It was thrilling to watch Britain’s women hockey team winning their first gold medal and in so doing chalk up yet another resounding success for team GB. (I don’t know about you, but I am still coming to terms with the fact that we have ended up second in the medal table).

Given time, I’m sure we will be able to figure out more clearly just why our athletes have done so well in the Rio games, but it’s already obvious that lottery funding has been a key factor. Having said that though, my ears pricked up when I listened to an interview about the semi-final victory over New Zealand. I didn’t catch the player’s name, but she caught my attention when she began to talk about the team’s sense of unity and harmony. This, she suggested, was one of the keys to their success.

And that got me thinking about something the Jewish prophet Jeremiah said more than 2,500 years ago. Jeremiah lived at a desperately sad time in his peoples’ history. Their kingdom had been ravaged by a massively superior army and many of their leading lights had been taken away into exile in Babylon. It was a time for ‘weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.’

Now you might have thought that Jeremiah would have encouraged his people to embark on a campaign of armed resistance. But he didn’t. In fact, the reverse was true. He told them that God wanted them to do all they could to enhance the ‘prosperity’ of the dominant ungodly Babylonian society.

Now the Hebrew ‘shalom’ which is often translated as ‘prosperity’ is perhaps best understood as harmony, that is the state of affairs in which everything and everyone is working together for the common good. If only that were true of the United Kingdom today I hear you say!

Well we don’t need to give up in despair because we can all do something to change things for the better; which is why I am so delighted to be associated with a fairly new initiative known as Pembroke Soup.

I was at a Pembroke Soup last week and found it inspiring to hear a young teenager voicing his determination to overcome the challenges that come with Type 1 one diabetes, and then to reflect on the marvellous work done by our local coastguard volunteers. It was equally encouraging to discover that there are those willing to give of themselves to make Pembroke station a more attractive venue and to be told of Christians who offer free, professional help to those struggling with debt.

As I sat there soaking it all up, I couldn’t help thinking that Joan Marsh and her friends at Pembroke Soup are doing exactly what the prophet Jeremiah asked his people to do. They are enhancing the harmony and the prosperity of our local community by encouraging people to work together. It may not seem a huge initiative, but it is having an impact that belies its apparent size. In fact, it is what one well known Christian writer has named a ‘mustard seed’ project - it’s similar a small seed that gives birth to a massive plant.

It’s for this reason, I will be supporting October’s Pembroke Soup and I’m hoping I’ll see lots of you there too. It’s a deliciously simple way to enrich our community’s life and in so doing, bring a smile to God’s face.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]