Dinner in a brothel.
Every outreach we take meals to our friends in the sex industry. We often get asked why we do this. There are a few answers that we give.
1. Our friends are hungry. For many of them, this is the one solid meal they get a week. I mean, sure, not all of them are hungry. Some of them make enough money to buy some bread or a cheap takeaway meal. But the majority are really hungry.
2. Many of our friends are on medications that require the patient to have food in their tummies so that they do not vomit the lifesaving medication back up.
3. Because sharing a meal builds relationships.
I want to focus on number 3.
Christians like to ask WWJD?
Well, this is one of the things Jesus did. Constantly. He shared a meal.
Jesus ate with people. Family, disciples, tax collectors, sex workers, the 5000.
Jesus knew that sitting down with people and sharing a meal opened the door to Love. Eating a meal with those whom society had cast out made Him human, relatable, equal. It demonstrated Love in such a pure and human way.
Tonight, I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten all day, and I was battling. We went to one of our brothels to visit our friends and our one friend, “Alex” decided to feed me. She didn’t know I was hungry, and yet she “knew.”
She entered the living room of the brothel with a plate of food and a mug of water for me. She had given me her meal and had added some dhal and pickled mango to the meal. I was humbled by her care for me. We all sat in that room, sharing stories and laughing with our sex industry friends. Dinner in a brothel is so much more fulfilling than dinner in a fancy restaurant. Love filled that room tonight.
There were no big prayers, no preaching, just friends sharing a meal.
This is what I KNOW Jesus would do.
It’s not our job to save people. We are called to Love. Bottom line. And when we love, that’s when the door is open for Love to do the rest.
TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER