Seek the welfare of the place where you live
He led them by a straight way,
Until they reached an inhabited town. Psalm 107:7
Read Jeremiah 29:4—9
Even if I live in the culture of my birth and upbringing, my heart culture, my familiar language, hearing the kind of jokes I don’t need explained, and if I happen, for diversion, or to really stir the blood, to be fanatical for sport, the team with the big fan base, if this land and this society and this way of life is where I’ve always lived, moved and had my being, and has given me my social identity, still I am in exile here. I know I live for another king. In times like this evening prayer I turn to another language. I am to focus on other priorities. I am in Jesus, and a citizen of his kingdom. So I also need to draw apart, to gain perspective on my society. Why not segregate altogether, then? Because of Jesus! The Son of God assumed full humanity. I live in this society because Jesus does too. He would have me embrace it, live in it with a passion and live in it well. He’d have me transform it.
Loving God of all creation and all history, I thank you for nurturing me among the families of my familiar community. Thank you for the variety of cultures, one of which is mine. Thank you for language and the culture that nurtured me and gave me my way to express my life experience. Where I live now, may I contribute to the lives around me out of a passion to love being human and to see humanity around me redeemed and restored. I pray this both for the sake of my own community and for your glory within it.