My word in the circle last night was finally.

We are finally on the Circus field and

all the children and families are there. Its just fantastic, a great experience and
what all the many months of planning and hours of work that have been done in
order to achieve this. But not just that: we are now a presence in that community
over the next week and a presence in this city as well.
And its cities that I want to talk about this morning.
I think the most notorious city in the Bible is Sodom, which is the city that what I
want to speak about today. A city which is renowned for its wickedness in the
Bible. Unfortunately we immediately associate it with one particular sin, which
youll be glad to know I am not going to talk about this morning! Many think that
Sodoms sin, the reason it was judged was because of sexual sin.
But I would say this is demonstrably false. But then what was Sodoms sin that
brought Gods judgement?
We read in Genesis 18 that God heard a great outcry against Sodom and
Gomorrah. But what is the outcry about? It does not say in the Genesis narrative
but we can find out in Ezekiel. God is talking about Jerusalem and compares her
to Sodom:
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant,
overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were full
of pride and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as
you have seen. (Ezek 16:48-50)
Sodoms sin was not primarily sexual but its pride in its material wealth and
oppression and neglect of the poor. This is certainly not a scientific measure but
the Bible mentions the poor about 400 times. it mentions sexual sin 14 times. Im
not suggesting its not important but what should we be most upset about as
Christians?
Anyway does the description of Sodom sound like a modern city to you? Do you
know any city in the world where the rich are getting richer and the poor are
getting poorer?
Now think of Sodoms judgement and consider what God thinks of our cities?
There is an outcry of those from the plain against Sodom because of their
oppression of the poor. Gods judgement then can also be seen as an act of
mercy for those who are being oppressed rather than just some retributive act of
punishment.
But whats really interesting about the Sodom story is Abrahams reaction to
Gods forthcoming judgement on Sodom:
18:16

When the men got up to leave, they looked out over (or faced) Sodom. (Now
Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.) 18:17 Then the Lord
said, Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18:18 After all, Abraham
will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth

will pronounce blessings on one another using his name. 18:19 I have chosen him
so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the
way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then the Lord will give to
Abraham what he promised him.
18:20

So the Lord said, The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and
their sin so blatant 18:21 that I must go down and see if they are as wicked as the
outcry suggests. If not, I want to know.
18:22

The two men turned and headed toward Sodom, but Abraham was still
standing before the Lord. 18:23 Abraham approached and said, Will you sweep
away the godly along with the wicked? 18:24 What if there are fifty godly people in
the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare the place for the sake of the
fifty godly people who are in it? 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thingto kill
the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from
you! Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right?
18:26

So the Lord replied, If I find in the city of Sodom fifty godly people, I will
spare the whole place for their sake.
18:27

Then Abraham asked, Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord

(although I am but dust and ashes), 18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty
godly people? Will you destroy the whole city because five are lacking? He
replied, I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.
18:29

Abraham spoke to him again, What if forty are found there? He replied, I
will not do it for the sake of the forty.
18:30

Then Abraham said, May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak! What if
thirty are found there? He replied, I will not do it if I find thirty there.
18:31

Abraham said, Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only
twenty are found there? He replied, I will not destroy it for the sake of the
twenty.
18:32

Finally Abraham said, May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just
once more. What if ten are found there? He replied, I will not destroy it for the
sake of the ten.
18:33

The Lord went on his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham. Then
Abraham returned home.
This whole exchange is remarkable isnt it? Ok God, so you said youre going to
wipe them out but what if there is 50 good people there?, 40, 30 , 20,10?
Can you imagine having that conversation with God and I wonder why he
stopped at 10?
Gods response is actually quite amazing. He doesnt just want to get rid of the
city despite its oppression and pride. In fact he would have saved Sodom if there
were just ten righteous residents.

As if to emphasise this, in the narrative God says he is going to pay a personal

visit to Sodom, to double check that what is being said about their behaviour is
in fact true! God is going to go down and check it out himself
But what I really want to pull out of this story is that it is clear that the presence
of godly people is beneficial for the salvation of places, in particular cities. This is
the Old Testament's witness to an idea mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 5, where
the righteous, the church are called to be both salt and light.
Salt at this time was not primarily for seasoning as it is used now but it was a
preservative in a fridge less society. Gods people are both to preserve a place as
well as to be a beacon of light. A community of love and a beacon of hope.
Here is the message from the story of Sodom and Abrahams reaction. God can
redeem the most evil of cities with prayer and presence. If we intercede for our
cities and we are a presence in them, they can be redeemed. But we need to be
a presence, we need to be salt and light in those areas which most need it.
God loves cities, - cities imply neighbours and community, people living together.
Its hard to love your neighbour in the country when they are a few miles down
the road!
Just as God is a community of love so too should our cities. No doubt in this fallen
world they can be evil places full of crime, violence and poverty. And they can
magnify evil due to the concentration of people.
But our future is urban.
In Revelation when the great drama of history is at an end and we get to live
happily ever after. Where is it that we live?
Eden, right? A nice, rural, cottage with a white fence and some nice fruit trees,
just like how it all started? Actually when the trumpet sounds, the curtain comes
down on history we see a new heaven and a new earth and a city!
The New Jerusalem comes to earth; God comes to dwell with us in a city! God is
a New Jerusalemite, hes a Greifswalder, or better a Dundonian! And in Gods city
peace and justice reign. There is no outcry but praise and worship.
But heres a really cool thing - we as the church are to be a foretaste of this New
Jerusalem right now.
We as the church are to be a foretaste or a signpost to this future reality. We are
to be salt and light in this world, we are to communities of love that demonstrate
and bring peace and justice to this fallen world as a foretaste of gods future
kingdom.
The same peace and justice that will reign in the new heaven and the new earth
when the New Jerusalem descends and god dwells with his people.

The work we do in this poor community in Schoenewalde can be a foretaste of

that future. But not just this week we continue to do this work during the year.
And many of the KoKi team now live in this neighbourhood too.
And this is really important. We can change our neighbourhoods and cities by
following Abrahams example and praying and interceding for our city and
neighbourhood. Abraham faced Sodom and prayed. so prayer is very
important. but it is not enough we also need to be a presence in our cities too.
We need to be salt and light. God is amazing he wants to work in partnership
with us he wants to use us to bring his kingdom to these places as he reconciles
the world to himself through Christ. Thats good news isnt that a beautiful
message
This circus Week is small part of this plan. God will use us to bring salt and light
to this community.
We need to pray for this community and that God will use us this week and those
working in KoKi to change this community and this city, and to to redeem it.
If Sodom can be saved with 10 righteous people, then shoenewalde and
Greifswald can certainly be redeemed through those righteous people living in it.
Isnt that a real message of hope for what we are doing here?
So I want to encourage you this morning to love the cities you live in, pray for
them and be a righteous presence in them. Stand up for the poor in your city and
be salt and light.
The mission does not need to end on the 10 th. You too can be part of Gods plan
to save your communities and cities.
So face and shoenwalde this morning and pray for it.