"Seeking Community Welfare" (Jeremiah 29:1-9)

What does it mean to “seek the welfare of the city”?

Definition: “welfare” – well-being; Oxford: satisfactory state, health & prosperity; perhaps we could add: peace (shalom), harmony, good functioning

What about the interesting phrase, “...for in its [the city’s] welfare you will find your welfare”?

We talked last week about the people of Israel who had been taken north into exile in Babylon following the military fall of Jerusalem in the 6^th Century BCE. This meant that, even though they had reasonable social freedom and economic opportunity in Babylon, they were still separated from their land and their traditional practice of religion, they had to deal with a completely different culture, they were subject to a foreign power, and also they understandably had deep concerns about their future.

Babylon would not be where these people would want to be ... by no means ... but this is where they found themselves. And they would be there beyond their own generation – whilst learning the lessons that the prophets attributed to them. They had failed to live in God’s ways, which had a resultant effect on the welfare of Jerusalem – their community had disintegrated from within. This was of course a repeated theme – remember how Jesus, just prior to his crucifixion, wept over the state of the rebuilt Jerusalem some six centuries later.

One of the lessons that needed to be learned in Jeremiah’s time, and in Jesus’ time, and in our time, is that we don’t live in a vacuum, as an individual, as an individual family unit, as any particular cultural subset – but rather we all are part of a bigger relational melting-pot, normally called a community. Humanity is inter-connected, with one person’s welfare always linked to other people’s decisions and behaviour in life. Often the negative disruption of our lives is linked to another person’s lack of well-being and how this plays out in community life. To at least some degree, each of our well-being is tied to the communal well-being.

Because most communities are quite diverse in many ways, it will require quite a bit of goodwill to protect and maintain each community’s welfare, let alone build its capacity. This may have been the last thing on the ‘to do list’ of the exiles (given how they felt about their personal situations), but those who wanted to restore and grow their relationship with God had no real choice in the matter. Jesus, in his time, was very strong on this as he said, “Love your neighbour as yourself”, and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. We have a sign up in our house that has God saying to us, “You know that ‘love thy neighbour’ thing? I meant everybody!” This reminds me to even stay positive about those neighbours who don’t meet my particular standards of neighbourliness.

Some may think that the church’s job is to simply attract and extract people from their sinful life environments, and closet them away in the perceived safety of the church, and build the potential population of heaven. However this methodology is far too dismissive of those people who are currently beyond the church’s reach due to the life trauma they are experiencing. And God’s love for all people is so strong, that God desires to connect relationally with people whatever their current situation. The clearest example of this is the very incarnation of Jesus, who shifted home from the perfection of heaven to take up residence in troubled earthly community.

Many people out there, often without realising it, are in exile themselves, because their lives are so disconnected from the best that God has for them and designed for them to enjoy. Many have been deeply affected by the abuse of others. Many others have simply made bad choices. This has left so many neighbours in desperate and seemingly hopeless mindsets. Jesus calls us to be seekers of the lost around us. Remember that when Adam was hiding in the ‘Garden of Eden’ lest his shame be revealed, God was right there saying, “Adam, Adam, where are you”?

Now we haven’t been forced to live around here (in this area), this has been largely a choice we have made. We might still see some relevance here though, because we rightly consider ourselves ‘citizens of heaven’ yet we are stuck here in a hugely sinful environment. We might also feel stuck, in that if things were just a little different we could be living somewhere else that we might consider better ... if we just had a bit more money or a different type of job or a different family situation, or if we hadn’t made that bad decision or acted in a certain way.

But the reality is – we do live here, these are our neighbours, we are residents of the city of Wyndham – and the needs and the problems of the city of Wyndham are our needs and our problems as well to address. Wyndham, and more particularly Tarneit, is our mission field. Some of us will actually celebrate where we live, be proud of where we live ... if for no other reason, than for the God-ordained opportunities it brings.

The people of God are not to neglect the neighbourhoods in which they live. They are to recognise their God-ordained role amongst their fellow citizens. The exiles are to be content to live their life, put down roots, build their home, raise their family, and produce their food – for as long as the exile in Babylon lasts. Likewise, we are to live joyfully and purposely and redemptively in each location that God gives us as our primary mission-field. We should actively engage in the affairs of the neighbourhood in seeking to bring glory to God. If we engage well, we will likely benefit ourselves in friendship, knowledge and in feeling useful. We will also learn more of what it is like to walk in other people’s shoes, and thus become more rounded Christ-like persons.

Many people ignore that they live in community and amongst neighbours, and just seek their own personal welfare, putting fixed private boundaries around themselves. We are clearly called of God however to seek the welfare of the community as a whole – which means making contributions to various individuals and groups, while at the same time praying for wisdom and energy and commitment and strength and blessing (sometimes against the odds). All we can do is try with whatever resources that are available to us to make a positive difference, while praying that these efforts will ultimately, in both known and unknown ways, bring glory to God. We also ask in very practical terms, what can we do? I’ll come back to that.

You’ll notice in verses 8-9, that there were contrary voices to Jeremiah, offering a different message. This was a far more convenient self-centred message, that very soon, rather than decades later, God would bring the people back to their own land, denying their need to be transformed into community honouring contributors. In history, quite often Christians themselves have been distracted from their mission by voices that are not of God. These can be the voices of materialism or certain popular political agendas or sadly even racism. So, Jeremiah includes in his letter, the need for God’s people to be carefully discerning. We need to continually rely on God’s word as our measure – not popular opinion.

Jeremiah was not naive and God was not unknowing about the abuses in Babylon. There were things that were terribly wrong that needed to be confronted. Part of “seeking the welfare of the city” would be addressing those policies and practices that demeaned and oppressed people. Within our local community there will be evidence of: abuse; lack of coping skills, anxiety & depression, feelings of hopelessness; unemployment, rising debt, economic challenges; lack of social connections & friendships; crime; intolerance & prejudice. When we and others are caused to despair over this, we would pray even more!

What can we practically do to seek the welfare of our community???

·        Be ready to lend a hand – to offer support & friendship

·        To get involved with community (service) groups

·        Seek to counter injustices

·        Be positive about the many good aspects

·        Showing goodwill & offering encouragement toward community members (including leaders e.g. councillors)

·        Sharing life & showing solidarity with human need – Andrew Mawson writes, “If you want to engage with communities, you need to build long-term relationships and gain the trust of the people, and the best way to achieve this is to get on with practical project work based on the realities of people’s daily lives, which you commit to seeing through to the end” (The Social Entrepreneur,p.164).

·        Living out an alternative vision – Walter Brueggemann writes, “People are not changed by moral exhortation but [rather] by transformed imagination”.

We’ll pick this up next week when we talk about “open doors”.

In the famous Hitchcock film “Rear Window” there is a very poignant scene that helps to set the scene for what is to follow as the injured and housebound character played by James Stewart observes the goings on in the apartment building opposite his. A lonely lady pretends to have a house guest, obviously in the depths of despair about actually not having such a friend. Watch, at the end, for James Stewart’s character showing a measure of empathy as he lifts his glass to this lonely lady’s welfare.

What would it look like if a collection of Jesus-followers, together with those others interested in a collective journey of blessing their local community (with creative positive activity), stepped out and served in their neighbourhoods? How would that change the future? Neil Cole writes, “If Christians started to take responsibility for our communities and cities, began being more proactive in prayer, and established a real presence of grace and truth, we could have a huge impact”. Cole goes on to write, “God will do the work through us, and he will use us if we are willing to lay ourselves down for others” (Search & Rescue,p.21,50).

Cole also mentions that real community transformation will depend upon our level of personal transformation.