Letter to the Exiles

In my continuing search through the Bible for references to gardens, growing, seeds, etc. I came across this section of scripture, Jeremiah 29:1-14.  It's a letter written to those Jews who were in in exile in Babylon.  In it Jeremiah instructs the people to take up residence.  They are to build homes, grow gardens, give their children in marriage and continue to grow as a people.  The people are also instructed to "seek the peace and prosperity of the city..."  Today we see the church in a kind of exile.  At times being unfaithful and finding ourselves wandering, looking for home.  But God has put us in the place we live for a reason and perhaps his word to us is much the same as it was to them.  To take up residence, raise our children even to grow gardens and certainly to seek the peace and prosperity of where we live.  Now I have to confess that the prosperity part isn't so hard in America, but I do know of lots of people living around me that are in need.  There are different ways in which our community of faith is working at seeking the peace and prosperity for all in the place we live.  We help with unmet bills, child care, food and other outreach to our local community.  We also work at sharing peace with our community and the world by being an active voice for non-violence.  We are working at making our area look more and more like the Kingdom.

What does growing gardens have to do with the peace and prosperity of the city?  I'm not sure what Babylon was like, but if it's anything like American cities today I can see why gardening was part of the seeking peace and prosperity.  I've recently been talking with a number of people at Mechanic Grove about gardening and the importance of teaching the next generation to garden.  As we have "progressed" in society we have moved away from the earth.  We've forgotten where food comes from, the work that goes into it.  We have forgotten the lessons that we learn from the garden like patience, taking your time, life from death.  Perhaps teaching people again to grow food, to work in a garden, to learn basic life skills it part of the "peace and prosperity."

In Jeremiah 29:1-14, verse 10 begins a shift.  God is talking about bringing his people back from exile and restoring them.  To me there's a difference between seeking the peace and prosperity of the place I live and coming to believe Babylon is home.  There's a danger in getting too wrapped up in whatever nation we find ourselves in exile.  Perhaps in some places the Jewish people became content with Babylon.  It was the world power of its time.  It would have been easy to see the affluence and prosperity in Babylon and begin to think that it had been chosen or especially blessed by God.  Babylon is not home.