A year ago, I sat in a make-shift HIV clinic in the Kibera slum just outside of Nairobi, Kenya listening to three women tell their stories of living with HIV/AIDS. It was a heart-wrenching experience. They told of pain and suffering. HIV/AIDS is a disease that comes with more than physical challenges. The women face discrimination while being ostracized from society. They struggle to feed their children. More than just food and medicine, the women longed to be seen as human again.
It seems appropriate that World AIDS Day occurs during the season when angels announce, “peace on earth” and “good will to all.” A day when awareness is brought to the struggle of so many happens during the time of year of angelic announcements. I am so grateful for the singing of angels. They remind us that God has taken the initiative to show up in our world. The angel’s visits to the shepherds on that first Christmas speak of God’s grace. What do we do after we hear the angels sing? After we have been touched by grace, filled with hope, and infused with love – what do we do?
Howard Thurman has a poem entitled “The Work of Christmas.” He says, “When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins: To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among the brothers, To make music in the heart.”
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I pray for the day when the angel’s singing is heard over Kibera slum, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace, goodwill among people” (Luke 2:14). Until then, we must continue to let people know they are worthy to hear the singing of angels.
Go here to watch a video that I took of a woman in Kibera slum tell her story: http://jameyprickett.com/2014/12/01/hearing-the-angels-over-kibera-slum/
