Over the decades my denomination pretty much abandoned the major metropolitan areas of the United States. We weren’t alone, other denominations moved out too, and for very understandable reasons. So this isn’t about blame. People seek good and safe places to live.
The real city is a strange place. Oh, I can handle myself quite well walking on Broadway in New York or Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and so can you. But what about living in Harlem or Chicago’s south side, “Big Bad Leroy Brown” territory? Fear in the city is definitely not “false evidence appearing real.” The real city is strange, a foreign, foreboding place to many of us.
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” asked the psalmist when he and his people were exiled in Babylon (Psalm 137:4). From suburbs and small towns, we look at the city… People who didn’t move out watch their churches decline or close… And if we care, that’s a big if, if we care, we feel alienated from the city life of decades ago. For many of us, being in the real city is being in exile.
“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:7) The early growth of Christianity was through the great urban centers of the Mediterranean region. There are some stirrings among church people to get back into the city, voluntary exile, because God wants His Church where the masses are. Jesus saw “a great crowd and he had compassion on them.” (Mark 6:34) I don’t know about you, but this makes me uncomfortable sitting in my cushy suburban church pew.
Comments