Every couple of years The World AIDS Campaign creates a 2-year slogan. It's our guiding theme. It goes on the posters, the mailings, the letterhead. You know the kind of marketing phrase I'm talking about, right?

As with all good non-profit work, it's created by a committee. You may wince at the idea of decisions by committee, but I actually think, for slogans, committees are the way to go. You can get a bunch of people in a room together and ideas starts flying. The group is able to come up with a creativity that no individual can do alone.

Knowing all this and knowing I wanted to speak with you about the AIDS crisis, I sought out the wisdom of the committee. I went to get our charge, modus operandi, our rallying cry.

You ready?

The slogan for the World AIDS Campaign for 2002/2003 is "Live and Let Live."

Kind of a let down, huh?

Let's just say, it's not what I was hoping for. I mean, it's so passive. It's so blaze. Yeah, go ahead. Do what you want. See if I care. Where's the energy? Where's the umph?

But then I thought: What if "Live and Let Live" isn't passive at all? What if it was a commandment?

What if Jesus said this to me?

Live, i.e., get out of your box, your books, your routine and stretch wide your arms.

Let live, i.e., get out of your box, your books, your routine and make space for someone else to stretch wide their arms.

Living is walking to the borders of your world, looking beyond them, and seeing who's out there. Letting others live means inviting people in to your world, and accepting the invitation into theirs.

How many people do you know living with HIV/AIDS?

There are a lot of ways we can approach the topic of HIV and AIDS. A lot of times, we talk about the people who are infected. The conversation remains "out there" with those theoretical people. We hear about infection rates, and the latest drug cocktails. We read about Africa. And the conversation remains pretty flat on the page. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time relating to statistics and continents.

There's another way to talk about HIV. Today, I want to talk with you about untouchability. Untouchability is about the space between someone who is HIV positive and someone who is not. It's about our personal comfort. It's about physically touching someone and it's about getting over our fears.

It used to be that HIV and AIDS was a disease that affected middle-class, gay, white men. Then it was gay men and IV drug users. It used to be "out there." That is no longer the case. Everyone is at risk. The highest risk behavior is not talking about it. We must start talking about how you get infected, how you get tested, how you tell someone you're HIV-positive, how to hear that from someone else.

I confess, though, that all the books I read did very little for me. I had to meet someone before it made any sense to me.

I met him met at a party. We knew right away that we were kindred spirits. We had a lot in common. We talked church and God. We talked politics and sports. The conversation was great. It was easy for us to be friends… that is, until he told me he was HIV positive.

I wish I could say I didn't flinch... that I was all cool and it was no big deal. But, ohmygod!, I can't be friends with someone who's HIV positive!

At the time Jesus lived, when this story of the hemorrhaging woman is told, society was very conscious about purity, about untouchability. We know from Jewish Law that because of her bleeding, the woman is unclean. Not only did people not want to catch whatever sickness she had, but it was understood that her sickness represented an impurity, not only of the body but also the soul. She was just dirty, through and through. Anyone who touched her also became unclean.

Imagine her life. For twelve years she has been cut off from friends, family. She can't reach out for a hug or a handshake without fear of what the other person will think. She can't participate in any religious rituals or festivals. No one wants to be her friend. She may walk the same streets as you and I, but she is completely isolated. Untouchable.

Jesus knows exactly what is to be HIV positive.

And Jesus says live and let live.

This woman knew that "live" doesn't mean sit back and let things happen. She knows she has to be active; she has to pursue her own healing. If there are doctors out there, she finds them. If she gets a little extra money, she spends it on the latest remedy. She tries everything and she does not give up.

Despite the fact that her reaching out to will make Jesus unclean, she reaches anyway. She stretches her arms wide to grab life, literally.

How does Jesus respond? Does he care about ritual purity?

Jesus feels her reaching out to him, and he wants to reach back. He doesn't care that he's "unclean" now. Jesus understands that to let this woman live requires action on his part.

So he tells her: "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

What do you think he meant by that? What was her faith in? I remember being told that her faith was in Jesus. I was taught that because she believed in his love, it could heal her.

That may be true, but I don't think that's what Jesus is talking about. We hear in the story that at this point she's tried every doctor and healer out there. She's spent every dime she has and she's only getting worse. Jesus is just another healer on his way through town.

She knows that her healing is out there. Her faith is in her right to ask--in her right to reach out for healing.

It is this faith that motivates her to step out from isolation where no one can touch her. Jesus understands what courage that takes. He stops what he's doing. He walks to the borders of his world to meet her in that space between untouchability and the rest of the world.

This is what happened with my friend. Only, I'm not Jesus. My friend was stepping out from his world of isolation and into a border space. By telling me that he was HIV positive, he took a risk to reach out and make a connection with me. Only I stood still. I watched him from a safe distance, and never moved toward him.

I didn't "live" and I didn't "let live."

I didn't "live" because I cut off the possibility of a relationship with someone else. I missed an opportunity to learn from his experience and his friendship.

I didn't "let live" because I didn't yet understand that to "let live" requires action on my part. He put himself out there, and I was supposed to meet him there.

How many people do you know living with HIV/AIDS?

This is not a contest. You're not a better person if you know 10 or 20. You're not a bad person if you don't know any. But I offer this to you: if you're not reaching out to others, you're not really living.

We need to stop. We need to remind ourselves that in Sub-Saharan Africa, you don't have a choice about this. Everyone has aunts, uncles, parents, siblings, children or they themselves are living with HIV. In Botswana 40% of the population is HIV positive. That's nearly half!

Now, make it real: imagine half of everyone you know-half of your family, friends, co-workers, church members-half are HIV positive.

In the United States, less than 3% of the population is HIV positive. We have, at least for now, a choice. We can go on with our lives never knowing, never dating, never being friends with anyone who is HIV positive.

But is that living? Is that walking to the edge of our world and meeting the people out there? What are we missing?

Are we truly letting other people live when we're so cut off? Who are we keeping in isolation by not making it clear that we accept and love them, that we will meet them where they are?

Live. Go out and meet the people you're comfortable with and the people you're terrified of. Believe in your right to be healed. Reach out and grab it.

Let live. Keep your eyes open for the people who live just beyond your border, for the people "out there" who take the risk of coming "in here;" keep your eyes open for the people "out there" who do not feel welcome "in here." Go meet them there.

Let this be your way of faith and by it you will be well. Go in peace.