On this Advent Sunday
we anticipate the bright festival of hope's rebirth,
in a helpless baby long ago, in every child who comes
into the world.
On this World AIDS Day
we remember all whose lives are blighted by HIV and
AIDS, and hold them lovingly in our thoughts, members
with us and with Jesus in the human family.
We remember too those who tend the sick and the
dying, those who search for new treatments and a cure...
O God, healer and comforter,
be with all who suffer and all who strive to end the
suffering.
May your Advent hope be made real to those who
struggle with sickness and despair.
And God, when the world's griefs make us weary,
help us still to care.
We ask this in the spirit of Jesus.
Cliff Reed