“But seek the welfare of the city to
which I have carried you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare, you shall find your welfare.”
Reflection
Jeremiah 29:7
Why does place matter?
Scripture is full of stories of God blessing, redeeming
and engaging with place: sending Jonah to save the city of Nineveh, Jesus praying over Jerusalem through his tears, Paul finding Lydia on the shores of Philippi.
The
spirit
of
God
hovers
over
1. Take a walk around your
neighbourhood, or print a map of it
neighbourhoods, cities and geography, loving its
and trace out places or points of
that a fisherman from L’Anse-au-Griffon, Québec
pray at this month.
land and people. Place shapes us. It is the reason
interest that you would like to visit and
and a fisherman from Combarro, Spain will have two
2. Pray alone or in a small group and ask
entirely different worldviews, even though they both
yourself the following question: What
work on the same ocean.
does the welfare of this
If God tells so many stories about place, if place truly
poster in the prayer room so people
creativity, energy and intelligence into building
3. Find out on what traditional territory or
must pay attention to our neighbourhoods and
the land that your neighbourhood is
writes to the exiles in Babylon, seek the well-being of
acknowledgement and hang it in the
shapes people, if through the ages people have put
neighbourhood look like? Create a can add their answers.
neighbourhoods, cities and geography, then we
which Indigenous nations stewarded
engage with them through prayer. For as Jeremiah
located on. Write the land
your neighbourhood. It is a sacred mission.
prayer room.
Daily Closing Prayer
God of place, you who sent your Son to walk the roads of villages and towns, you who breathe life into the dwellers of cities, you whose Spirit is the artist of community, inspire us to love our neighbourhood. Help us to love as you love. Amen.
Praying for Our Neighbourhoods