“Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you…Pray to the LORD for it.” (Jer. 29:7)

Peter and Paul tell us “we are sojourners and exiles” here, with “our citizenship in heaven” (1 Pet. 2:11, Phil. 3:20). I’ve felt like an exile at times in the past: ridiculed for bringing up the Bible during a graduate school seminar or being the rare believer on the English department faculty. Now, however, living in Encore at Briar Chapel, I am culturally and educationally like everyone else. Many of my neighbors are even believers (in some fashion). God told the newly-exiled Jews to “settle down” (v. 5) and make a life in Babylon, but to keep their Jewish identity. I have settled here, even helped plant the community garden (v. 5), but is it evident I’m an exile? Do I pray about what God wants for this community? Do I ask Him how I can help? 

Encore may not be the pagan, pluralistic, polytheistic Babylon scripture calls to mind. But, truthfully, wherever Christians are, they’re living in “Babylon,” in lands foreign to God’s Kingdom. Political divisiveness cuts through our little community. Public shaming routinely appears on our Encore-only Google chat. The newly-formed HOA board receives far more negativity than praise. Did I pray for the Google Chat group before I sent my curt (ok, negative) request to the Moderator to remove me? Could I not have contributed more kind posts instead of disappearing in a huff? I failed to act my part as an ambassador for Christ, to work for the good of the entire community. It’s true I wasn’t absorbed into their behavior, but I was retreating, and neither is what God commands in Jeremiah 29. 

God brought the Jews to Babylon to refine them but also to bless their place of exile. Instructed to pray for “the peace and prosperity” of this new city, they would in turn receive blessing (v.7). God didn’t place me in Encore to make my life better (to quote Pastor Alex), but to make my neighbor’s life better. Withdrawing from uncomfortable places or people I disagree with just fosters resentment in me; I become what I dislike. Pretending divisive behavior doesn’t exist fails to represent how God would have me interact, for I’m supposed to help make Encore, Chatham County, and beyond, a better place. I can pray for a mayor whose policies run counter to God and for parents angrily demonstrating at a school board meeting. I can respectfully engage with someone criticizing the HOA, not walk away muttering, shaking my head, and feeling smugly superior to “those people.”

We’re exiles, yes, but not tourists who never get involved. We’re resident aliens, commanded to settle in among “Babylonians,” to showcase our Christian values, to engage with and pray for our communities without adopting their ways. May our behavior be different enough that a “Babylonian” might ask, “what makes you live like this?” 

Think of one aspect of Chatham County that riles you. Imagine it from God’s perspective. Ask Him how you can help. God will bless others because you are praying! And then He will bless you as well! Isn’t that amazing?