The church does not live in exile in a strange and hostile land. The church lives and breathes to give thanks to God for the divine love which is for all people, whether or not they feel the need to give thanks themselves, whether or not they feel the need even occasionally to go to church to do it. Jeremiah speaks to us when he writes to those in Babylon: settle down, join in the life of the world, put down roots, make your place and your home with those by whom God has surrounded you. Work for their welfare, not just your own; give thanks for their blessings, not just your own; think of healing as communal, not only individual. You are all in this together, because God has put you here together. So don’t think of yourselves as ‘different’ or ‘special’ or ‘especially loved’; praise the God who loves you all, cares for you all, and the one who works through you for the welfare of all the city, so that through you the city of God may yet be built and revealed in all God’s glory. … More Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile