Holy Discontent

This entry was written in the Spring of 2010. The drop-in eventually opened in November 2010 and has exceeded everyone's expectations:

There were 5 of us in a circle near the altar at the front of All Saints Anglican, a church committed to being a home for the homeless.
Barb Todd who leads the group was in tears. She has a heart for young women caught in the sex trade and how desperate their need is for a drop-in centre.
One young prostitute named Nancy had dropped by the church on Sunday, 17 years old, her face disfigured by the man who 'owned' her. Screaming from the pain of a broken jaw, she disrupted the Sunday service knowing she'd find Barb there.
Had she gone to the police they would have, based on past experience, threatened her with arrest unless she had conceded to 'certain favours'. Regrettably the shelters she knew were no shelter from the traffickers keeping her and others like her enslaved.
Barb had brought her idea of providing a private refuge for prostitutes to the rest of the church staff. She was willing to volunteer what little free time she had and open the church at 5 am to meet up with the women after they 'come off their shift'. For at least a few hours she could provide them with refuge.
But the staff voted against it. In fairness to them, they are stretched to the max and they don't have the resources to do it.
But I thought I heard her, WHY CAN'T WE BE THE RESOURCE SHE NEEDS?

Never again will they hunger, never again will they thirst...for the Lamb will be their shepherd, he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.' Rev 7:16,17
As this passage was read during our prayer time, the lament that followed was palpable.
Do these women have to wait until heaven before they receive any comfort, before they experience the love of someone who really cares? Are they left to wander into our churches broken, only to receive sympathetic gestures from good-hearted people who have no idea the living hell these young women are trapped in?

As I left I found myself lamenting my pre-occupation with finding my own peace, with my not being more open to being disturbed, distraught, provoked into doing what we could to bring 'the kingdom of heaven' near for these women.

A spiritual person tries less to be godly than to be deeply human. WS Coffin
To be deeply human is to intentionally marry oneself to the particulars of human suffering and to do what one can to alleviate it. Honestly confronted, it doesn't make for peace, it makes for what Bill Hybels calls a 'holy discontent'.
May God provoke in us such discontent, that the last thing we'll desire is to be immune from it.