Background
St Matthew’s Church in Munich is surrounded on three sides by the Nussbaumpark and borders Sendlinger-Tor-Platz to the east. A place in the centre of the city and yet surrounded by greenery: an ideal place for a meeting with the theme “Seek the Good of the City”. But the first impression is deceptive. It is not an idyllic place. A homeless man has spent the night on the steps of the Lutheran church and people are always asking for money at the church doors.
In St Matthew’s church, the topic discussed was this city. Exploring the best for this city, with all its contradictions. All over the world, cities are desired places. In a few years, half of humanity will live in cities. And the Christians? ‘Cities grow, but Christians often abandon them,’ Rainer Harter, director of the Freiburg House of Prayer, noted with regret. The TfE weekend had a decidedly different tone with over 200 participants, most of them from Germany, but also from Austria
Facing reality
The title of the event “Seek the Good of the City” is a biblical quote from the prophet Jeremiah. ‘Jeremiah’s words exhort us to accept reality as it is, without deluding ourselves or regretting the “good old days”, but above all without giving up hope for the future,’ said Janina Hiebel, an Old Testament expert, in her talk on Saturday morning, dedicated to an in-depth historical, spiritual and theological study of the title. She continued: ‘Seek the best and pray for the city, the country and the world in which you live, which also means: do not build enemy images, but overcome them. Preserve your identity without isolating yourself. God will allow Himself to be found by you, even and especially in the places you consider to be hopelessly distant from God”.
Deborah Dittmer, head of the Vineyard community in Munich, reiterated the same concept in her speech: ‘We have to abandon our victim mentality. We are not victims! We are not rulers either! We are salt and light for the world! This does not mean that we have to find everything good. But let us choose an attitude of love towards this world, society, people, accepting all existing problems and challenges; no attitude of fear, aversion or isolation’.
The city – a meeting place founded on love
In the main talk of the morning, Jesús Morán, Co-President of the Focolare Movement, illustrated how lay and spiritual thinkers have described the city over the centuries: as a place where the opportunities and limits of reason and justice are recognisable; a place that must be founded on love. Only then, according to Morán, connected by video conference, does the city become “a place of encounter between man and God. This is what the Christian vision of the city produces: the passage from rationality to relationality, from the rationale of the individual to the rationale of a community’. Christians, Morán continues, could “commit themselves to building, in the midst of the visible cities of our continent, those ‘invisible cities’ that are true prophetic portents of the Kingdom of God”. Read the full text in Italian>> o German>>
Already on Friday afternoon, during a discussion with ecclesial representatives and a politician, they had discussed what was “the best” for the city and how to recognise it. ‘Seeking the best for the city’ means giving a voice to those who would otherwise have none, helping the poor and weak to be heard, said Markus Grübel, member of the Bundestag from 2002 to 2025 and in charge of the federal government for religious freedom in the world from 2018 to 2021.
Seeking what unites
Jeremiah urged the people of Israel to seek the best for the foreign, indeed enemy, city of Babylon, emphasised Thomas Prieto Peral, Evangelical-Lutheran Regional Bishop of Munich. It is perhaps the oldest appeal to keep the common good in mind. All should be well. And so, according to Prieto Peral, our place is at the side of the people who are attacked, who are afraid, no matter who they are. Christoph Klingen, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, added: ‘Looking for the best means looking for what unites us. In this way, the witness of Christians for the city can shine brighter’.
Inside St Matthew’s church, a large mosaic attracts attention. It depicts the “heavenly Jerusalem”, the city of God. In order to worship and honour this God, the programme included a lot of time for prayer and praise, organised by the “Lobpreiswerkstatt” (praise workshop) of the Immanuel community in Ravensburg. In his homily during the concluding service, Reinhardt Schink, president of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany, asked who had the power to achieve the best for the city. The elephant? The lion? His answer: no, it is the lamb. “On the cross, evil has lost everything. Life unfolds there where there is willingness to give oneself to others’.
The covenant of mutual love, the foundation of Togetherness, was renewed in Munich: “Jesus, we say yes to your commandment and renew our covenant of mutual love. We want to love one another, as you have promised. We pray thee, strengthen our love through the Holy Spirit and be among us, as thou hast promised. Work in us and through us, that we may be a blessing to our fellow human beings and serve the good of society”.
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