The Vision of Shalom for the City: New World Outlook, January - February, 2000 Issue on God's People in an Urban Culture GRAPHICS VERSION

The Vision of Shalom for the City - by Kinmoth W. Jefferson

Refer to caption for description of photo.

Text and Context
Counseling the Exiles

The Message for Mission

Richard Abrams (center) with Kimberly King (left) and Jeremy Mosley at the Bethlehem Centers of Nashville.
Photo by Mike DuBose/UMCom.

The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last book was prophetic.
In Where Do We Go From Here? Community or Chaos,¹ he makes clear that humankind has reached a critical juncture. Will we move toward community or chaos?

Creating the kind of community we seek calls for the best disciplines of community organizing and economic development; but, beyond this, it demands a priority role for the faith community. Only the faith community can supply that "something more" that is required if we are to enjoy community life in all its dimensions.

In his sermon, "Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,"² Dr. King envisions ideal community life in terms of a text from Revelation 21:16—a text that describes the holy city of Jerusalem: "The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width;...its length and width and height are equal." Using the dimensions of the heavenly city as his metaphor, Dr. King applies these dimensions to human life. "Any complete life has the three dimensions suggested in our text," he says, "length, breadth, and height. The length of life is the inward concern for one's own welfare and achievements. The breadth of life is the outward concern for the welfare of others. The height of life is the upward reach for God. Life at its best is a coherent triangle. At one angle is the individual person. At [another] angle are other persons. At the tiptop is the Infinite Person, God. Without the due development of each part of the triangle, no life can be complete."

What Dr. King was emphasizing as the measure of an individual is also the measure of a community. What United Methodists now call "Communities of Shalom" are communities that meet the tests of length, breadth, and height.

It is the prophetic power inherent in this comprehensive understanding of community that accounts for the tremendous response that The United Methodist Church is giving to the Communities of Shalom Initiative. This initiative grew out of a resolution introduced by the Rev. (now Bishop) Joseph Sprague at the church's 1992 General Conference, which began within a week of the uprisings in Los Angeles that followed the acquittal of White police officers who had been videotaped beating a Black motorist, Rodney King. In an attempt to heal divisions, repair destruction, and provide the opportunities and services "needed for life, liberty, and the pursuit of meaning," Sprague called for the creation of a "shalom zone" in Los Angeles. Related actions at or after the 1992 General Conference have provided organizational form, content, and resources to translate the shalom vision into practical reality.

Sprague's compelling vision of shalom was drawn from Jeremiah 29:7. This text is the biblical foundation of the shalom concept. It sets forth the prophetic vision that gives the shalom movement its power to transform churches and communities. It also explains the explosive growth that has spread this movement across the United States and is now resulting in global expressions of shalom. As of September 1999, there were 331 Communities of Shalom in the United States and 12 community teams trained in Africa.

Text and Context

To examine this biblical vision, let's begin by considering the full text found in Jeremiah 29: 4-7: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the [shalom] of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its [shalom] you will find your [shalom]."

The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, which is quoted here, uses the word welfare to translate the concept. I have substituted the richer, more comprehensive word shalom, as many other scholars do. Shalom can connote peace and justice, spiritual health and wholeness, overall well-being.

Volunteers In Mission help families "build houses and live in them" in Little Rock. Photo by Richard Lord.

Let's look briefly at the historical context in which our text was written. Jeremiah had prophesied that God was going to "give King Zedekiah of Judah...and the people in [Jerusalem]...into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon...."(Jer. 21:3-7) This prophecy was realized, and in Jeremiah 29, the prophet is writing a letter "from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon." (Jer. 29:2) He addresses his words to Israelites now in captivity in Babylon. They are feeling isolated and in despair, as expressed in the psalmist's lament in Psalm 137. They are inclined to retreat into a ghetto existence, trying to shield their enclave from the corruption of the larger community.

Some exiles are being influenced by those among them whom Jeremiah calls false prophets. These false prophets would stir the Israelites to rebel against their Babylonian oppressors. They contend that only by returning to Israel and to temple worship at Jerusalem can Israelites be a godly community.

Jeremiah offers a different and radically new understanding: that it is not necessary to be in Israel and to worship at the temple, because God has written on the heart a new covenant. (Jer. 31:31-34; 32:37-41.)

