Every city has is underbelly. You know what I am talking about; the side of the city where people go when they think nobody is looking so they can indulge their hearts, the place where nobody seems to care about anything or anybody, or the dark side that everyone longs to forget once they leave. In certain cities you anticipate the lost location but with others it is almost easy to not imagine than to believe.
Hong Kong is a city where even as the name is uttered you expect to find dark dens of indulgence and fear. You know there are places with people hiding from life itself, seeking solace where none is to be found. The sight doesn’t surprise. Yet the same discovery in the city of Singapore causes one to pause. Isn’t this the city where everything is sterile? Yet, as a old Singaporean talked of the city I knew in my youth and described the places where even Singaporeans have chosen to forget and ignore I found myself falling into the trap of denial. This couldn’t possibly be true! Not Singapore. But it is.
Imagine what happens when one discovers that those in positions of ministry and power have abused children. It happens. Imagine what happens when one finds that there are those in positions of trust who break the bond and disappear with donated monies. It happens. Imagine a church or a temple where the heart of the message has been replaced by something that is anything but. It happens and it isn’t new. The question is; how do we responds to our discovery?
“He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength. Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right.” (John 2.14, 15)
The world is ugly. God love us unconditionally and passionately. What happens in between is up to us.
