This isn’t meant to be a long post, but I am curious to see what you think.
At first glance this might be an easy post to respond to, but if we really think about it, we will see this is much more complicated.
Is there hope for a gang member? How about hope for a prostitute?
Today I went to my very first brothel. Yup…you heard me right…brothel. Another pastor and I wanted to interview some of the “employees”.
The Interviewee:
Raquel, 37 years old. Her husband left her and their 4 children five years ago.
The interview went well. She answered our questions with obvious transparency.
We started with some “small talk” and then began to ask her about her childhood dreams, and how this job choice fit into that. Then we spoke about her children and what her dreams were for them.
At the end of the interview, I asked her if she had hope…any hope….hope to leave this industry…anything…?
It was physically obvious she was sad, distant, broken.
I really wanted to know if she had any hope.
We want on to talk to her about the hope we have in Christ, but I chose not to pray with her and push the spiritual conversation. (I am not sure if that was for her benefit or mine).
She had responded, “Yes I have hope to leave this job”.
But my response to her was…”Of course you have to say that, what else are you going to say”.
We left the interview sad, feeling a little helpless and began processing what had happened and what would probably happen.
The fact is, she will probably never leave her profession. With 4 children and no help…really what is she to do?
I realize the self righteous will say…sure she can leave…its her choice….but really…can she?
It is probable that she would be beaten…maybe killed….making it impossible to make money and provide for her kids.
So the question is… As the church, how do we deal with issues like this? What hope does she have?. Can she even have hope?.
Let’s just say, that during our interview, she decided to follow Christ.
Do you feel that would be legit? Can she serve Christ in a situation as difficult as hers?
What do you think?
It would seem to me that the church at large has done a poor job responding to and dealing with these more “complicated” issues. The church can handle the simpler situations. Someone comes to church and at the end of the service, raise their hand, get prayed for, receive a Bible, and an invitation to return next week.
Do you see the difference between the above example and Raquel’s extreme professional choices?
I ask again…
What hope does Raquel have?
And, how can we as a church work within this context?
(Submitted by my husband Scott aka “my boy”)
Love how you did this entire post with centered text. Kind of like it was a poem or something
As for the questions you ask … I’m reminded of the scripture that speaks about “where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.” I have discovered that when God is touching a life, no matter how hard the church seems to try, it can’t get in God’s way (said tongue in cheek).
I’m convinced that God is doing something special among the prostitutes, drug addicts, bikers, and other social outcasts. Some churches will rise to the occasion and reach these individuals with the grace and mercy of God. Others wont. Only one group will experience the favour and blessing of God as a result.
Does Raquel have hope? Of course she does. Because her hope is not founded on what the church does or doesn’t do. Her hope can be found in the unconditional love of a God who will break through every obstacle to reach a child who calls out to him.
Still, I want to be part of his work. As I know you both desire to do.
This reminds me of some of the stories from the book – Behind the Soiled Curtain. There are women in the brothel’s of Mumbai that go to church every week but they are enslaved in prostitution and have no way of leaving. The church in the brothel area started also having classes on jewelry making and some women are gradually selling the jewelry they make so they can buy themselves out of slavery.(They don’t get to keep the money they make as prostitutes other than to feed their kids.) The church also has a school for the kids of the prostitutes and a place to sleep while mom works. I think the church should not only bring them to the Lord and disciple them but also help them to escape this slavery by helping them to help themselves.
Human life is full of ‘hope-less’ situations. Some are as complex as the thousands of children who die of sickness and hunger every day all over the world and some are as seemingly simple as one person who is faced with the final stages of cancer or other incurable, fatal disease. They have no real hope that they will survive. We can pray. Solutions can be found or cures discovered. Miracles can happen. But I am not one to hold on to false, irrational hope when I see no likelihood that the expected outcome will change. At least not in time for those who are afflicted right now.
You have probably assessed Raquel’s situation very well. If I may be so bold to say that there is likely no hope that she will be able to walk away from her way of living. And the consequences of trying could be equally or even more devastating for her and her family.
Maybe this is too simplistic, but perhaps the hope that Raquel has is the same hope that all of us have. The hope that we will find peace in whatever our circumstances, the hope that we can do some good for someone or something, and the hope that our lives have meaning. She probably hopes that her children will have a better life and that she is somehow able to help them get there.
We can hold hope that she will also find God’s love. Your work as missionaries gives us the greatest hope for Raquel and others like her that she will come to know that she is loved, and that God understands her brokenness, sorrow and pain. Perhaps she will come to have hope that a new life waits for her after her life on earth is ended. Just talking with her as you did may have begun something in her heart that will take her further along the path of finding that hope, in whatever form that will be for her.
I will pray that God will comfort and bring hope for both her and also for you.
Blessings,
–J