Once again the high street whips us into a frenzy of synthetically-manufactured good cheer, as we’re assaulted with the order to be merry and joyful, and prioritise curling up by the log fire with our loved ones.
Western Christian life can sometimes seem under pressure to be a perpetual state of celebration, can’t it? We are, after all, told to ‘rejoice always’.
Tearfund/Marcus Perkins
But standing at the doorway to the Advent season is World AIDS Day on 1 December. It’s a sharp reminder that the joy of Christmas is only one part of the world’s experience.
AIDS is one of the greatest blights on humankind today. It devastates, and ends the lives of untold millions across the globe. But they’re not the only ones feeling the impact. Tearfund’s latest church pack, Bring childhood back to life, meets one of the 12 million children across Africa who have been orphaned by the disease, robbed of their childhood and left to struggle in an often hostile adult world. But who are finding hope thanks to local church projects supported by Tearfund.
Mixed feelings
So we’re transfixed by tension, holding the joy of Christmas in one hand, excited children with tea towels on their heads, the birth of the baby Jesus to celebrate – and the tragedy of AIDS, the agonising recognition that our world is not as it should be, in the other.
Here at Tearfund, we’re looking back at our first ever Global poverty prayer week, held in mid-November, and feeling encouraged by how truly global it was, and the faith, spirit, and courage so evident in all of you who took part.
But what inspired so many people all over the world to embrace such an event so passionately? Faith, hope, obedience – certainly – but pain?
The pain that comes with an awareness of the world’s suffering is the downside of being a people made of flesh, people who love and care.
During the week, as we met and prayed, we considered something unusual for us as an organisation who often witness so many reasons for hope in our work. We thought about the place that pain and lamenting has in our Christian life.
It can be tempting to skip over or deny this reality in our determination to cling to the hope before us, but this is not the picture the Bible offers, or the evidence of Jesus’ life. He knew pain, and lived it, despite all that ultimately lay ahead.
The Lazarus episode
We considered the episode of Lazarus’s death, Jesus’ great friend. John 11 tells us simply that ‘Jesus wept’ when it happened – despite his saying on hearing the news that ‘this will not end in death.’ He knew the hope in the situation – that he would bring Lazarus back to life – but still he mourned with the people. Those who witnessed his tears said, ‘See how he loved him.’
So perhaps this World AIDS Day as we reflect, hope and stand with those living with HIV we must avoid denying the pain we feel about the suffering caused by HIV and AIDS. By honestly and freely entering into a shared compassion, by mourning and – for those accessing treatment or finding a way forward – celebrating with all affected around the world, we may glimpse God's compassion for the hurting, the broken and the dying.
Through accepting pain we align ourselves with the many who have used pain as the doorway to great acts of love and humanity.