The spiritual significance of where you live
by Pastor Joshua Pfeiffer
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‘But 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’ (Jeremiah 29:7).
In addition to the normal three monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, St Benedict added a fourth to his order: the vow of stability. Essentially this is a vow not to move from community to community or place to place, but to stay put. It recognises there is something spiritually significant about finding oneself in a specific location. Similarly, some famous missionaries have devoted their entire lives to one very specific area of the world. As someone who has moved around and loves to travel and embark on new adventures, I find this a challenging thought to consider.
Something similar is going on in the text from the prophet Jeremiah as God’s people were finding their way during a time of exile. God did not call them to be there forever, but he expected them to settle in and take their current location seriously. God encouraged them to build houses, cultivate gardens, and flourish in their family life. Even though they had been forcibly taken away to a foreign city, they weren’t to sabotage or overthrow it, but to seek its welfare, and especially to pray for the community they were in.
As Christian people, there is a sense in which we ‘have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come’ (Hebrews 13:14). Through Jesus and his death and resurrection, we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). At the same time, Jesus does not take us out of the world, but sends us into it, where he calls us to be ‘salt and light’. St Paul teaches that this means praying for our leaders and for the whole civic life of the cities and towns where we live, just as God instructed the exiles of old.
How seriously have you taken the particular location in which you live right now? What may it look like to seek the welfare of your town, city, or community, and pray for it?
Heavenly Father, thank you that in Christ, our citizenship is in heaven. We pray for our leaders and the cities, towns, and communities in which we live. Lead us by your Spirit to seek their welfare and to find our welfare, therein. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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