Seeking the Peace and Prosperity of a City

Thoughts on the election with God's mission in mind

We have come to another election in America. In a week’s time, we will be much closer to knowing who won the races, which ballot measures succeeded, and what the new direction for our government will be. More than ever, the pressure feels almost unbearable. We are told, at every turn, that democracy is at stake, that more is on the line than ever before, and that no election has been this important. While these statements may be true, they create an overwhelming pressure on our votes. It feels as though, with just one wrong move, everything could come crashing down. Everything rises and falls on one single decision—or so we are told.

For the church, it is imperative that we take a long-term approach to all things. Nothing is ever merely about what happens today. As God reminded the exiles in Haggai’s time, while they needed to start rebuilding the temple immediately, they were also to have a long-term anticipation of God’s glory that would come later. The work is done today; the glory often comes tomorrow. The vision of the Christian must extend beyond today’s horizon. Whether your candidate, ballot measure, or tax proposal passes or not, God’s kingdom is not built on human elections. The glory isn’t in the power structures. The glory will be with God. 

“I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord Almighty. “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the Lord Almighty. “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the Lord Almighty. “And in this place, I will grant peace,” declares the Lord Almighty. (Hag. 2:7-9)

What can we do today to build toward something long-term? 

Throughout the biblical story, we see a recurrent theme. Since Genesis 3, God has been seeking out humanity to restore them to their glory in Eden. And to this end, God continues. Humans are not the primary seekers in the Bible. God is. God seeks to restore us to our glory. One of the ways God seeks out humanity is by using a community—known as Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament—to be a people who prepare and proclaim God’s redemptive work. God uses individuals, but more often, it seems, God uses a community to be his missional agent in the world.

Photo by BP Miller on Unsplash

We see this in the ministry of Jesus in the Gospels. For instance, in Luke 10:1-23, Jesus sends out a group of 72 disciples to go throughout the countryside to preach, teach, heal, and drive out demons. As they went, they were instructed to go “two-by-two” (v. 1). Picking up on this theme, Jesus outlines directions for the disciples in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. There, he directly instructs them, “you are the light of the world” (v. 14; italics mine). Once again, Jesus’ command is not to individuals but to the disciples together. Jesus expressly speaks to the onlookers in plural terms. A better translation would be something like: “you all, together, are the light of the world.” The disciples are, collectively, as one, as a team, the light of the world. They shine together.

This is seen most clearly in the ancient writings of the prophet Jeremiah. As Jeremiah, who is in Jerusalem, writes to the exiles in far-away Babylon, he instructs them about their responsible witness in a land they did not choose. He tells them, on God’s behalf, to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile” (Jer. 29:7). Attention to the original language is instructive here. The verb “seek” that Jeremiah uses is framed in the plural. This is not to read that “each of you should seek” the city’s peace individually; instead, it is “all y’all together seek” the peace of the city, collectively, as a whole people. The call from the prophet is not for individuals to seek the peace of a city but for the community to do this together.

Over the years, I’ve reflected on that commandment to the exiles: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city.” For some odd reason, it has always struck me that God doesn’t instruct the exiles to seek the peace and prosperity of the nation—only their city. A simple search of the entire biblical storyline reveals that God's people are never told to seek the peace and prosperity of a nation once. Instead, they are to seek the peace and prosperity of the cities, towns, and local spaces where they live.

Does this matter? Everything in the Bible matters. This cannot be a mistake. I don’t think it’s a subtle signpost that God doesn’t care about the nations—God cares deeply about them. But I do wonder if it speaks to the limits of human agency. I can’t do much to change my nation, but I can do a great deal to change my city. Sadly, one of the costs of living in a society that focuses so heavily on national elections is that our attention is constantly drawn to presidential candidates. While that position is certainly important, our obsession with it often creates a kind of vacuum of attention in our knowledge, care, and interest in local matters. God’s words to the exiles, I believe, serve as a helpful reminder to us: don’t focus on making the empire of Babylon a prosperous nation. Instead, give a unique focus on caring for what you can influence—the very cities where you live.

