God and the City
Jan 12th, 2009 by ljkim
Here’s a summary of Sunday’s talk: Conventional wisdom says that cities are places of sin and greed and corruption, and rural places, small towns, are what God loves. That makes perfect sense, except…our God is unconventional.
In the Bible, Heaven is described not as a garden but as a city. Jesus sees Jerusalem and weeps for the city. Philip brings God in tangible ways to Samaria “and the entire city is filled with joy” (Acts 8:8). Early spiritual activity was confined almost exclusively to cities…so much so that the word used for non-believers, “pagan” means country-dweller. Understanding God’s love for the city meant that during the latter days of the Roman Empire, as people with means moved out of the cities, the Christians stayed to serve it… To love their neighbors, to pray for the city and one another and bless it…
And so the question we need to raise to ourselves is: Do I love the city, or am I out to simply use it (get my wants and leave)? How can I bless the city, make it qualitatively better? Leave us your thoughts!
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