I was 14 years old thirty years ago and I can vividly remember when the news was breaking about a mystery disease affecting certain populations. This past week, as I have been driving to and from work, I have been listening to the pieces on NPR marking this all too sad anniversary. I guess it is inevitable that I would spend this week thinking of the friends I have lost to AIDS. There have been far too many.

But what about the next thirty years? As we all know, people are living longer with HIV than ever before yet the demographics of this disease continue to mutate, just as the virus itself does. I can look out across the field of faces of people I know are living with HIV and they are increasingly diverse in ethnicity and gender. Some of them come from faith traditions or communities that do not support them and sometimes (even in this day) ostracize them.

By the terms of our baptismal vows (1982 BCP, Holy Baptism, page 10), we are charged to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being." Obviously, this means we don't ostracize anyone, demean them, or blame them for a perceived shortcoming or flaw that may have led to HIV infection. All too tragically, such practices continue. I am proud, however, to be an Episcopalian based on the HIV/AIDS advocacy and inclusion that TEC has fostered over the years. I see it in the work of many of my brothers and sisters in Christ who rolled up their sleeves and dug in to the work we are commanded to do by our Lord. I see it in my parish, my diocese, the workings of the NEAC Board, and I continue to try and help carry my small share of the work load.

If we truly live into those baptismal covenants, how do we strive for justice and peace in the next thirty years? We certainly continue with what we have been given to do but I believe we will go further. Justice requires that we remove economic barriers to treatment for infection; that we continue to educate those around us by our words and examples about a disease that does not discriminate. We continue to fight any sense of stigma associated with AIDS and recognize and combat the crushing effects of poverty, addiction, and marginalization by seeing dignity in all life. If we do that, then then we have made a good start on whatever time we have to serve others in Christ's name.

Stephen Batten is a native of eastern North Carolina, currently living in Jackson, MS. His undergraduate degree from Duke was in Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic (1989) and his law degree is from the University of North Carolina (J.D. 1993). His area of practice is immigration.  He attends the cathedral parish of St. Andrew in Jackson and can't imagine this state before air conditioning. Really.