Jeremiah’s Prophecy for a Better Community
by Heidi L. Lyda, Director LYN House,(2008, MA)
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: …For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart…” – Jeremiah 29:4-14
In these passages Jeremiah is writing a letter to the Israelites exiled in Babylon. In many ways Jeremiah could have written this letter to LYN House. Over the past four years LYN House has used these verses as inspiration for our community garden, a mural, stepping stones for our garden and Jeremiah 29:11 is a foundational verse for our job readiness class. For me personally this letter speaks to how I can be an agent of peace in a sometimes dark world. I believe Jeremiah 29 provides a guide for my identity as an urban missionary and a direction for the responsibility to my community.
Living in the inner city as a single white female sometimes feels like I am living in a foreign land. Some of the things that I think about differently now are simple things. Such as when and where I will get gas. I do not look for the gas station that has the lowest prices, instead I look for one that I know has a lower crime problem; where I have knowledge that the owners care and work with the community. I never get gas after dark. When I walk to the grocery store, 3 blocks from my home, I strategically think through which side of the street where I will encounter less people asking me for money. I walk with my head down and I do not make eye contact with cars driving by, because that is an open invitation to being solicited. Despite my best efforts I often see cars slow down hoping that I am looking for a customer. I now can tell you how to remove graffiti from wood, cement and cars, without having to repaint.
LYN (Love Your Neighbor) House is located on the near Eastside of Indianapolis. In our community 1/3 of residents are living in economic poverty, with a 16% unemployment rate. Our zip code has the highest foreclosure rate in the state. Only 30% hold a high school diploma or GED and only 50% of adults are literate. We are in one of six areas of Indianapolis that has been designated by the city as a “kill zone”. The graduation rate of our high school is around 30% and less than 50% of elementary students are passing state level tests and one out of six students are homeless. Our community has its challenges and I believe that Jeremiah’s letters to the Jews has some answers.
So what have I learned from Jeremiah’s letter? What do I believe this letter can teach us about living in amongst a community of people in need of God’s Shalom?
In the summer of 2011 we had an art camp where the children created mosaic stepping stones for our community garden. As the biblical foundation of the camp we used Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, “declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The goal of the mosaic camp was to use art to remember the past well, looking at the reality of the present and seeing the hope of the future together. Each mosaic was created by a group of three students ranging from age 6 to 17. Each group started out by painting a tile that represented her or his past. Some students shared a painful event (death of a loved one), others a meaningful event (baptism), while still others shared something important to them (a favorite stuffed animal). Inspired by memories, each child painted something uniquely important to him or her.
Next, the students painted a tile that represented his or her present reality. Many of the children painted pictures of their family. Other shared about how important the LYN House “express yourself” camps have been to their summer, and allowed this to inspire their painting. Once again each child created a tile that was deeply personal and unique.
The last step was to break up all the painted tiles and, in groups of three, use the broken pieces to create mosaic art. With Scripture for inspiration, students imagined the future of their community – one faith, hope, love and peace for all – and endeavored to capture it in their creations.
One group used their broken tiles to create a heart. When asked to share the future hope for their community they shared this vision, “Our hope is for peace, love and kindness for our community. We would like our community to get along better. We don’t want to see people fight. We don’t want to see people in graves. We want more people to be nice and more beautiful flowers. We would like our community to be clean and more people to love Jesus. We want people to love each other, so we made a heart. The heart is in a stain glass window that you would see in a church. Because where people go to church they should see love.”
Their vision f
or the community is the very essence of Jeremiah’s letter to the Israelites in Chapter 29. It was 597 BC and the people of Israel were living in exile in Babylon. The Babylonians treated the Jews terribly. They had destroyed their city, ruined their temple, destroyed their economy and had enslaved their people. It would stand to reason that the Jews would react in one of two ways; run for their lives or fight back with violence. But the LORD had a very different message for his people.
