Jubilee Ministries (from June 2007)

The June Jubilee “Walk and Worship” for AIDS relief in Africa is June 23!

I’ve written in this space before about the efforts of this diocese to work on behalf of those with AIDS in the global South, particularly in Africa. For the June Jubilee Walk and Worship, churches from around the diocese participate to walk the Minuteman trail that goes from Cambridge to Bedford.. Some begin at Bedford Train Depot (that’s us) and others begin walking from Alewife, and we meet in the middle for a worship service and celebration at the Church of the Redeemer in Lexington.

In partnership with African provinces and dioceses, we use the funds raised and our own skills to plan and administer programs in Africa for training home-based care workers, supporting orphan feeding and education, assisting Anglican hospitals and clinics to deliver basic medical care to orphans and afflicted families and to pregnant women, providing testing and aftercare, and preventing transmission.

What can your money buy?
$8: A year’s worth of Saturday meals for a child in Maseno, Kenya
$25: Supplies for a medical kid to be used by volunteers in the Diocese of Tanga (Tanzania) who make home visits to people with AIDS
$250: Secondary school fees for one child in Kasese, Uganda for one year
$4000: Funding for one parish to operate a Saturday orphan care program for one year

While it’s true that it’s an important fundraiser (we raised over 30,000 dollars last year), it’s also important to participate in the walk itself. The Jubilee walk is one way that we can be, just for one day, standing in solidarity with those who are suffering the terrible effects of AIDS. Sometimes it’s important physically to put ourselves in motion. As Rabbi Abraham Heschel said, these actions are “praying with our feet.” I think this is the reason we feel called to participate in political protests and the like; I’m not always sure, exactly, that they accomplish very much. But in a world where it sometimes seems that problems are too overwhelming for a clear solution, we need to do something, to stand somewhere to be counted. June Jubilee is like that. Events like this are also very important for the life of the global Anglican Communion. They show that we are in love and solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ no matter what differences we might have on topics like sexuality. For those of you unable to walk several miles, help is needed at the Church of the Redeemer in Lexington to set up and clean up. We also need someone to staff the dessert bake sale table. And if you can’t walk and you can’t donate, you can always pray. Prayer is the most important work of all.