As we approach an election next week, I’m ashamed to admit that I am entirely ignorant of the candidates for the water board in my city this election cycle. Or who is running for the school board? Or even the mayoral race (if there is one?). My attention has been pulled away from these “so-called” trivial matters. The powers that be—those shaping the traditional media—have done a borderline magical job of keeping our attention away from seeking the peace and prosperity of the city by distracting us with national conversations built on clickbait, gossip, and hearsay. Is it even possible to seek the peace and prosperity of a city when our attention is only in D.C.?

What can we do in the next week to take the biblical invitations seriously: to be a witness as a community to the gospel? And to seek the peace and prosperity of the actual places we live? 

A few ideas. 

1. Gather with some fellow Christians this week to walk through the local elections. 

Yes, literally. Get a local election guide (most cities will publish one), sit down over a meal, pour yourself a glass of wine, play some cool jazz in the background, and calmly discuss the issues at play in your local elections. The truth is, you probably won’t get into arguments about them because you haven’t thought much about them. This is not only a graduate course in civics; it’s also an opportunity to cultivate a conscience of care and compassion for the place that God has placed you.

2. Set aside some time with other people to pray on election day. 

I was so encouraged to see in the Sunday announcements in our church’s bulletin that my community was doing this very thing. A victory, indeed! And I’m going to be there. It is simple, prophetic, and world-changing to gather together and pray. Paul writes to Timothy about this very political practice: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). This is a necessary discipline and one that, when neglected, leaves the community of Jesus fractured along partisan lines. When we pray together, our votes matter far less than our allegiance to Jesus. As simple as it may be, gather with a few other Christians on Thursday and pray for the city you live in.

3. Embrace an exilic attitude.

Jeremiah was writing to exiles—exiles, mind you, who had learned the hard lesson of being displaced and no longer at the center of their universe. Something important happens in exile: you are no longer the center. I believe that each of us should, as long as our conscience allows, vote. But do so as an exile. Decide ahead of time that you’ll be okay if your candidate or issue doesn’t pass. If your identity is wrapped up in the one you voted for, friend, you have bigger issues to face in life.

4. Seek Christlike community over any political win. 

This is perhaps the most complex and difficult challenge. When we live in an environment where everything is seen in terms of “sides,” what is one to do when we see the other “side” cheating or acting immorally to attain power? We often allow those evils to create a permission structure for us to do the same. “If they do it,” we tell ourselves, “then I have to do it to stay in power. This is no option for the follower of Jesus. The long-game for the church is to choose, in this election (and every election), to become people of Christlike character above all else. Often, when we say policies are more important than character, it becomes a covert way to justify our own immorality to achieve desired ends. The church must declare, no matter what: we would rather be like Christ in all things than win any human election. 

Full stop.

A resource may help. I recently came across, once again, a voting guide compiled and written by pastor Brian Zahnd called “Christian Voter Guide.” Not everyone will like or agree with it. That’s okay. I’m not even sure I like everything about it. But, directionally, I roundly appreciate the spirit of these guidelines for us at our moment in history. Consider reading it and using it as a way to think about your vote this week. And how you can be faithful to God with the responsibility you have been given by him.

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Some cool news: I’ll be the lead mentor of a new Masters of Arts in Theology & Culture at Bushnell University where I teach full-time. It will be a two-year program immersing our students in all things theology and how it speaks prophetically into our cultural moment: politics, sexuality, orthodoxy, the Holy Spirit, Scripture, Bigfoot, aliens. All the important stuff. The funnest part, of course, will be the two week-long immersive residencies in Eugene each summer. I’ll be sharing more about this in the near future.

Anyways: thanks, as always, for reading this week’s devotional. You can always find me wasting time on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Or check out my podcast with Dr. Nijay Gupta at Slow Theology. If you found this content helpful to your spiritual life, yay! Consider enjoying my most recent book The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for our Wants, which was released with Zondervan in February of 2024. Within, I explore the topic of human desire from the perspective of Scripture, theology, and experience—with particular interest to how we can be formed into the image of Christ through our desires. In short, it’s about why our cultural mandate to “you do you” is so profoundly unhelpful to the follower of Jesus. You can support my work by reading it! And sharing about your experience. Click on the image below to get yourself a copy.