Light One Candle for World AIDS Day

Peter Yarrow of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary wrote a song called "Light One Candle" which links the story of Hanukkah to the always present struggle for justice and freedom, especially for those who are oppressed. The song begins:

Light one candle for the Maccabee children
Give thanks their light didn't die;
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied;
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand;
light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemaker's time is at hand!

chorus:
Don't let the light go out,
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our love and our tears!

What a cosmic combination it is, then, to have the first night of Hanukkah fall on World AIDS Day. For the generation of LGBT people before me, AIDS has robbed so many close friends and lovers. I, too, have known some men who, when they reached a certain point where their immune system was collapsing, had friends assist them with suicide rather than face the slow and agonizing death. I have seen the many panels of the AIDS quilt on display at the March on Washington in 1993, a quilt that has become so huge it no longer can tour in its entirety. I have gathered with the community around the enormous live oak tree at Meridian and Gaines Streets to sing the names of those who have died from complications of AIDS as the sun was rising on a new day. And today, I read with sadness about the prevalence of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Statistics show that just that one region of the continent makes up nearly two-thirds of the total HIV/AIDS cases in the world. Even the pope has finally seen the dangers of this syndrome in Africa by softening his stance from 2005 against condoms to now saying that it might help to stem the tide if male prostitutes wear a condom. He also thinks that will raise a prostitute's awareness about the "banalization of sexuality" as morally harmful. Sure.

Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe;
Light one candle for those who are suff'ring
The pain that we learned long ago;
Light one candle for all we believe in,
That anger not tear us apart;
And light one candle to bind us together
With peace as the song in our heart!

It is frustrating to me that so much energy in the Anglican Communion has been wasted on trying to define our Anglicanism for the purposes of weeding out the United States and Canada rather than focusing on this real issue of AIDS in the Global South. The church primates from African nations should be advocating for more medical aid and education about the spread of the disease to save their flock from infection. Church leaders from outside of Africa and Asia should be demanding that the countries who have the means to supply medicine should do so and should do so without reservation, and to share the knowledge they've gained on how to stop the spread of HIV. Sadly, some of the people who have the best practices and knowledge to help with that effort are the folks in this country who were part of groups like the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York City. I'm not counting on the Orombis of Africa getting in touch with them any time soon.

What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died?
We cry out "they've not died in vain,"
We have come this far, always believing
That justice will somehow prevail;
This is the burden and This is the promise,
This is why we will not fail!


As we light the first candle for Hanukkah, or relight the first candle of Advent, offer a prayer and meditation for those who have died, and for those who are living with infection today. Pray that one day we will cast off the darkness that keeps us separated and put on the armor of light that draws us together in the common purpose of ending HIV/AIDS. Don't let that light go out.