In short Jeremiah’s prophecy told God’s people to make themselves at home in Babylon. To take up residence and live in this place of evil; the exile was to be a place of mission. God used Jeremiah a young prophet to explain this mission to the people of Israel living in exile. There were many false prophets were telling the Jews that this exile was not going to last long but in Jeremiah 25:11 we learn that this exile was to last 70 years. The LORD did not want His people to waste these 70 years, but He wanted them to be a people who were to establish homes in Babylon and to pray for the welfare of the city that they had been exiled to.
Mark Gornik, author of To Live in Peace and founding pastor of New Song Community Church in the inner city of Baltimore believes that Jeremiah 29 can be a guide for the people of God amidst the exile of the inner city. He proposes three distinctive themes to explore; presence, prayer and public activity. I am going to share how I have seen these three themes played out in my time at LYN House. I will, also, add one additional theme to Gornik’s and that would be perseverance.
Jeremiah’s first plea in his letter was for the people of Israel to establish a presence in the city. 29: 5 – 6 says, “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.”
Here the Jews find themselves living in a hostile environment, surrounded by their enemies, but God was calling them to live life, to prepare for the long haul. God is calling his people to live in the city, to raise their families there, to share in the struggle of everyday life and to be a people that bring peace in a hostile environment. What is being made clear in these passages is that “being there” can make all the difference. They were to make their presence known by living life to its fullest.
When I was a preschool teacher I had a student, named Beau that everyday made it a point for everyone to know that he had arrived. Beau rode a different bus than his peers and so most days he would enter our classroom last. As he would come running into the classroom he would shout, “ta-da I am here!” Then he would run around the classroom and say hi to each child in the classroom. There was no mistaking that Beau was present.
You see there is an interesting dynamic happening in our neighborhood. There are plenty of young professional families moving into the inner-city and settling down. However, in many ways they are not truly “present”. These individuals have moved into our neighborhood because having the highest foreclosure rate in the state we have affordable housing. The homes are close to downtown and the interstate and despite being surrounded by poverty and worn down homes you can’t beat the price. Those neighbors although physically in the neighborhood are not really a part of the neighborhood. They work outside of the neighborhood, the shop outside of the neighborhood and do not have any relationships with our actual neighbors. Unlike Beau they are not shouting “ta-da, I am here”; they are hiding behind privacy fences and a life disconnected from their community.
This is not the kind of neighbor God is asking his people to be in these passages. Individuals who live in the inner-city take notice when people move in and make their presence known by truly living life there completely. At our church we have an older black woman who lets every new person who comes to our church that we are coming to “her church”. Each time she is introduced to someone new she will look them up and down, give them a glaring look and then walk away. My reception from Dorothy was no different from anyone else’s. However, over time, Dorothy took notice that I did more than just work in the neighborhood, but I lived there, I went to church there, I was truly present. Over time Dorothy accepted me. One day over a lunch at church she jokingly said, “Ms. Heidi, you crazy just like us!” I can tell you coming from Dorothy this is a high compliment. Dorothy has lived in the inner city all her life and she has seen pastors, and church members with good intentions come and go. It is easy for Ms. Dorothy to not trust that we will truly choose to live and be present in the neighborhood and remain. Being present in a place of brokenness and darkness is doing ministry. That is why God, who sent his people into exile for 70 years, was asking them to be present.
The next theme that Gornik explores is prayer. Jeremiah 29:7 says, “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.” Gornik defines prayer as, “Prayer is the cry from the depths to God, a plea that the world be different, that our children not die before their time, that our homes be decent, and that our hearts be made new.” Gornik believes that prayer is the beginning of hope for the inner city.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, the LORD is demanding that His people pray for Babylon. To lift their enemies up in prayer and to pray for the very thing that they feel is missing – which was God’s peace His shalom. What a difficult task; here the Israelites were surrounded by brokenness and unrest and they were to be praying for the ones who caused this turmoil.
What is also being taught through his letter is that by praying for others we will find prosperity too. “Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Here the LORD is communicating to his people as you pray for peace, wholeness and healing for others so shall you experience peace, wholeness and healing.
