I am sitting with some friends in my garden in Mile End, East London after returning from three days in Dublin. The sun is shining, sunglasses are on, we’re drinking orange juice and we’re playing tunes out of the window. I just walked barefoot to the corner shop to buy bread. So far I’ve been listening to Sufjan Stevens, Whitley and Starship, We built this city on rock and roll. In central London two peace marches are taking place to stop knife crime. It can only be Saturday in the city.
Over 50% of the world’s population live in cities. I’m sure that’s even higher here in Europe. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege to visit many of Europe’s finest cities so far in my short life – and most of them in the last few years. They’ve been capitals such as London, Paris, Berlin Belgrade, Minsk, Kiev, Warsaw, Budapest, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and most recently Dublin along with other significant cities on the way.
I love cities. Cities are where people come together to order their countries, to form law and order, to govern. Cities are where great processes and systems take place in order to keep people watered, fed, traffic moving, sewage pumping in the right direction, and communication happening. Cities are often where the great projects of the world begin and find their fruition. Cities are where the universities have their home, where the students of the world come and learn about life, the universe, themselves and “media studies”. Cities are where culture flourishes and you can watch films, attend the theatre both professional and amateur, listen to a small trio in a pub or the finest orchestra in an Opera House. Cities are also places of parks, rivers – great for sitting with a book and looking profound! Cities are where history and the present day meet in stark contrast. They remind us of who we were, what we’ve been through and in some way, where we’re going. Cities are where the nations gather together and different and diverse people live side-by-side.
Anyone who has ever lived knows that cities aren’t perfect places though. They are places where over 5000 people can lose their jobs in one day. They are places where crime and violence can be rife. They have areas where most people would avoid. They highlight racial and religious diversity in having ghettos and areas where only one-type of person lives. The poorest of the poor often live in cities, trying to eke out an existence.
As amazingly wonderful as cities can be, and I often have my breadth taken away by things I see in them, they can equally be places of horror and sadness that should cause us to weep at the evil inside humanity.
Walking through Dublin and visiting the sites, I was reminded of one particular aspect to the European city – armed conflict. Whether it be terrorism, civil war, a resistance or all out nation-upon-nation war most European cities have experienced the fear and horrors of bombs, burning buildings and violent struggle. Growing up in London I remember being taught at school not to go near unattended packages on buses and remember hearing at least one bomb go off. Most recently we remember 7/11 and subsequent attacks. Yet throughout the history of London, bombs have been exploding or dropping and the 20th Century was arguably the most prolific. So too Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Minsk and others all experienced varying degrees of destruction – the latter two almost completely razed to the ground during WWII. Spanish cities have their violent history. Even smaller cities too, for example Vilnius and Riga experienced war and latterly armed aggression in the dying days of the Soviet Union. In post-War 1 Vilnius, a war was fought for control of the city between Lithuania and Poland and today the dead lie as a reminder in the largest of the city’s graveyards.
It’s worth remembering the cost of freedom and the cost of peace as we enjoy a unique time of peace in Europe. Without wishing to sound too glib, I think we need to remember Easter 1916, 1921, 1941, 1944, January 1991, 7/11 and so on. We should ask ourselves, “Why did people die? What did they die for? Did they die for this?” We can never know how long peace will last in our cities. So too we should celebrate our peace. We should celebrate every day we have to live our lives. Celebrate every evening we spend with friends, celebrate that we have work, celebrate our parks, celebrate in song, celebrate every moment of love.
In the Bible we are presented with two cities – Babylon and Zion. Babylon is the city against God, building its own kingdom, celebrating its own achievements and the people live against their creator. It is a city that is destroyed.
Zion, however, is the city of love, the city of peace, the city where God dwells and his people celebrate him. It is a city that lasts for eternity.
God lives in a city and his people will live with him there. There they will celebrate with fiddle and flute, with harmonica and drums, with all the instruments known to man, his goodness and his love and grace. God invites people to give up their own dreams of a city, to abandon Babylon and come into his city, to live with him. In that city, everything wonderful and amazing in the city you live in or the cities you’ve visited will be more wonderful.
John was given a vision of this city back in the first century (Revelation 21:2-4).
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed.
One of my favourite Bible verses is from Psalm 84:5 (ESV), “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” It speaks of looking forward to returning to a true home, to a perfect city. Even as I travel and as I celebrate what is good in Dublin, Edinburgh, Vilnius or London I set my heart and eyes to Zion because there I will see God, there will we truly live.
When Christians meet together in our churches in the city, we are looking forward to the city to come and presenting a small picture of people united before God. We join with the songs of heaven and remember “the lamb who was slain”, (Revelation 5:12). We remember that we don’t deserve to be allowed to know God or to live with him in his city, but that by his grace we have been forgiven our sins as Jesus died. We have more to celebrate than the end of a world war or a struggle for independence!
Let us also remember those in our cities who also lived and died for the city to come, that we might also live like them.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Celebrate your city, enjoy your city, live and love in your city. Change your city and maybe even die for your city. At the same time look forward to the future city, where celebration and joy will be complete! Live and die for that city. May many more people look forward to it with us.
