NEAC Conferees in Atlanta Build Evangelistic Bridges for 'the Decade of AIDS'
Episcopal News Service. February 14, 1991 [91036]
Cary Patrick, Director of Communication and Editor of DiaLog in the Diocese of Atlanta
For more than 300 people from across America, expressions of pain, perseverance, grief, joy and hope were the hallmarks of the second conference of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition (NEAC) at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, January 24-26.
In a creative, but poignant shift of words that punctuated the urgency of the AIDS crisis, the NEAC organizers borrowed from the Decade of Evangelism underway in the Anglican Communion, and named their conference, "Building Bridges: Evangelism in the Decade of AIDS."
Throughout the two-day conference, in speeches and small workshops, participants engaged each other with the basic element of successful evangelism -- personal stories of faith.
"My stint on the front lines of the AIDS war began in the spring of 1984," said Bruce Gamer of Atlanta, in his address to the conference. "I'm not always clear as to whether I was drafted or I volunteered for this service... [but] I am very clear that my involvement with the AIDS crisis has been and continues to be a journey of faith and an integral part of my development as a part of the Body of Christ."
Garner, national president of Integrity, an organization of gay and lesbian Episcopalians, set the tone for the conference with a stirring speech aimed at channeling the anger and grief caused by the AIDS crisis into creative action on behalf of all who are touched by AIDS.
"We've probably all heard the saying: 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' Well, I've found a saying I like a lot better: 'When life gives you scraps, make quilts," Gamer said.
Gamer encouraged his audience to share each other's burdens as the AIDS crisis continues. "There is great comfort in the realization that you are not alone, that your frustrations are not unique, that your experiences share common ground with those of others," he said. "The relief that comes from hearing a story that relates to your own experience -- good or bad -- restores your faith and revives your strength.
"There is an empowerment in giving of oneself and in working with those who give of themselves," Garner added. "Maybe it's the commonness of our humanity manifesting itself. We sometimes forget about being in this life together with responsibilities for each other. If we truly believe the Gospel we proclaim, we know that our lives are linked by that responsibility -- and for us part of that link is the person of Jesus," Gamer said.
In his sermon during the principal healing service, Bishop Douglas Theuner of New Hampshire, chairman of the Episcopal Church's Joint Commission on AIDS, suggested that the AIDS crisis has provided an opportunity for the church to break out of old patterns of relating. "The times call for us to look at things in new ways. The society of the future is being built at the margins," Theuner said, quoting an African bishop. "And that's where AIDS is. Even the affluent white male who is HIV-positive is at the margins, because the ultimate margin is death.
"Jesus, facing death, moved from the center to the margins..." Theuner added. "Because he's the Lord of the Church, we're here to do what he does -- to heal."
Although Theuner's sermon was directed toward a theological understanding of healing, members of the congregation sought to embody that understanding in embraces and prayers. The balcony and chancel railings in the Cathedral of St. Philip were draped with large quilt panels from the NAMES Project, and the aisles were filled with people lined up to receive the laying on of hands.
One of the sections of the conference, titled "Living in an AIDS World," reminded participants of the international dimension of the crisis. The Rev. Eliab Tumwesigye, a canon for chaplains, schools and missions in Uganda, told the audience that fighting AIDS in Uganda has its own set of cultural obstacles. "You find men sharing a wife with their brothers and sometimes their father, as a matter of hospitality," Tumwesigye said. "Whole families become infected."
Yet the church tries to help where possible, although the epidemic is outrunning the resources, according to Tumwesigye. "Our people need to be good Christians who respect their bodies. But some church leaders are very judgmental toward people with AIDS," he said. "They even sometimes say that those who ignore advice and get AIDS are going to hell." Tumwesigye said that he hoped education would help turn the tide in fighting AIDS in his country.
Addressing the conference, a nurse who works with women, children, and drug abusers in Newark, New Jersey, Elsie Pilgrim, added that an effective education program on AIDS is urgently needed in the United States. "Young people don't know about their bodies," she said. And, although the knowledge about the need to use condoms has increased among American youth, the use of condoms has apparently not, according to Pilgrim, who pointed to the rise in the rate of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
In addition to the speeches by Tumwesigye and Pilgrim, participants attended workshops that explored such topics as AIDS in the workplace, AIDS ministry in the Hispanic community, and how AIDS has required the resources and energy of hospital chaplaincies. Yet, much of the energy of the conference originated from the personal stories.
A workshop following Gamer's plenary address included testimonies from five men who have lived with HIV infection for a long time. One young man, who had "quit counting after losing 200 friends," said he often wonders, "Why am I still here? I've been given a gift of helping people die...I've held their hands as they died."
"I'll be angry if we miss the chance to minister to others," said another man. And a third man, perhaps summarizing the feelings of his comrades, added, "I try to pray first thing each morning, thanking God for something good that's happened in the past 24 hours."
In another session, the Rev. Martha Sterne, associate rector of All Saints' Church in Atlanta, recounted that her first evangelistic work came as a chaplain at Georgia Baptist Hospital four years ago. Sterne said that she had originally avoided a patient with AIDS, but soon found that she received an incredible blessing from her eventual encounters with him.
"His immune system was bad; mine worked fine," Sterne said. "But I caught something from him anyway -- telling the truth, love, and faith in Jesus Christ are what I caught."
Bishop Robert Moody of Oklahoma spoke about the relationship of evangelism and AIDS. "A lot of Episcopalians are afraid of the Decade of Evangelism, because if we really became a welcoming community, we'll change," he said. "Sometimes we who work with AIDS or are afflicted with AIDS feel that God is not responding. If the church or priests or God seem slow -- be persistent," Moody advised. "When we get together, there can be healing."
At the closing banquet, awards were presented to people who had contributed to the work of NEAC, including the Rev. Thaddeus Bennett, founding president of NEAC; the Rt. Rev. C. Judson Child, Jr., retired bishop of Atlanta, for his support of AIDS ministry in his diocese and the initiation of the Diocesan Task Force on AIDS in 1986; and the Rev. Canon Earl Conner, former canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Indianapolis and first executive director of NEAC.
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