As we created our mosaics during art camp last year, I was struck by the fact that all 5 groups had a vision for peace for their neighborhood. Listen to some of these prayers, “Our hope for our community is to have peace and no violence, whatsoever.” “One of our dreams for the community is to get rid of violence. We want to see people better at loving each other.” “Our picture represents hope to lower crime, be clean, reduce poverty, and grow closer together.” “We would like to see people love one another and stop the violence and come together as a community more at church, or to swim if there was a pool at Spades Park.”
Prosperity for the city comes through prayer. But as Gornik points out in his third theme that it is more than just prayer that needs to happen. Before God commands his people to pray, Jeremiah 29:7 tells us, “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.” Here God’s people are commanded to not just be a people of prayer for their broken city but to also SEEK the PEACE of the city. Here it is evident that prayer is not enough that we are also supposed to do something!
The word “peace” in Jeremiah 29:7 in Hebrew is shalom. This word shalom has a much deeper meaning than peace. Shalom is the presence of right relationship with God. Gornik defines shalom for the inner city as,”the end of poverty, injustice, and exclusion, to seek the shalom of the city is to work to reverse the effects of sin and the Fall on the city and to proclaim the news of One who comes in peace.”
Gornik refers to “shalom activity” as our third them; “public activity: putting faith into action”. Jeremiah 29:7 “seek the peace and prosperity of the city” is the heart of Jeremiah’s prophecy. As God’s people we are to engage with the larger issues that affect daily life; such as public health, education, and public services. As people of faith we are to be seeking to enhance life and to change neighborhoods. Gornik defines “seeking the peace of the city” as this, “To seek the peace of the city means that Christians are to be active participants – not spectators – working to bring alternative forms of urban life to being. Seeking the peace of the inner city therefore enjoins activity that enhances the social, physical, aesthetic, and economic world in which we dwell.”
At LYN House we seek the peace of the city through multiple programs. Through our tutoring program we are establishing long lasting relationships with children in our neighborhoods. We also closely work with their schools to understand the larger issues the children are facing day to day. In partnership with our neighborhood association we have regular community breakfasts, where we sit down and share a meal with our neighbors. Afterwards we work on the aesthetics of our neighborhood and clean up trash. Last summer our children painted a mural for our community garden using Jeremiah 29 as inspiration. We use photography for students to discover beauty in a sometimes dark and ugly neighborhood. We work closely with adults toward
goals of obtaining a GED or through job readiness classes to find a job that fits their unique talents and gifts. In 2010, we gathered our people together and helped save our neighborhood library from closing their doors. We were instrumental in getting the law changed so additional tax money could help keep a vital resource available. We currently are working with the same library to create a safe teen hang out.
Our mission at LYN House reflects Gornik’s call to public activity. Our mission is to “demonstrate Christ’s love through compassionate hospitality and transformational care.” We want to do more than just share about Christ, we want to see lives truly transformed. We want our neighbors to experience peace and prosperity.
Lastly, we move into the fourth theme that I believe can be found in Jeremiah’s letter. Jeremiah wrote this letter because he knew that the Israelites were going to be there for 70 years. In Jeremiah 29:14, God promises his people that he will gather them all together and bring them back; however, this letter demonstrates until then you must remain. I believe that God is calling them to persevere. When I first came to LYN House I felt the gentle whisper of the Lord that I had just signed up for was not a sprint, but a marathon. I knew that what lay ahead of me was not going to be easy, in fact it was probably going to be the hardest thing I have ever done. I knew intuitively I would not see quick and amazing results; that I had to be willing to endure, to invest, to preserve and to be in for the long haul. Less than two years later, I had the great honor of being taught by Coach Wayne Gordon of Lawndale Community in Chicago. Wayne looked at 20 emerging leaders like myself and said, “if you are not willing to give your community 15 years then maybe you should not be there.” WOW! 15 years. I quickly started doing the math at how old I would be and started to wonder, could I really last that long, could I endure this for that long.
