Praying for the Peace and Prosperity of our City of Exile: Jeremiah 29:7 and the Political Landscape

It’s been a big week in politics – and I don’t even live in the US! As is usual with elections, there are winners and losers – those who are ecstatic and those who are devastated. In the middle are those who are essentially disinterested, but this is probably a smaller group than is usually the case.

I could pontificate at great length about what the US Presidential election says to us and about the role that Christian faith plays in elections – but I don’t have an appetite for that right now. Instead I’d like to take a journey back to some fundamental convictions about the role of Christians in their national landscape… little reminders to hold onto during times of either despair or elation – a kind of “well regardless of the current outcome, there are deeper truths we hold onto.”

Principle 1 flows from Heb 13:14 “Here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” That city is the New Jerusalem, which one day will come down from heaven to earth, so that the cry goes out, “Now the dwelling of God is with us… and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev 21:1-4). Here we do not have an enduring city… I should remember that when I love my city too much – as well as when I despair over it. When asked my nationality I should answer with the deepest conviction “I am part of the people of God. My citizenship is the Kingdom of God.” When asked where my deepest loyalty lies I must say with equally strong conviction, “I am part of the people of God. My citizenship is the Kingdom of God.”

Now there is nothing new in Christians saying this – Augustine reminds us of it in his 5th century City of God. Facing the collapse of the Roman Empire, Augustine argues that Christians are citizens of the City of God, and that this is better than citizenship of any earthly city, for it will last for eternity. His book has been one of the most influential in Christian literature, yet its message is at risk of being forgotten.

Talk of the City of God is sometimes seen as escapism, a refusal to engage in the issues of our time, a kind of pie in the sky when you die. And it can be used like that – but it is not meant to. To the contrary, because we will not forever be trapped in the current status quo, we can live courageously, knowing that the best is yet to be. We know what we must do now – it is spelt out very clearly in Micah 6:8 “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” That’s not a posture of retreat. It’s one of leaning into the present moment with a clear mandate – act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God. We are to be just even when others are not, we are to be merciful when ruthlessness is an easy option, and we are to humbly walk with God… which is an engaged, intentional walk, one willing to respond to the gentle nudging of God – “do this, say this, help here…”

Strangely, because I am not totally invested in the now, I am more objective about the way I can be of service in the present moment. My emotions are not so clouded that I forget to curiously ask, “What is God doing now, and how can I be God’s person in this setting?”

Principle 2 is stated in Jeremiah 29:7: “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray for it, because it it prospers, you too will prosper.” We might live in a city of exile, but our role in it is to be constructive. Rather than to lament what we do not have (we are in exile) we are to be participants, and participants with a clear agenda – securing the peace and prosperity (as in well being) of those in our location. As such, the people of God are to be a source of blessing to those in their surroundings. In time that blessing flows more widely, for a consistent biblical refrain is that God blesses us so that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3).

Sometimes this works its way out in unexpected ways.

A few years ago I was in conversation with a man who didn’t know anything about me other than that we live in the same suburb. He was extolling its virtues – “so peaceful, so friendly, people are so kind, neighbours are really helpful. In fact it would be absolutely perfect if it weren’t that there are so many **** Christians. They are just everywhere in this suburb.” I smiled. I wondered when he would put the pieces together. Yes it is a peaceful, friendly, kind, helpful suburb – and that’s because there are so many Christians living in it who seek its peace and prosperity! And that’s why he loves living in it…

Principle 3 is found in Matt 5:13-16, where we are called to be salt and light. Often we are told that this is our mandate to be counter-cultural, though I often worry a little over this, not because the sentiment is wrong, but because the tone is. I’ve often heard Christians angrily denounce the many changes we have faced over the last 30 years. It’s a litany of everything that is wrong and of how awful everyone is. “We must be the salt in this situation,” they say. But it’s not said in a way that is either kind or understanding, and ironically its militant tone matches the one it is supposed to counter.

However, I am all for Christians being counter – cultural if it expressed as:

• counter-cultural calm – for we remember Jesus’ words in the storm, “Peace be still”
• counter-cultural kindness – for it is so easy to spot the deficit and to exaggerate the wrong, but so liberating when someone assumes the best, and is kind even in the face of obvious error
• counter-cultural hope – for we have met the risen Jesus, and when you know death is conquered, all other fears recede

I could add more – but calm, kindness and hope seem a solid start to me.

There are some beautiful resources from the Christian tradition that can help us in our city of exile. One is a wonderful prayer based on the words of William Sloane Coffin. I first heard it when I was on Sabbatical leave in the US in 2020, and it was prayed over the congregation as it left to play its part in the world:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

May God give you grace never to sell yourself short,

Grace to risk something big for something good,

Grace to remember that the world is too small for anything but truth and too dangerous for anything but love.

So may God take your minds and think through them.

May God take your lips and speak through them.

May God take your hearts and set them on fire. Amen.

And may God indeed bless us as we move into a world too small for anything but truth, and too dangerous for anything but love.

Nice chatting…

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