A Great City
A Great City
This summer, we visited with our friends KJ and Lynn Pugh, former church planters in Paris. KJ has always has great books to recommend. This time, he pointed out a quote from G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy articulating love for a place.
“Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.”
Chesterton argues that a place cannot be merely approved or disapproved of, as if those who live there can arbitrarily stand apart from it with an opinion and hope that it will get better. Instead, a person must love a place if it is to be great. Not loved for its benefits, nor unloved for its challenges, but loved because it is theirs. Their city, their home.
If we return to the apostle Paul in Acts 17, God determines the times and places where we should live so that we might know Him. This truth makes Rome loveable for that singular reason. All the colors, foods, charm, and history are added beauties. But at the root is the reality that Rome is where God would have us know Him, here...now.
What could a Rome that is loved, look like?
How does this truth help you face your city's challenges?
Together with you, here...now.
Loren