{shalom}

In my circles Shalom was always a word that 'those Jewish people' used, it wasn't for us evangelicals because we believed in Jesus and they didn't.  Yes, I realize this makes no sense but I grew up in a Baptist church and us Baptist?  Well, let's just say we don't know it all like I thought we did. Ha.

Fast forward a whole bunch of years to my 30's and my upending thanks be to God, literally. I still didn't know about Shalom except I thought it meant peace but wasn't quite sure.  I'm not good with languages and it felt foreign on my tongue.  I accepted it, however, as a word that people who believed in Jesus could also use.  People, I was making some progress!  And then scoot right up to about my year 38 on this planet. I had left traditional church, we mutually agreed we needed some time apart, and I was meeting with a group of like-hearted people in a home church setting.  This particular group observes and celebrates the Biblical Festivals and Shalom was a word that is a normal part of their vocabulary.  So I started trying it out. All these years I thought it meant peace (it does but more on that in a minute) but I had also heard mostly used as 'Aloha' is, a greeting and a farewell.  Kind of like how we crass Americans say, 'Hey' for the same purposes. Now don't get all weirded out thinking that my little home church and I were beginning and ending our conversations with each other and others by 'shaloming.'  I can honestly say that I don't believe I have ever once 'shalomed' someone in greeting or farewell.  But if you want me to, I can start. *wink*

No, our use of shalom was focused on the peace.  Shalom is peace but not just any kind of peace. Shalom is a deep peace that finds its way into every crack and crevice, that soaks in deep, that brings about wholeness and completeness.  Shalom is a very complete peace.  Jesus, my friends, he is shalom. And Jesus, my friends, wants us to experience that kind of shalom in our own lives and be so full of it that we spill it out on others and introduce them to true shalom as well.

When I first started grasping the depth of shalom I was reading a fantastic book by Tim Keller (Generous Justice) and in it he talked about shalom in a way that my heart finally clicked and locked into place with. Here's a few excerpts that resonated with me, upon reading this I 100% 'got it.'

Traditionally translated as “peace” in English it means much more than that. Peace in the English language means a period of time when there is no war or fighting.  But when God uses shalom he doesn’t mean a period of time when there is no conflict, he means complete reconciliation. A state of the fullest flourishing in every dimension – physical, emotional, social, and spiritual – because all relationships are right, perfect, and filled with joy. (Generous Justice, Keller, page 174)
If we take those four dimensions – physical, emotional, social, and spiritual – and look at them with and without shalom as their foundation we can see quickly what shalom accomplishes in a person’s life and when shalom is lacking what happens. 
Shalom is lost when our primal self-absorption leads to profound social evils – to war, crime, family breakdown, oppression, and injustice. The world is filled with hunger, sickness, aging, and physical death. Because our relationship with God has broken down, shalom is gone – spiritually, psychologically, socially, and physically.  (Generous Justice, Keller, pages 176-177)

So the translation of 'peace' doesn't do the function of shalom justice.  Not at all.  It is peace but not our wishy-washy ideas of peace, not our milk version of it. It is substantial, filling, completing, restorative, transformational. True shalom is not self-contained, it is not something that can be or should be hoarded, it is meant to have a domino effect.

Shalom is applicable to all parts of life.  The word is used for all parts of speech; as a noun, adjective, verb, adverb, and interjection. It categorizes all shaloms. (Source)  Christ wants us to be touched with shalom in every way possible.

The idea of shalom, its lack and its place in my life, has been more on my heart and mind the past couple of years since I really got what it actually was. In the book I read by Keller he asked a question that applied to areas of social justice but could easily be, and should be, considered for personal life as well.  We cannot pass on shalom if we do not possess it ourselves.  He posed this question and asked the reader to ask it of themselves and of their communities, "Where has the fabric of shalom broken down? Those are the places I need to weave myself into to reweave and strengthen the fabric and restore it to shalom."  (Generous Justice, Keller, page 177)

So I began to ask myself, where do I see areas that the fabric of shalom has broken down?  I began looking at areas of my life: my marriage, my parenting, my role as an employee and co-worker, my friendships, and of course my own personal inner life.  I looked for areas in my community,both my personal circles and the community in which I lived, where shalom was lacking or being fulfilled. I asked God to point out to my heart and eyes where his shalom needed to be reestablished and restored.

So for a couple of years now I have been weaving shalom into my life as God makes the lack evident. And like all things, sometimes the stitch has been wrong and I've had to go backwards, unweaving the mistake so it can be corrected. A few years ago I was honored to be able to visit Kusadasi/Ephesus, Turkey. I watched a carpet weaving demonstration. Some of the more intricate carpets take literal years, in some cases a lifetime, to weave and complete. It is not uncommon for a carpet weaver to only complete one or two carpets in their lifetime. That requires patience, dedication, concentration, persistence, and even vision. The carpet weaver has a vision in their head of what they want the carpet to look like as a finished product and they weave until it comes to be.  I look at the weaving of shalom into my life in the same way. Shalom is an intricate component to the whole of my life, it will require vision - in this case it is God's vision, persistence, dedication, and a submission to the process.

Weaving shalom into my life requires the employ of various tools. Fortunately God is really creative and he has a wide variety of tools at his disposal to accomplish this.  His tools include, but are not limited to: split seas, people, circumstances, his Word, talking donkeys, all manner of media - secular and religious, music, growing in age and hopefully wisdom, health or lack thereof, the rending of barriers from top to bottom, the appearance of heavenly messengers with life altering news, the gentlest of breezes barely felt or heard, and more because God is creative and unique and knows what each of us will respond to.


As 2014 was closing out and 2015 was starting to peek her head up I felt compelled by shalom to focus on shalom in this new year.  So for the first time in my memory I decided to dedicate the calendar year to shalom. My family and I have had a rough couple of years.  We've had some good moments for sure but overall?  The fabric of shalom has broken down in us individually and then collectively. This year, in 2015 and beyond, I am asking God to restore shalom to my husband, my children, myself and to us as a family so we can then be his hands and feet to restore shalom to our local and global communities.  I need the peace of shalom in my life in order to be the wife and mom, to be an employee and co-worker, to be a sister and a friend, in order to be a daughter and an Auntie.

What about you?  Are there places in your life where the fabric of shalom has broken down and needs to be reweaved?  Will you let that weaving take place for the purposes of wholeness?  

May shalom be found in your life this year.