AIDS

This post is from the defunct blog “Dying Church”

I found this through Mike Todd, and it's got me thinking of what the church should look like in relation to AIDS. From Tony Campolo:

It is important for us to note that Jesus had a special spot in his heart to lepers. He embraced them. He touched them and certainly did not view the disease as some kind of special punishment that had been rained down on them by the Heavenly Father. Jesus reached out to them in love, which was contrary to the legalistic pietism of religious leaders in His day. He touched them as He healed them, in spite of the fact that touching them would render Him ceremoniously unclean to the custodians of the temple religion. The Jesus of scripture calls upon us to see His presence in people with AIDS. Mother Theresa once said, "Whenever I look into the eyes of someone dying of AIDS, I have an eerie awareness that Jesus is staring back at me." Indeed, that is the case! No one can say that he or she loves Jesus without embracing the Jesus who waits to be embraced in those who have this torturous disease.

A church that's dying to itself and is following the heart of Jesus has got to care about AIDS, and it's got to be more than theory.