Seek the Peace of the City and Pray for It
Author
Eldin Villafañe
Summary: We are living in a kairos, a time of God in which, precisely in the face of tragedy and brokenness, his people must rise up to serve. Our calling is to seek the peace of the city and pray for it. This peace, shalom, encompasses well-being, wholeness, health, salvation, and deliverance; it is not limited to the soul but attends to the whole of life. Although not all of us preach with the same ease, we can all demonstrate God’s love by offering food, water, clothing, shelter, and affection; and, at the very least, we can pray. We must no longer consider ourselves exiles, but ambassadors sent to seek the good even of a city we regard as sinful. As we seek its peace, we will also find our own. Therefore, we must ask ourselves how we can be shalom at work, at school, and wherever we may be. Trusting in God’s protection, we offer our hands, words, and possessions to be peacemakers and channels of his grace and love, following Jesus’ self-giving example and bringing light to a broken city.
In the New Testament there are two words that speak about time. One is Chronos and the other is Kairos. Chronos is ordinary time, and Kairos is God’s time, and I sincerely believe that this is God’s time for us.
No one wants to witness and take part in tragedies, but the moments in history when things like this happen are when the people of God must rise up with strength. A biblical passage that has been my motto has been mentioned; the truth is that next Sunday in Buffalo, New York, I am going to preach on this passage. The truth is that I always preach it wherever I go.
The motto of the CUME Center for Ministerial Education is Jeremiah 24:7: “Seek the peace of the city to which I have sent you and pray for it, because in its peace you will have your peace.” Without taking much time, the word peace is shalom; in the New Testament it is eirene, and it is formed from shalom itself—a rich word meaning well-being, prosperity, wholeness, health, salvation, deliverance, salvation.
The truth is that when the Bible speaks to us here, it tells us two things that we can readily do in the city. In this passage: “Seek the peace of the city and pray for it.” To seek peace means that we should seek the complete well-being of this city, at every level of life—not only that of the spiritual soul, but also of the body, the whole of life.
As I tell my students, I have never seen a soul walking around out there; it needs shelter and warmth and love, and food—total well-being. But you know that all of us have something to do in seeking the peace of the city, because not all of us are preachers, and some of us do not have the same fluency in sharing the Gospel as others, but you can show them the love of God with a piece of bread, with water, with clothing, with warmth—in different ways, expressing the love of God. And if you cannot do that, at least pray.
The background of this passage is very interesting. Jeremiah is writing to these people who are in bondage in Babylon. Babylon, Boston. It does not matter; they have been carried away to that place. The Hebrew word is galah; the word means exile, but it also carries the sense of an ambassador, as Samuel said today: many have come here as though in exile—what brought them here, right?—and for some reason we are here. Now we are neither exiles nor deportees; we are now ambassadors, and we are called to seek peace as ambassadors.
The first people who heard that thought Jeremiah was crazy. Seek peace in Babylon, this city, this empire so evil and so ugly, so sinful? Perhaps Boston is not as bad as Babylon. Many times we see the city and the people out there as sinners and evil, but God calls us to have compassion and seek peace for them, for this city.
Pray for them, pray for them. The least we can do is pray. It is interesting how that part of verse 7 says: “Because in its peace you yourselves will have peace.” Did you hear that clearly? That is interesting and profound: to the extent that we seek the peace of the city—its well-being, its prosperity, all God’s resources and greatness for them—God will give it to us.
It seems that God has a sense of humor—can one say that?—because it is as though He says: if they do not want to seek their peace simply because they want to do so, He tells them, “But look, do it out of self-interest—for the blessing.” By now we know something better; we recognize that we do it because of God’s will and challenge for our lives. The love and grace of God are manifested in our lives and can make a phenomenal impact on this city now. Now is God’s Kairos.
Ask yourself at your workplace, at your school, wherever you may be: How can I be shalom for the people, for the city? We face a great challenge. May God help us fulfill it.
I will close with a Psalm. I am going to read some very familiar verses first; I am going to read the first seven verses. Yes, the very familiar Psalm 91: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
“And I will say of the Lord: My hope and my fortress, my God, in whom I will trust.”
“He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, from the destructive pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and beneath His wings you will be safe; His Truth is shield and buckler.”
“You shall not fear the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at midday.”
“A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you”—blessings.
I give thanks to the Lord; the Spirit of the Lord is in this community. God has great things that He wants to do through us. These are pregnant times.
God wants a people who will be channels of blessing and of His Grace and His love in this city. Many more things may happen, but I know that if the salt of the Earth is in the city—and we, His people, and His Word are that salt—the enemy will always have to flee in defeat.
Let us pray for a moment and give thanks to the Lord. We apologize if we could not choose all of you; there will also be other opportunities in the future. Please stand. Let us lift our hands to the Lord in unity.
You have called us, Lord, to be the salt of the Earth; You have called us to be peacemakers, people of peace. We offer You our hands, our words, everything we have, to be instruments of Your peace. May Your peace be in this broken city; may Your love and Your peace and Your life shine in us.
Lord, as we give ourselves to You and to others in the way that Jesus our Lord gave Himself, may Your light and Your love be made known; and may that peace which Christ won for us on the cross always be in our hearts and in our minds, and may it be given to us so that we may share it with the world as we surrender ourselves and place ourselves at Your service. May we be used according to Your Will, following the example of our Lord.
We thank You; we adore You for everything You have done for us. Use us as we leave this place; we pray for the Glory of Your Name and the life of the world and of humanity, in the holy Name of Jesus, amen and amen. Thank You, Lord. May the Grace of the Lord bless you and be with us all.