Seek the Welfare of the City Where I Have Sent You

Proper 23C 2013

Jeremiah 29:1,4-7; Ps 66; 2Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19

Father Adam Trambley

October 13, 2013, St. John’sSharon

                        

Jeremiah the prophet is sitting in Jerusalem.  The Lord gives him a message for the children of Israel that have been exiled in Babylon, so he writes them a letter.  “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”  Now if you know me at all, you can probably guess that I really like what Jeremiah wrote.  These lines describe core elements of what I think my call is, and what I think all of us have a call to do.

 

To begin with, we should note that the whole tenor of these instructions would have been mind-boggling for

the Israelites in exile.  They had just lost a war and were now being uprooted from their homes by a foreign enemy that worshipped idolatrous Gods.  They were going to be in a different city among people they hated, for very good reason.  The exiles didn’t want to seek the welfare of that city or pray for it.  They wanted to escape at the first opportunity and torch the place on their way out.  They certainly weren’t letting their children play with, much less marry, these people.  And they had no intention of being around long enough to build houses or plant gardens.  Other prophets, nicer prophets than Jeremiah, were saying the exile would be two years at the outside, and most people figured they could hold their nose long enough to survive and get out of there.  But Jeremiah writes to them that this exile is going to take a while, so live in Babylon, thrive in Babylon, be good citizens of Babylon, help Babylon prosper, pray for Babylon, and God’s hand is going to be at work so that all of this works for your welfare.    

We know that some of the exiles took Jeremiah’s message to heart.  We know the stories of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Israelites who were great administrators who helped Babylon prosper, and how God saved them from danger as they helped their city and their own people thrive.   But Jeremiah’s message was not just for Israelite exiles in Babylon, however.  What he writes is instruction for all of us, in whatever city or town or situation God has sent us into. 

Jeremiah says “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you.”  God has sent all of us to someplace, and that someplace includes this area, because he cares about this place.  God’s concern does not stop with whatever group defines itself as “God’s people.”  In Jeremiah’s time, some of the Israelites certainly would have seen themselves as God’s concern, and then seen the rest of the world as a bunch of people belonging to other gods that were supposed to bring them presents at appropriate times.  Some churches have a similar attitude.  But Jeremiah’s message is different.  Jeremiah knows how much God loves all his children; how much God wants every city to prosper; how much God wants every community to be a life-giving place to live, to work, to raise children and to come to approach the fullness of life of the Kingdom of God.  Part of how the cities of the world come to prosper is by God’s people using their skills and their gifts and their blessing to love the city where they have been sent. 

This attitude is not a universal one, however.  Too often churches ignore the cities where they have been placed by God.  Maybe at best, they see their surrounding city as a neutral sea from which they will fish for people.  At worst, the community can become a source of funds to be raised or people to be used so the church can maintain itself in the way its members have become accustomed to.  Engagement with the world becomes about taking, sometimes taking in good ways and for good reasons, but the prevailing attitude can be that the world is rich, the church is poor and we need to get some of the goodies out there and bring them in here.

But Jeremiah challenges that attitude because we are not poor, and we are not called to be takers.  We are incalculably rich and we are called to pour ourselves out for the good of the city around us.  We follow Jesus, who died for the welfare of a whole lot more than the church.  Remember, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.”  What God has given us, in gifts, resources, buildings, time, skill, expertise or anything else, we are to use for the welfare of the city where we have been placed. 

In this congregation, we know this call so strongly that we have even identified one of our strategic directions as supporting the revitalization of the wider community.  Yesterday, we once again had two comfort stations at Waterfire, and this time in addition to changing tables and privacy for nursing moms, we offered free children’s activities.  A beautiful children’s piece or artwork made up of children’s handprints from yesterday can be seen this morning on the first floor landing by Allen Hall.  We’ve offered kettle corn at Night of Lights, we’re feeding people, and we’ve invited artists and twelve-step groups and a variety of others in to use our facilities.  God is blessing us in these endeavors as we seek the welfare of the city where God has sent us into exile.

OK, those last two words, “into exile,” kind of stop us short.   A good portion of you have been here most of your lives.  You probably didn’t know you were sent into exile.  Maybe those of us who have moved more recently feel sent in a different way, even if most days it doesn’t feel like sent into exile.  But we are all exiles because we are in a land that is not our home.  First and foremost, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, and we are just passing through here, whether our time in the Shenango Valley is a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, or all hundred years of our life.  We do not ultimately belong here, but neither are we here by accident. 

