We are no longer, he says, strangers and aliens – strangers being the opposite of citizens, aliens being people who are not of the country in which they reside – we are no longer strangers and aliens, but now are “citizens with the saints.” Through Jesus Christ, we are citizens of the kingdom of God. Our sovereign is the Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and as citizens in that kingdom, we enjoy certain inalienable rights and responsibilities.

But if Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians reminds us that we hold citizenship in the kingdom of God, our reading from the prophet Jeremiah emphasizes that we are not to forget our citizenship in the communities where we live our daily lives, were we have our homes, do our jobs, take care of our families.

Jeremiah is writing about 593 BC to the exiles in Babylon, the residents of Jerusalem who had been carried off after the city had fallen to invasion. He is writing because false hopes had arisen that the time in exile was to be short, so short, in fact, that the people felt they ought not do anything to make themselves at home in this strange land. But the Word of God which Jeremiah brings counsels the exiles to be in it for the long haul. No short term motel rentals for you – build houses, and live in them. No relying on quick trips to Christie’s or Cumberland Farms for a few groceries – plant gardens, nurture them as they grow, eat what they produce. No speed dating without commitment in the expectation that the spouse of your dreams awaits back in Jerusalem – take wives and marry, have children, have grandchildren even. And above all, don’t sponge off the state, don’t take a free ride on the services available – no, seek the welfare of the city where you have been sent into exile, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Seek the welfare of the city – get involved, open a business, organize the community to advance its safety and prosperity, start a Neighborhood Watch program or a civic betterment society. In furthering the welfare of this city – even though it is a foreign city, a place of exile, not your permanent home – you will be furthering your own welfare. I believe Jeremiah’s call to the exiles to seek the welfare of the city is our call as well. We Christians, because of our dual citizenship, may be in this world but not of it, but we are, in fact, in this world, and while our ultimate allegiance is to God, we do owe allegiance to our communities, we are called to work together for the welfare of our communities – for in their welfare will be our welfare as well. I don’t think this is news for some of the generations in this room, particularly for the generations who came of age before the 1950s. And yet the teenage rebellions which began in earnest in the late ‘50s became the anti-institutionalism of the ‘60s and morphed into the “Me Generation” of the ‘70s and then the “Greed is Good” generations that followed. For these generations, the idea of seeking the welfare of the city, or working at home for the common good, is not second nature, not part of our DNA. The great rock anthem of the mid-70’s, for instance, “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen, encapsulates the idea, popularized by Jack Kerouac back in the “Beat Generation” days, that salvation is found not at home in our communities, but “out there”, on the road. Springsteen sings “baby this town rips the bones from your back, it’s a death trap, a suicide rap, we gotta get out while we’re young, ‘cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run.”

But even rock stars, at times, come around, and some decades later, married and with children, Springsteen writes “My Hometown”. The song’s protagonist takes one last drive through his hometown, the place where he had been born, raised, and married, with his son sitting on his lap. The stores are boarded up, businesses have fled, and he has resolved to leave. And yet he recalls that this is his hometown, and at the last says to his son, “This is your hometown”, and we know that they will stay and work to revive it.

In this congregation we have many people who have worked and work still for the welfare of our community. I cannot possibly name you all, but I think of Van Northcross, recently elected to serve on the Prudential Committee of the West Barnstable Fire District; Bill Brower, who has served the Town of Barnstable in many capacities, and is now chair of CFAC, the citizen’s financial advisory committee; Debbie Fitton and Betty Nilsson, who have been active in the West Barnstable Civic Association; Bob Stolte volunteering with the West Barnstable Fire District; Wendy Northcross heading up the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, and long before that, helping community members gain access to credit through what became known as “Wendy’s Bank.” And then there are, of course, all the folk working to build businesses here on the Cape, and so employ people, who then can support all the service industries – people like Tom McCarthy Howe and Gary Morris, for instance. These are folk who are not just “doing good”, but who are responding to the holy call to work to make our life in community better for all of us.

We can live out our dual citizenship, being in this world but not of it, sacrificing and striving together for the common good, because we have eyes to see, as Kathy Lee Bates writes it, “beyond the years”, beyond our history and our world, eyes to see in faith God’s “alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears.” Knowing that God holds the whole world, in his hands, as another hymn goes, we can work for the welfare of our earthly communities, strive for a more perfect union, in all humility asking God to mend our every flaw.

And so on this Memorial Day weekend, as we recall the sacrifice of so many for the cause of our common welfare, may we resolve anew to seek the welfare of our communities, for in their welfare will be found our own. Amen.