Twice this week someone has siad that ministers have an incredible amount of influence. I can honestly say that I have never thought of myself in that light. The fist time it was stated by the moderator of the General aAsembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland at a gathering of leaders from various congregations who had come together to talk about the issue of racism. The second time it was in an artical by Rick Warren about AIDS because this Sunday is World Aids Day. The following is a quotation from that artical: "What is going to mobilize the church to address the AIDS epidemic? Not statistics. I'll tell you what will: When people really understand how much Jesus loves people with AIDS! How much does Jesus love people who have AIDS? Just look at the cross! With arms outstretched and nail-pierced hands, Jesus says, "This much! This is how much I love people who have AIDS!" In Matthew 25:35-36 (LB), Jesus makes it very clear that one of the things we're going to be judged for when we stand before him is how we treated other people: "For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water; I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me." We must treat people as if they were Jesus himself. We, in the reformed tradition of the Christian church, pride ourselves with our love of sound doctrine and the truth yet our understanding of the truth is somewhat static and wooden compared to the love and truth of Jesus Christ, who was and is the "way, the truth and the life". The Law as we find it in the Old Testament, Paul tells us, is a sign post to our human failure to live up to the standards of God. The summation of that law was put by Jesus to the man who asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" was to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and al your mind and all your strength and to love your neighbour as yourself" In other words here we have what the ten commandments are really saying, this is how Jesus has fulfilled him and how he is the end of the Law. For the Hebrew truth was not a moral concept, it was a doing word, it was about helping the man who was found half dead in the gutter even though he was a Samaritan. Who are we called to love? We are called to love the man or woman who is from the other community, the man or woman who is on the edges of society even the man or woman who has little or no time for God and His people. Living the truth is not just about keeping a set of moral standards, it about practical Christian lifestyle- so we, evangelical Christians should be concerned for the sectarianism within our community, the people of the world who have AIDS and those who hunger and thirst. We should be concerned for the Palestinian Christians and the Jewish people. We should be concerned for the environment and for the issue of Fair Trade and not just Free Trade. This Sunday we should be thinking as well as praying for a solution or at least the begining of a solution to the AIDS problem because it concerns those people that Jesus Christ loves. When we meet people we are to treat them as if they were Jesus Himself. Do you understand how much God loves you and how much He loves the world? If you do then you will understand why we should definitely care about World Aids Day and you will understand that we, the church that bears the name of Christ, must act. May God give us the grace to do so.