However, two years after Coach’s initial charge, 15 years feels right. I no longer worry about how old I will be. Instead I start to dream; which children are we investing in today will be the one to take us to new horizons. Which of these children will I see go to college and come back and tutor a young child to do the same. Which adult will I witness taking a job and showing their children it is never too late to live out their dreams. Jackie Pulenger in her book Chasing the Dragon writes, “many are willing to go a mile, few are willing to go two, almost no one is willing to go three.” Can you imagine what our communities would be like if we were willing to invest 15 years? What would they be like if we were willing to go three miles instead of two? Where would they be, what could God do? Imagine! I believe real transformation and change in a community takes a great deal of time, it takes perseverance, a willingness to remain, to endure.
Being present, praying, engaging in public activity and persevering is not an easy task, but it was the task that God commanded of his people in the Old Testament and still commands of us today. I believe the prayers that our children have for our community can be realized and I believe that Jeremiah 29 has the answers for how they can come true. So, today as you leave remember Jeremiah’s prophecy.
Be present! As little Beau in my classroom made his presence known, make yours known in the neighborhood. You don’t have to go around shouting “ta-da I’m here!” but know your neighbors names, know who they are, where they work, what they do, be sure they know you and who you are.
Pray! Pray for others first. Pray that God’s peace may be realized in the city – in your neighborhood. Pray that others may experience the healing power and love of Christ and to experience the fullness that comes from being in relationship with Jesus.
Seek the peace – engage in public activity. Tutor a child, get involved in public schools, become a part of after school activities. Understand the complex web of city government, real estate, education, health care and finance. Be a part of your neighborhood associations. Be a part of a church and the outreach that they engage in on a regular basis.
Be willing to preserve. Remain committed and invested, because change takes time. Consider Coach Wayne Gordon’s challenge to invest 15 years.
I want to conclude with a confession. Seeking the peace in the inner city is hard; if I was honest most days it feels impossible. A few weeks ago I came across an article in our local newspaper. It caught my eye because there was picture of two young children who attended our church. The children and their mom are currently living in a shelter and attend our church on Sunday’s. Although, they were not the subject of the article, the article hit me hard. The author Matthew Tully wrote about his experience of riding with police on the near Eastside. He believes many children and teens are at deep risk of having their lives wrecked at a young age. He wrote, “no matter how dire the situation, no matter how troubling the circumstance children were a prominent part of the picture.” He shared story after story of troubling circumstances. A story of a young mother being arrested again, a family being evicted for not paying rent, a mom calling the cops on her teenage son and yelling about his lack of worth, and a young girl with a long history with the authorities. As I read this article I started to cry, my heart broke, and I started having almost a panic attack; because although, I did not know the people in these stories personally I could name someone who came close. These were stories I face day after day, and after a while it is easy to forget that this is not alright. Almost every day I hear the shouting and hurtful words of my neighbors, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence are common sights. Sometimes I find myself ignoring the darkness, others I am angry and other days I find myself becoming overwhelmed by the hopelessness. I begin to wonder if change will ever come to my neighborhood. And then I remember the hopes of our young children for our community; a hope that matches God’s shalom. A place of beauty, peace and love; “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future.” And so I rest in the knowledge that God does want His Shalom to rest here on earth and as I await this reality I am to be present amongst the people, pray for my city, bring his peace through my actions and persevere.
Wow! Good job, Heidi! I’m glad I know you! May you always be found faithful! We pray for you by name every morning. Some day it will be worth it all.
Thanks Heidi for all your work! It warms my heart to learn you are spreading Gods love in my home state!
Barbara I woke up Jan. 1st and went on Valley Church website and saw this I feel I was meant to see it baseuce it is a positive way to start the New Year as I reflect on any mountains left in my life .and as we live, other mountains may rise up. With faith in Him, asking Him and handing the mountains over to Him, we can do what we can do by prayer, trust, living according to His instructions and then let go and let Him do the rest. Happy New Year to all.