I had a big time transition on Wednesday. I don't know why it made such a impact on me since I have traveled between the two places frequently, enjoying the differences of the two. I was in New York City traveling back to rural upstate New York. The drive back was absolutely gorgeous, especially through the Adirondacks. As I drove through higher elevations the scenery exploded into burnt oranges and golds of the maples, the vivid reds of the sumacs, the striking white trunks of birches topped with pale grren and light yellow leaves, all interrupted by the dark greens of the pines, firs and evergeen trees. The mountains were silhouetted in the background and the dark water of the lakes seemed mysterious. Fall in the Adirondacks is spectacular. Visually the countryside seemed incomparable. However, on Tuesday I had walked all over NYC and thought how beautiful the different architecture of the buildings was from all different time periods. The neoclassical, the modern, the art deco all blended into a beautiful streetscape. The trees in New York are all doing well, and everyone, from the shops to the apartment buildings to private brownstones all had little gardens which were well tended and still filled with bright colored flowers. The city has many parks and gardens which add not only color but a rest for the eyes from the tall straight buildings. The variety of people from around the world is so interesting; from their color, to their dress, to listening to all the different languages. New York has everything, commerce, industry, manufacturing, all forms and types of music and art, a harbor, restaurants, libraries, trains, subways, boats, museums of every kind, shape and size, taxis, churches.And I thought, I love my small town, quiet, peaceful life. Could I live in a city? Actually, what does God say, if anything, about cities. And so for the past two days I have studied the Word about cities. I think, like the family, cities are a God creation. God invented the family to reveal himself as a Father and we as children. And even though sin has twisted and distorted the family, turning it into a place of abuse and pain for some, we have been called to redeem the family by living out our lives as families in compliance with God and His precepts.
So God has developed cities for specific purposes. The first place one finds a city mentioned is in Genesis 4:17. Cain has fled and builded a city. The first mention of music and metallurgy is there, Cains sons inventing both in the midst of a city. Cities are places of creativity and productivity. The city has energy and compels one to be productive. Major medical centers are in cities, top financial centers are in cities,etc. God developed some cities for a place of refuge. Scattered we are weak, together we are strong. A city, Biblically, is an enclosed place, a place of refuge. If you had harmed someone, you could flee to a city and get a fair trial instead of someone doing to you what was right in their own eyes. A city is a place where people who are marginalized in rural settings feel comfortable. Immigrants in a city can learn a new culture while feeling safe and secure with people from the same background.
And as I thought it through, Revelation 21:2 says that John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. It seems like we are going to a city. Our patriarchs were looking for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Yet, our cities seem like places sometimes of violence, pain, greed, licentiousness and lawlessness. Could it be that as Christians our place is to redeem God's cities.
I was challenged by Jonah's response to the city of Nineveh. He ultimately did what God has asked him to do, preach to the wicked city, but his heart was not in the right place, even in the end. I can see God's heart toward that city, a place full of people who "cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand". God's compassion is for the lost and dying. Cities are places full of God's workmanship, his family; those who are going their own way to their own distruction. And I realized I do not weep over the cities.
Jeremiah 29 tells us that God told the Israelites to stay in Bablyon, to identify with the city; to settle down, to build houses, to have children, to identify with the welfare of the city. He wanted them to weave themselves into the city so that they would bring wholeness and health and blessing and God's word to those around them. I don't think everyone is called to live in the city but I think many are called and it's an interesting area to think about and pray about. Perhaps you all have done this and I am just catching up to God's interest and plan for cities. If we read critically the New Testament the epistles were written to cities. Paul went to cities to preach. The early Christians went to cities and turned the world upside down. There are so many other references to cities but I've already written my own epistle here so I'll go on thinking and praying about insights and revelations about God's heart for the city.
