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A Responsive Reading: "Let Justice Roll Down Like A
River"
One: John 5 records the story of a man who had been an invalid for 38
years. This man sat by the pool of Bethesda, waiting for a certain
season in which an angel would trouble the water.
Many: For it was said that whoever was be first to get in the pool
after the stirring of the water would be healed.
One: Yet every time that every thing was in place for this man to
receive his healing, someone else jumped into the water before him.
Many: This just isn't fair!
One: Jesus then came along and looked beyond the season and the stirring
of the waters, and Jesus healed this peson.
Many: Let justice roll down like a river!
One: Matthew 9 records the story of a woman who had been ill for more
than 12 years.
Many: To no avail, this woman had used up all her resources while
seeking her healing.
One: To make matters worse, the Levitical law had deemed this woman to
be unclean because of her sickness.
Many: This just isn’t fair!
One: But in the very moment when this woman reached out to Jesus, Jesus
immediately healed her.
Many: Let justice roll down like a river!
One: Today, the most vulnerable groups on the social and economic ladder
have the highest rates of HIV, including people of African descent,
Latina women, transgender people, and undocumented immigrants.
Many: Too often, societal injustice creates an environment that
fails to protect those who are marginalized and vulnerable.
One: And the same societal injustices keep those who are sick, sick.
Many: This just isn’t fair!
One: To fight the spread of HIV/AIDS we must fight these injustices
Many: Let justice roll down like a river!
A Prayer for Prevention Justice
God of Justice, we come to you expressing gratitude for the blessings
you so freely bestow upon us and trusting in your goodness. On this
World AIDS Day Sunday, we offer to you our petitions and our prayers for
the people whom you have given to us to love. We pray for the total
physical, mental, sexual and spiritual well-being of our communities,
including people with HIV and those communities most impacted by it.
God of peace, this disease is too often accompanied by human division
and confusion. Just as the Gospel of John records you praying a prayer
for unity, we too pray for unity: unity for communities most impacted by
HIV/AIDS and unity of purpose for all organizations everywhere working
for Prevention Justice.
We pray for all who are in positions of power. May their policies and
practices work for healthy communities, and be a force of justice.
Knowing that they must be accountable for the lives they save and those
they fail to save, we pray that those who govern will do so out of love
and justice.
Finally, loving God, we pray for the young and the elderly, the addict
and the dealer, the sex workers and the imprisoned, those in poverty and
those who are sick. We pray that you continue to bless and empower the
marginalized that they may rise up and find healing, strength and power
in you.
In your Holy Name we pray, Amen
Scripture Readings
First Reading: Amos 5:21-25 (The Message)
I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your
conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion
projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I'm sick of your
fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I've had
all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang
to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice - oceans of it. I want
fairness - rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want.
Second Reading: 1 Peter 4:6-11 (The Message)
Listen to the Message. It was preached to those believers who are now
dead, and yet even though they died (just as all people must), they will
still get in on the life that God has given in Jesus.
Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for
granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if
your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be
quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless - cheerfully.
Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around
so all get in on it: if words, let it be God's words; if help, let it be
God's hearty help. That way, God's bright presence will be evident in
everything through Jesus, and he'll get all the credit as the One mighty
in everything - encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!
Gospel Reading: Luke 4:16-21 (The Message)
Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the
Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was
handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found
the place where it was written, God's Spirit is on me; God has chosen me
to preach the Message of good news to the poor, sent me to announce
pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the
burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to
act!"
Jesus rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat
down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in,
"You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this
place."
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