INTRO //

If our city was a person, how would you describe them? Interestingly enough, cities can take on a personality. A city becomes known for certain things. There is a culture and a set expectation for what it will feel like, even an attitude of expectation for life for its people. If God has a plan for people in a city, it’s safe to say he is writing the story of the city through its people.

CONTEMPLATE //

How would you describe the city where you live and work?

What are some of the storylines of redemption and healing that God is writing or that you perceive He would like to write in the Sacramento region?

What role might prayer play in these storylines? What about the church? What about you?

READ //

Matt 23:37-20

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Even in ancient times, Jerusalem was a place of religious and geopolitical conflict. As Jesus spoke and did miracles in Jerusalem during the final days before his death and resurrection, He addressed the city with pain. He knew of the eventual destruction of Jerusalem that would come at the hands of Rome. God had a redemptive plan for Jerusalem to be a light on a hill and a beacon of the faithfulness of Yahweh, but the sin and pride of the people  would lead to its downfall. We see at other points in the gospels (first four books of the New Testament portion of the Bible) that Jesus loved Jerusalem and even wept over the city.

As a church in the city of Sacramento, we need to search out God’s heart for our city and our region. God also has redemptive plans for the city of sacrament. A sacrament is an observance that is “held to be a means of divine grace or to be a sign or symbol of spiritual reality.” I (Caleb) believe that our city received its name by God’s orchestration as much as it was a man’s inspiration. Sacramento has a storyline being written where it will be a “sign of divine grace” AND “a symbol of [a] spiritual reality,” that God redeems, heals, and restores.

Our role in this story? We pray, we love well, and we serve. We show up in our jobs, community, and friendships in meaningful, excellent, and redemptive ways. We show up as people who know God and carry His presence with us. And we prayerfully enter our days looking for the next conversation or opportunity that God is setting up for redemption in partnership with us.

PRAYER POINTS //

• God, heal and restore the city of Sacramento.
• Help me to have your eyes for my city and my region.
• Give me courage to share hope, faith, and invitation.
• Help me to slow down when you, God, are setting up an opportunity to love and reach someone.