In Kansas City – Jeremiah 29:4-13
In the West, Christianity has moved from a cultural majority to a cultural minority. Followers of Jesus feel a sense of cultural displacement or, in the language of the scripture, exile. Throughout the biblical narrative, the People of God have had many exilic experiences, but as the Prophet Jeremiah advises, our God can be found even when we are far from home.
We have moved from a majority Christian culture to a post-Christian culture.
For the first two centuries of our nation’s history, the Christian faith was the assumed default for most people. But over the last two decades, the west has shifted from a majority Christian culture to a post-Christian culture; And our city is no exception to that.
As our team prepared to begin ministry in Kansas City, we did our best to research the spiritual, religious, and cultural environment we were stepping into. And we made three observations about the relationship between Christianity and our city–
1. The population has very little understanding of the person of Jesus.
Many in the community might say “I believe in a God of Love”, but that God of love is totally disconnected from the Incarnation of Jesus.
“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” – Mark 1:14–15 (ESV)
Jesus’ message was that God rule is here and now, it is everything we’ve ever longed for– rethink everything and commit to learning its ways!
2. The synchronism of Christianity and nationalism.
This is the belief that America is uniquely blessed by God and particular values must be upheld in our culture with influence and power. The emphasis of this religion is not following the way of Jesus, but securing power at all costs.
3. The population of our city and our neighborhood is continuing to grow in its distrust of religious institutions.
Our neighborhood’s thoughts on religious institutions are complicated and painful. At a national level, we continue to see the fall of prominent Christian leaders. Locally, many bare wounds were received at the hands of Churches in our city. And while we can say that we were wounded by Christians, and not by Christ–learning to trust a Christian community takes time and healing– and many are never able.
Faithful Christians have moved from the majority to the minority; from the center to the fringe; from well-thought-of to the weird.
This idea of cultural displacement or exile cuts through the entirety of scripture; a theme that can offer us guidance as we navigate life as a minority.
In 587 BC Israelites were taken into exile by the Babylonian Empire.
Home, family, temple, culture, and language– everything familiar left behind as they arrived in Babylon. The Israelites found themselves in a strange land disconnected from everything they held dear.
One day, two messengers arrive from Jerusalem with a letter from the prophet Jeremiah.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare[shalom] of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare[shalom] you will find your welfare [shalom].” – Jeremiah 29:4-7
Shalom is wholeness. It is this idea of a vibrant and healthy community that is driven forward with a divine purpose toward human flourishing. It is a society living in the goodness of God, where all are taken care of.
God is working to reveal himself in the everyday and ordinary elements of life on planet earth.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you” –Jeremiah 29:11–14.
The promise of Jeremiah is not that everything you do will be blessed; but that what God is bringing about in His promised future is better than anything we can imagine.
Whatever cultural displacement we feel; whatever exile we experience; whatever isolation and alienation may come–if we search the raw materials of life we will find God in our midst.
