Metropolitan Community Churches   MCC's 2009 Effort for World AIDS Day needs YOU! This year's World AIDS Day is a community effort.  The MCC HIV & AIDS Global Ministry will provide a series of resources for this year's remembrance, activism and worship.  Yet, the best resources are already in the field...and are in need everywhere. Please consider offering the best of your World AIDS Day resources from your community and local church.  Help us to work together to remember those who have suffered, aid those who continue to fight, and honor a loving God who offers us an Uncommon Hope for the future. To participate - Fill out any one of the following forms to offer your worship element, event announcement and/or resource for use in our global community. Resources World AIDS Day 2009 - Uncommon Hope and the Open Heart A letter from Joshua L. Love, Director, MCC Global HIV & AIDS Ministry AIDS is a heart-opening experience. Some hearts are cracked apart by the pain, suffering, and loss. Other hearts are unlocked by compassion and understanding. These openings are gifts of the Spirit, blessings that may be shared and multiplied many times over... http://www.mccgham.org/?p=120  World AIDS Day 2009 A Letter from Rev. Nancy Wilson, Moderator Metropolitan Community Churches As we observe World AIDS Day this year, we are aware that there are many reasons for hope: . Progress is being made for a vaccine . The travel ban to the US, for those with HIV/AIDS is being lifted . In the US, Ryan White funding is being renewed, just barely! . Through the generosity of the Elton John Foundation, MCC was able to offer the seminar, Deconstructing Meth, to many churches and communities in North America this year... http://www.mccgham.org/?p=123 World AIDS Day Sermon 2009 "Living Between Hope and Peace"   Rev. Nancy Wilson, Moderator Metropolitan Community Churches "World AIDS Day, December 1st, comes early in the Christian season of Advent. For many MCC churches, it has come to be an integral part of that "penitential" season of reflection, preparation, tradition, memory, and going deeper spiritually. Living with HIV/AIDS, being the Church with AIDS has made all of the gifts and disciplines of Advent a necessity..." http://www.mccgham.org/?p=119 Liturgical Resources World AIDS Day 2009 - Dry Bones: In the Valley of AIDS   A Poem and Reflection from Rev. Ellen Richardson, M.D., Palliative Care Physician and Episcopal Priest As a Hospice and Palliative Physician, I continue to have patients come into my care dying of AIDS. In America. Today. They are for the most part young, minorities and immigrants, suffering on the margins of society from poverty and/or addictions, whose lives were already too broken to take notice of the symptoms of progressive illness or to seek more than serial emergency room visits or hospitalizations for acute expressions of the underlying virus... http://www.mccgham.org/?p=122 World AIDS Day 2009 - Reflection on Ministry at the Margins: St. Damien the Leper   A Reflection from Amanda Quantz, Ph.D., Catholic Historian and Chaplain Beginning in the 1850s the Hawaiian government began a segregation policy for people suffering from Hansen's Disease, commonly known as leprosy. It was believed that this malady had arrived from China, but little was known about its etymology. The devastating effects of this affliction contributed to widespread panic and a desperate need to contain the disease. The only solution, it seemed, was the complete isolation of men, women and children who seemed to show early signs of the disease... http://www.mccgham.org/?p=121   World AIDS Day Hymn - Hope of My Heart Lyrics by Melanie E. Martinez, Director, MCC Online Ministries, Co-Lead, MCC Transgender Ministries Music: VICAR, V. Earle Copes, 1963 in the UMH 11 10.11 10 Hope of my heart, when life's compassion leaves me Fill my soul truely, loving breath in mine Give me sure courage, hope uncommon grant me And Your true calling, be my life's delight Good, Loving Shepherd, lover never ceasing Soothe my sore body, rife with pain and ache Cool peaceful balm I find in your sweet presence Thrill my attention with your wondrous face Guide of my mind, turn all my thoughts toward loving Remind me daily of all who seek your truth In your soft whisper I find all that's needed To lift my hands, Oh God, in work for you Hope of my heart, fill all my empty places And cleanse my soul to know your love divine Refresh my passion for life in your service Renew hope's fire until your will is mine! Lyrics (c) 2009 Melanie Martinez  Come together and share in an Uncommon Hope through World AIDS Day!