Our cities are in the news these days. Their residents are in great difficulty. Some live in fear that the city they love will be destroyed by senseless violence. Others live with the fear that there will never be a time when the city will be a place where they can enjoy the blessings of liberty in safety. Some days it is hard to imagine that there will be peace in our cities.
In retirement I read one theological journal from cover to cover. It is the journal of Luther Seminary, WORD AND WORLD. The current issue is about JERUSALEM. Craig Koester writes: “Revelation’s vision of New Jerusalem is a prophetic challenge to the impoverished imagination.” We long for the fulfillment of God’s promise for the city, ‘See, I am making all things new.’(Rev. 21:5) God is first and foremost the creator of everything, including the city. Those read the Judeo/Christian Bible know themselves to be creators, bearing the image of god.
In one of my first posts I asked, What were we creating with our words. Like our creator, our words create. I still hope our words are creating a climate that frees us to make changes needed to remake our cities into places of safety and wholeness for all people. Koester suggests that the Jerusalem of Revelation can fuel our imaginations as we work on behalf of our cities.
“This vision of God’s future is designed to shape life in the present. Revelation is clear that New Jerusalem will never be created by human efforts at city planning or urban renewal. The city comes “from God” (Rev 21:2, 10), it is illuminated by God, and it reflects the splendor of divine grace. But for those who are claimed by the Creator and the Lamb, this vision rightly has a profound impact on the way they see the present world and live within it. God’s will is for the redemption and not the destruction of creation.”
We will never be done building the earthly city, but we can help one another create something that is better and reflects the great commandment that we love God and our neighbors as ourselves. To do that we will need to learn to walk in each others shoes so we can understand what needs to be built.
