Today I have been here for 3 months. (Charlotte Gott, Volunteer Mission Personnel to Malawi, sermon delivered in Mulange.)

Ndine namweno. I see that some of my sister namwenos (nurses) are here today. My Chichewa is coming along slowly. I can say: Mu pitae ku pharmacy. Mu gonae pa beddi. Chichewa is hard. I think there are too many meanings for "ndi" and "ku." I seem to get the zingatis and angatis confused. I asked a 5 or 6 year old girl, "Muli ndi ana angati?" (How many children do you have?) (I wanted to ask her, How old are you?) I wasn't surprised when she gave me a blank look. That is usually what happens when I speak Chichewa. I usually just repeat the question. Anyway, after I repeated it, I noticed there was some motioning off to the side and it was Sam Matandala, saying "Zaka. . . " (Oh, yeah.) Chichewa is one way God keeps me humble.

In the last three months, I have seen more suffering than I ever saw in the U.S. Much of this has been caused as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It has been difficult to be a nurse, to not speak the language, and to struggle with how to respond as a Christian to this suffering. I am comforted by the fact that Jesus walked the Earth as a man who suffered. In Isaiah 53, it says he was a "man of sorrows and familiar with suffering." In the scriptures, He gives us examples of how to respond to suffering. He shows this by instructing us to love our neighbor.

In 1 John 4:19, it states: We love because God first loved us. Because God so loved the world, he gave his only son. God gave his only son in order that our relationship with him would be restored. It was broken from our sin. God wants us to be in relationship with him and with each other.

In fact this is what Jesus tell us in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus tells us that in order to inherit eternal life, we must love God with all our strength, with all our souls, hearts and minds, and we must love our neighbor as ourselves.

God is the supreme being and everything is at his feet. So he is always higher than we are. We have a vertical relationship with God. He is in control, and we look up to him. He also wants us to be in relationship with each other, as in this horizontal relationship. We are supposed to be equals so our relationship with each other should be a horizontal one, such as one we create when we share a meal with another. It is a sad fact that we do not treat each other as equally loved, equally precious human beings. By honoring our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with each other, we are bringing the kingdom of God down to earth. So, when you see the cross, think not only of what God has done for us, but how we are called to love him first, and then to love each other.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus shows us how to love each other, how to be the good neighbor. A man is beaten badly by robbers, stripped of his clothes and left alongside the road. A priest who sees him lying on the side of the road, crosses to the other side. A Levite, from the tribe of Israel which was set apart for holy service, also passes him on the other side of the road. These holy people take no responsibility for this man. But a Samaritan takes pity on him, cleans and bandages his wounds and takes him on his donkey to a place where he can be cared for and pays for his care.

At the time this parable was told by Jesus, Samaritans were despised by Jews. Samaritans did not believe as the Jews believed and they were considered spiritual and physical outcasts. When traveling North to South, the Jews often refused to pass through Samaria, going around Samaria and making their journey longer. Open hostility was practiced by Jews towards Samaritans. Thus, it is very interesting that Jesus chooses to use a Samaritan as the shining example of what a neighbor is in contrast to the "holy" men who do not set a good example.

The answer to the question, "And who is my neighbor?" is anyone we encounter. The Samaritan encounters this suffering man on the road. The Samaritan is the example of one who will inherit eternal life because he loves his neighbor. The priest and the Levite, who are supposed to be "holy" people do not act like a good neighbor. Thus, they really are not holy. In fact, it is the Samaritan, the Samaritan who was considered a outcast by the Jews, who is holy. Jesus has a way of exposing those beliefs that are tied to lies. Because we think of ourselves as holy does not make us holy, and because we think of others as outcasts does not make them less holy.

I am here to say that if you are HIV negative you are no less a sinner than if you are HIV positive. We are all sinners. I have seen 14 year old girl who has suffered all her life with HIV being helped to walk by her mother who is HIV positive as well. They had no one else because everyone else has turned away. That 14 year old girl is dead now and the mother has no one. I have heard of HIV positive couples who are not allowed to get married in the church because their pastor has refused. As children of God, we cannot turn away from the millions who are suffering with this disease. We will not be good neighbors if we do.

In Jesus' time, many who were diagnosed with leprosy had to wear a bell around their necks or they had to shout, "Unclean!" so that when they came close, people could hear the alarm and run away. Today, it seems to me that we are putting that bell on HIV positive people. Many of us think of them as "unclean." Yet, leprosy is much more contagious. You cannot get HIV by hugging an HIV positive person or living with an HIV positive person. You get HIV from sexual intercourse, breastfeeding, mother to child transmission while the HIV positive mother is carrying the baby or during the birth of that baby. To a lesser extent, healthcare workers are at risk if they are stuck with a contaminated needle or splashed with blood during surgery.

Though we cannot cure the disease, we can cure hearts. We can respond to our HIV positive neighbors in a way that reveals the teaching, the being and the person of Christ to that neighbor. By being this good neighbor, we can allow ourselves to be the vessel by which Jesus can cure a heart. Perhaps our hearts need to be cured as well. Perhaps our hearts need to be cured of the fear that keeps us from loving our neighbor.

I am confused be amount of fear I see in this culture. I see it in the power that witchcraft holds even over a Christian community. Somehow, we don't believe as the bible says, that perfect love casts out all fear. We don't believe that the God who IS LOVE is the supreme power, and that through our belief in Christ, we are given the same power to do God's will that God used to resurrect Christ. My brothers and sisters, it is time to believe. It is time to believe that if we respond to that perfect love, we can cast out the fear that keeps us in bondage, the fear that prevents us from fulfilling our destiny as people of God.

I had the privilege of being present at a meeting of the International Christian Medical and Dental Association this year. We spoke of HIV/AIDS and as the body of Christ, we felt that our call was to minister to those suffering with this terrible disease in a way that would bring glory to God. Who is our neighbor? How do we act as the good neighbor? Do we recognize that those suffering with HIV/AIDS are not just suffering physically but spiritually? What would Jesus do? Would he cross to the other side of the road?

In Mark 1: 40, a man with leprosy comes to Jesus. Notice that "filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man." It was the man's faith that allowed him to be cured, but Jesus also instructed the man to go to a priest to do what was required at that time to be officially declared as "clean" and restored to the community.

We are also called to reach out our hands, to touch those who are suffering with HIV/AIDS, to do whatever is we can to restore them to the community of Christ. Perhaps they need to know that someone just cares; maybe they need someone to pray with them, someone to bring them to church, someone to tell them about Christ. I hope that you will leave today and when you encounter your neighbor, you will be ready to show that you are a Christian, even if that person is suffering in a way that makes you uncomfortable. Mussa ope. Perfect love casts out all fear. Our love for God and our love for each other is what we pray for in the Lord's prayer. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. As Jesus said at the end of the story about the good neighbor, "Go and do likewise." My sisters and brothers, reach out your hand. Please do not cross to the other side of the road.