In a 1948 seminary paper, "The Significant Contributions of Jeremiah to Religious Thought,"³ the young Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote the following analysis: "Jeremiah realized that the covenant made at Mount Sinai had failed to accomplish its purpose. He saw that Israel had become apostate....This rebellion against the old covenant [see Jer. 11] came to its climax and crown when, in his later activities, the prophet brought forth the noblest of all spiritual conceptions: the new covenant. The shortcomings of the old covenant would be removed in the new....Principles would take the place of external ordinances. Such principles as truth, and justice, and purity, love to God and love [of neighbor] would be enshrined in [human] hearts. This...would lead to an ideal state, in which the sins of the people would be forgiven."

Children in the Summer Academy of Atlantic Street Center in Seattle, Washington, plant gardens in the city and eat their produce. (See Jeremiah 29: 4-7.) Photo by Christie R. House.

With a revolutionary prophetic understanding of God's new covenant, Jeremiah offers this counsel to the Israelite community in exile.

Make the most of where God has led you.
Know that God is there with you and will hear your prayers.
Settle down. Build families and engage in productive work.
Above all, seek the shalom of the larger community, the city of Babylon, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in Babylon's shalom, you—the Israelite community in exile from Jerusalem—will find your shalom.

Counseling the Exiles

These must have been shocking—perhaps even infuriating—words to the exiles at first. Consider what Jeremiah appears to be contending:

Seek the shalom of the city (Jer. 29:7a): Do not seek first the shalom of your Israelite community but that of the larger community of which you are now part—this Babylonian city where you are held in captivity. Get your priorities straight. Put the shalom—the welfare, well- being, peace and justice, health and wholeness—of this city ahead of your Israelite community's individual welfare.
Pray to the Lord on its behalf (Jer. 29:7b): Pray for the city's physical, economic, political, social, and cultural well-being. But above all, pray for its spiritual well-being. Pray that its citizens and its leaders will be led to right relationships with God, with neighbor, and with self. Understand that the process of building the shalom community is a spiritual responsibility and task.
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. (Jer. 29:5-6): Understand that you, the Israelite faith community, have the responsibility to stay in the city and to encourage community development—even where your community is daily threatened by corruption, oppression, and destruction.
For in the shalom of the city, you will find your shalom (Jer. 29:7c): You, Israel in exile, must live out the basic connectionalism of your faith community and the larger secular community. You must become a movement for the transformation of both communities.

The Message for Mission

This counsel has some obvious implications for the church as it prepares for mission in the twenty-first century. First, Jeremiah makes plain that involvement in the larger community, with the aim of creating communities of shalom, is a primary responsibility of the church. This is true even as the church struggles with the modern equivalent of the Babylonian captivity: captivity in a secularized society. In contemporary terms, the shalom community may be a city, suburban area, town, or even rural village, but the church's responsibility is the same. Sectarian separatism and a focus on protecting and maintaining the religious institution in isolation must be avoided at all costs.

Secondly, the prophet makes clear that this involvement with the wider community will include prayer as well as social action. Intercessory prayer is needed for the welfare even of those who are the oppressors. Prayer alone, however, is not enough. It must be accompanied by action. Creating the shalom of the city today requires engagement in community organizing, community economic development, provision of direct services, and public advocacy for justice and peace.

Thirdly, the point is made that seeking the shalom of the larger community is a prerequisite for experiencing shalom in one's own gathered community of faith, the church. If the church would experience congregational transformation, it must become a movement for community transformation. As The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church affirms (see Paragraph 202): "The church of Jesus Christ exists in and for the world."

Finally, God gives the Israelite people a promise: "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." (Jer. 29:11)

Here, in Jeremiah's counsel and its implications for the twenty-first-century church, are the spiritual dimensions of the shalom community that should guide the church in its mission. Here is the length—the inward drive, the legitimacy of care for the church's own welfare, but within an appropriate subordinate emphasis. Here is the breadth—the outward concern, the strong emphasis on seeking the shalom of the larger community that includes all our neighbors. And here is the height—the upward reach, our need to turn to God in prayer for the larger community's transformation and our willingness to act out of God's grace and forgiveness and transformative power. Together, these are the only ways that will transform both the community and the church.

1. King, M. L., Jr., Where Do We Go From Here?, Harper & Row, 1967.

2. King, M. L., Jr., in Strength To Love, Harper & Row, 1963, p. 69.

3. King, M. L., Jr., in The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Vol. I, U. Of California Press, 1992, pp. 184-185.

Kinmoth (Kim) Jefferson, a retired member of the United Methodist clergy, served on the staff of the General Board of Global Ministries for 28 years, first as a Field Representative, then as Executive Secretary in the Office of Urban Ministries, and finally as Director of Planning. He currently serves part time as a GBGM consultant and is a voluntary consultant to the Northern New Jersey Conference and the New Jersey Area's Holy Boldness/Shalom Task Forces.