God has placed us where we are, with the commission to seek its welfare, so that this community can prosper with us in it.  As exiles, however, two things are required.  The first and most important obligation is that we live according to the values of the Kingdom of God.  We exhibit the fruits of the Spirit to those around us – the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that are the marks of God’s presence.  We maintain honesty and integrity in our lives, even when, and especially when, the prevailing public practices are corruption and exploitation.  We care for the poor, the sick, the elderly, the children, the prisoners, and the needy, even though some around us may think such actions are soft or stupid.  We make time for worship and prayer, for family and friends, for Sabbath and celebration, even when the world says that “my time” is the supreme value and unbridled consumption often replaces developing loving relationships.

Besides living Kingdom values, the second part of our job as exiles is to act like gracious guests.  We are not entitled to anything.  We don’t need to judge anything.  We can’t make others change for our preference or conveniences, even when we are right.  But changing those around us is God’s job, not ours, and if we live like true citizens of God’s Kingdom with a gentle grace and winsomeness, God will take care of whatever else he needs.

The one specific instruction Jeremiah gives the people about how to seek the city’s welfare is to pray to the Lord on its behalf.  Prayer is the one gift that God’s people can bring to the wider community that even non-believing people of good will cannot offer.   While the Israelites were in exile in Babylon, scripture records how Daniel prayed.  We are called to do the same.  Our prayer opens up avenues for God’s blessing to reach into our cities.  With prayer, we can see unbelievable things happen for the good of the community.  Those who regularly pray for their communities can tell incredible stories of God’s blessing.  I myself have seen amazing things happen in the community following intentional, focused prayer by God’s people yearning for God’s renewal. 

I would suggest two specific avenues of prayer to the Lord on the city’s behalf.  The first opportunity is to incorporate prayers for the city in our daily and weekly prayers.  We should be mentioning our leaders, our schools and hospitals, our police and firefighters, our homes and business, our media centers and our church.  Our prayers should ascend regularly for the places that influence important parts of our communities, especially concerning government, education, business, media and religion.  We incorporate those prayers into our Sunday prayers of the people, but we can also incorporate them into our daily prayers, and if we don’t have daily prayer disciplines, spending some time every day lifting up our community’s welfare is a good place to start.

From the cover of the SEAPC book "Attack Lambs"

The second venue for prayer is prayer walking, or even prayer driving.  As God’s people take the time to go through our neighborhoods, or our downtowns, malls and other areas, and lift what we see to God, God’s blessings flow through the entire community.  We can take a short walk every day and lift up our block and our neighbors, and if we know them we may know exactly what we need to pray for them about.  Making intentional time with someone else to walk around for a half-hour or an hour and quietly offering prayers for whatever God shows us is incredibly powerful.  Asking God to send his presence and angels with us as we drive around on our errands and being intentional about praying for what we see makes a huge difference.  If we don’t know what to pray for we can imagine God bathing a place or a person in light or we can ask God to bless people with health, happiness, or a sense of his presence. 

Imagine the entire Christian population of the Shenango Valley praying for their neighbors every day.  Imagine people from all the area churches scattering God’s blessings everywhere they drive.  Imagine God’s people walking every street in the area, lifting up the problems they notice and calling down God’s presence to fill every home and business they pass.  Imagine the entire region so bathed in prayer that no one could go very far before feeling that where they stand is holy ground because they have encountered the presence and glory of God in an overwhelming way.  Pray to the Lord on the city’s behalf.

Then Jeremiah says, “for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”  We are tied to the place where God has sent us.  In the same way that we cannot help but be affected by what happens to the people that we love, we are connected to our surrounding community.  As we use our gifts to raise it up, as we live out the values of the Kingdom of God in its midst, and as we pray to the Lord on its behalf, not only will the city around us prosper, but so will we.  The paradox, however, is that if we focus on ourselves first, our community withers and eventually so will we.  So we give first from the abundance of the gifts God has given to us, and thereby open ourselves up to God’s blessings coming back through the community we have helped raise up.

Maybe it seems presumptuous that a church could bring blessing and prosperity to an entire community, and maybe it is presumptuous.  But we are servants of the Most High God, the creator of the entire universe, as well as the Shenango Valley.  He is longing to bless this region beyond our wildest imaginings.  If we are willing to be agents of that blessing, we can expect to witness first hand incredible transformations for the welfare of the city where God has sent us, and for our own welfare, as well.