Seek Shalom

What does it look like to be attentive
to the places in which we live?

Author and theologian, Kristen Deede Johnson, was a guest on the Gospel Reverb podcast in 2021. She spoke about our calling to love our neighbor and the importance of discerning the needs “of the city.”

“Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Jeremiah 29:7 NIV

Read an excerpt below (2-minute read). Listen to the entire interview here.

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Jeremiah 29 comes in the context of exile. God’s people were no longer in Israel. They were in Babylon, and they were struggling. What do we do? How do we live? What does faithfulness look like in this context?

And through the words of Jeremiah, God tells them, seek the welfare or shalom of the city in which you abide [verse 7]. And for many Christians — certainly going back to Augustine, that was a very formative text for him. But then more recently, I think you see many Christians in the U.S. context wondering, is this a verse that has particular wisdom for us in this moment?

What does it look like to be really attentive to the places in which we live?

I tend to connect it to biblical imagery related to trees. I’m thinking of Psalm 1, which tells us to be like a tree. Trees have really deep roots in a particular location.

We could say, as Christians, we’re rooted in the living waters of Christ. We need that sustenance. We’re stronger as groves of trees. We’re part of the family of Christ. We don’t do anything we do on our own, but we’re adopted into this family.

But trees also take in carbon dioxide and offer life-giving oxygen. They don’t just do that for their own kind.

It’s not like an oak tree says, “I’m only going to give oxygen to other oak trees.” But actually, the whole setting around them is made better. Life is given through their presence. And they also offer shade, fruit, and beauty.

There’s lots of different ways that we can really engage our local settings.

But what would it be like for Christians to think, okay, our calling is to be like trees seeing the needs. What’s the carbon dioxide that needs to be taken in and life offered instead? How can we seek shalom right where we are and do that together?

And in some ways, with our wider political landscape seeming so difficult right now, I wonder if this even feels a bit more hopeful to focus on the local and how we can come together with others.

I think, in some ways, the deeper your roots, the wider your branches can grow. So, I think as we’re deeply rooted in Christ by the power of the Spirit, then we can have wide branches and find places of overlap with others who may have very different roots.

They may care about things in the city for very different reasons, but can we find common cause and work together towards shalom? Because it’s a way of offering life. And that’s actually part of our discipleship as Christians.