Institution

I was talking with a coworker and his wife at a company happy hour after work. The conversation started off with my coworker sharing about how he saw a picture of me holding some of the orphans that I sponsor from my Ugandan mission trip in 2007. He asked me to share more about that, so I did. Both he and his wife were happy to hear about the work being done over there. I started explaining some interesting stories of our trips in past years, but around the time when I began about changing planes in Amsterdam, the wife told me I have to check out the "coffee houses" there. We laughed a bit considering that "coffee houses" sell a bit more than Joe (they also sell Mary Jane).

Although I hoped she wouldn't, she began telling me that I really needed to go by the Red Light district. She was quite upset because apparently they had been talking about tearing it down and building a business building instead.

"You walk down the road and they had women standing in the windows, but they aren't selling clothes, they are selling prostitutes!" she laughed. "They can't tear that down, it is an institution!"

"I doubt they will tear it down... they surely make too much money from it for that," I resigned.

She saw my face turn more somber and changed the subject again. I don't know what hurt me the most though. Was it the idea of these girls who were the window shopping models for their own sexual exploitation? No doubt transported there under kidnappings or drug inducement or slaves of parent's debt. Was it the laughing of this woman about how it seems like just another business? I think this appalled me most at first. But actually I think the worst part could have been what hit me later: her last statement.

When she said "institution" she meant that it was "an endearing icon of the cultural experience"... a landmark, if you will. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this view in a secular society. But what do I usually associate with an "institution"? Two things come to mind, but they are usually negative connotations. One is marriage and the other is the Church. When people speak of the loving committed union celebration between a man and a woman (marriage), "institution" is often "that outdated, oppressive, boring ceremony my grandma is making me do so I'm not gossiped about by her friends." Likewise, the Christian Church is seen as an institution of "those holier than thou, judgmental hypocrites that meet to convince themselves they are earning their way out of hell." It breaks my heart that our culture sees a Red Light district as the endearing kind of institution and the Church and marriage as the institutions that won't go away. We, as the Church, need to become the institution that people won't let go of, and that will only happen through genuine compassion for the lost and broken. Pray for our own hearts and the hearts of our nation!