Jeremiah 29:7
“Seek the shalom of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its shalom you will have shalom.”
The prophet Jeremiah writes this letter to Jewish exiles in Babylon, around the early 6th century BCE. They had been forcibly removed from their homeland and were in a foreign land. This passage encourages them not to resist or despair, but to engage positively with the society they find themselves in, even as captives.
How might seeking the well-being of a community, even one that feels foreign or challenging, transform both the community and ourselves?