Love Your Neighborhood
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
If you are like me, you are probably pretty burned out by the national politics in the United States. Not only that, but you probably also think it is useless to hope that anything will change and that any letter you write to your elected representative will be lost in a torrent of other letters. You might believe that any amount you might donate to your preferred candidate’s campaign would be completely overshadowed by the literal billions of dollars inserted into our nation’s political process since the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision.
Politics are a mess. While I disagree with them, I understand why people believe it doesn’t belong in church. We see the worst human behavior in politics, don’t we? We see the “bad guys” win, and we see no progress ever get made.
I understand this feeling and want to let you in on what gives me hope even when our nation’s politics doesn’t: we can get a lot done in our own backyard when it feels like nothing is possible in Washington, DC! Emailing your congressional representative might result in a boilerplate response six weeks later, but contacting your city councilor might get you invited to a sit down meeting with them over coffee!
Since I have been pastor here at Lakewood UMC, I have come to love my neighborhood and town—even with its challenges. I have found hope in politics when I have witnessed how focused and organized involvement in what our city is doing can lead to real substantive change.
Before 2022, there was no meaningful cold weather plan that helped keep people alive that were experiencing homelessness. But since our church opened up as a pop up cold weather shelter we have seen our city respond by coming up with their own contingency plan and is now in the process of completing a renovation on Jefferson County’s first homeless shelter. It’s one of the things I am most proud of happening at this church. When Lakewood UMC stepped up, it changed an entire city.
The church was later honored with a Mayor’s Inspiration Award, and the church’s plaque is on the wall at City Hall now.
I found myself thinking about this when I read the surprising words of Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; which is a passage of encouragement by the prophet Jeremiah to an exiled people. The people of Israel were dispossessed, their temple destroyed, and they were forced to live in a foreign land. And Jeremiah’s encouragement to them wasn’t to fight or resist or disassociate. Instead he encouraged them to “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce…seek the welfare of the city where I (the LORD) have sent you into exile.”
When you find yourself in a place outside of your comfort zone, or a new place you have never lived before, or if you find that your neighborhood is changing faster than you were ready for, remember that we are all a people who are capable of blooming where we have been planted.
Just look around at God’s abundance and notice all of the ways you can come to love your neighborhood—no matter where it is! And let that love move you to be a part of the good that happens there.
