sit and talk, the movie we saw together and the ice cream we enjoyed after it.”

Too many of us will not find joy in these simple things because while we are swinging the child, unaware of the happy expression on her face, our mind is on the business deal in the making. We miss the joy of the company of others because our thoughts are miles away Ü planning the next event or dealing with another situation.

The ministry of being present to one another is a way of loving one another and an important quality for God’s children to practice.

Rudyard Kipling said: “Teach us to delight in simple things.” Could we not add: “And help us simplify our lives to make room for the simple things.”

The greatest awareness we can possess is an awareness of God and an awareness of others.

In Christ’s parable of the Good Samaritan we find not just a story of a good guy who took care of a poor, mugged, and wounded foreigner. The Samaritan was also aware of the person’s needs, and his awareness prompted him to act on the stranger’s behalf.

Those who suffer from HIV/AIDS have much to teach us about delighting in simple things, for they relish every moment-every single event and moment. It is tragic that many of us have to be confronted with our own mortality before we slow down and stop to smell the roses. We can minister best if we learn to delight in simple things and be present to those to whom we minister.

Meditation 3

[Holds up crisp $20 bill]

Who would like this $20 bill?

[Crumples bill up and holds it up again]

Who still wants this $20 bill?

[Drops it on the floor, smashes with shoe, grinds it into the floor; then picks it up and holds it up again]

Who still wants this dirty, ugly old $20 bill?

We can all learn a valuable lesson from this: No matter what I did to the $20 bill, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives we are dropped, crumpled, folded, ground into the dirt, by others and by ourselves and by the circumstances that come our way.

Many times we feel worthless. Many times those who suffer from HIV/AIDS feel worthless. The world has certainly done its best to make those affected and infected feel worthless-like modern-day lepers.

But no matter what happens or what will happen, we never lose our value in God’s sight. To God, dirty or clean, crumpled or creased, ill or well, whatever our condition or state we are still and always will be priceless to the Almighty One!

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know but by who we ARE !

We are all, every one of us, made in God’s image. Stamped on every cell and tissue of our bodies are the words Made in the Image! Each one of us-each and every person is special. Jesus’ teaching to love one another as He loves us is just the beginning of validating, affirming, valuing and bringing health and wholeness to all of God’s children and indeed to the world itself.

No one is worthless in God’s eyes.

Jesus says, I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from God. As friends of Christ and children of God may we remember and teach others to count our blessings-not our problems.

We are precious and valuable in God’s sight.