Please use and share our prayers for those affected by HIV and AIDS.
Find out more about our work - read stories and watch photo galleries and videos showing our partners' inspirational HIV work. Visit our HIV and malaria section.
Rejecting stigma
We reject all forms of discrimination and stigma,
Because we believe in God,
Who created the world in all its diversity and colour,
HIV-positive and negative alike.
We honour the dignity of all people,
Because we believe in Jesus Christ,
Who took upon himself the pain and suffering of the world,
Carers and people living with HIV alike.
We speak and act with one prophetic voice,
Because we believe in the Holy Spirit,
Who summons us out of our complacency,
Voiceless and influential alike.
And we call upon governments to honour their commitments
of funds and services in the response to HIV,
as we stand as one with those who live with HIV,
for the eyes of the Lord are on us all.
(Diakonia Council of Churches, South Africa – slightly adapted)
Creator GodCreator God you created the earth and everything in it.
You created everything interdependent and you created everything good.
You created women and men in your image, you blessed them both.
Help us to see your image on the faces of the victims of our violence.
Help us remember we have no right to subject anyone to violence.
Help all of us who live in violence to realize and to affirm our own dignity.
Help us to realise we were made in God’s image.
Help us to remember that we should never tolerate violence.
Help your church to realize that Jesus did not tolerate violence against women.
Help us to fight violence in the HIV/AIDS era for it hampers both prevention and the provision of quality care.
In Jesus name, we pray,
Amen.
Musa Dube (part of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians)
God of all nations
God of all the nations, so many of your children are crying out to you
worn down by injustice and suffering.
Help us to fulfil our goal of helping to make real the vision
that Christ spoke of as ‘the kingdom of God’
where justice reigns.
Help us to foster compassion one for another,
tolerating damage to no one and oppression by no system.
As we remember those living with HIV at this time
may we use all our energy and imagination
and trusting in your steadfast love
be united in conquering disease and fear.
Pray for our work
Lord, we come before you with hearts of praise and thanksgiving.
We give thanks for the ministry of your Son,
thanks for his life lived among those that society rejected,
thanks for his mission to turn the existing order upside down.
But our praise is tempered with sorrow.
We are deeply sorry for our failure to respond to Christ's calling,
sorry for our lack of imagination and compassion,
sorry for the assumptions we make,
sorry for our greed for which someone else pays the price.
We have sinned. And we ask for your forgiveness.
Lord, we believe in the grace of your healing,
your power to mend all that is broken,
and your desire for wholeness and renewal.
We pray that we may be healed and made whole,
so we discard our excuses
that make us feel exempt from responsibility,
and treat all affected by HIV in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Read more
You can find out more about our work supporting people affected by HIV and AIDS in our what we do section.
