I am visiting Hong Kong as I do every year to spend time with my siblings. According to Wikipedia, in 2013 there are some 320,000 foreign domestic helpers making up about 3% of Hong Kong's population. They are about equal split between Filipinos and Indonesians with only a small minority from Thailand. They are by law required to live in their employer's residence, to perform practically every household chore and especially childcare. Human-rights groups have been concerned with serious worker abuse and the NGO Justice Center recently ranked Hong Kong 157 out of 161 countries in terms of the government response to modern-day slavery. The newspaper South China Morning Post's reported on Oct 30, 2016 the domestic workers' minimum income was $4,230 Hong Kong dollars (which is about $730 Canadian dollars).
My sister and her partner hired three domestic workers - two to take care of their two homes and one is a chauffeur. They are all from the Philippines. They are very nice and are all Christians - one an evangelical charismatic, one a Catholic, and one belonging to the Iglesia ni Cristo church. I think they are treated very respectfully and from my conversation with at least two of them they feel treated well. Nonetheless, when I observe how hard they work, the long hours and the lack of really much of any personal life all week long except for Sunday (which often gets derailed as the employer suddenly changed plans on Sunday). In many of the masses I attended so far, there were certainly a lot of attendees from the Philippines.
I was reading the Book of Philemon this morning. It's just a short book with only one chapter. It gave me a glimpse of the slavery culture during the the first century. Charles Swindoll has a very nice overview of this book. I'll quote here "Why is Philemon so important?":
"The letter to Philemon reminds us that God’s revelation to humanity is intensely personal. In more formal biblical works such as the Gospels or the epistle to the Romans or even Paul’s letters to churches at Philippi or Colossae, it might be easy to get the impression that God does not care or have time for the trials and tribulations in a single household. Philemon stands as one piece of strong evidence to the contrary, revealing that lofty doctrines such as the love of God, forgiveness in Christ, or the inherent dignity of humanity have real and pertinent impact in everyday life. The book of Philemon illustrates that principles like these can and should profoundly affect the lives of believers."
Swindoll further suggested the personal application of this book:
"Live long enough, and you will understand the difficulty of offering forgiveness when you have been wronged. It does not come easy, yet as believers, we have to recognize that our ability and willingness to offer it are the result of Christ’s saving work on the cross. Because of that fact, forgiveness serves as a determining factor in who we say we are and how we hope to live our lives. When we do not forgive, bitterness takes root in our hearts and chokes the vitality out of us."
In the Lord's prayer asking for forgiveness and forgiving others come right after our request for God's daily provision:
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:9-13)
John MacArthur wrote gave a sermon on "Slaves for Christ". He said: "Being a slave of Christ may be the best way to define a Christian.".
For our ultimate goal at the end of my life is to hear God say:
"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!"
Apparently the word for "servant" here is the same for "slave".
So I have appreciated the comfort my sister's servants provide me. I remind myself to treat them as sisters in the Lord.
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