Dear Rose Park,
There’s something satisfying about an orderly work place or a neatly organized drawer. There’s some satisfying about perfectly straight lines in a freshly mown lawn. I’m not sure how to put it into words but there’s something simply satisfying when everything is in its’ place, when it’s perfectly symmetrical, or when a set is complete. Maybe this is just me, but I doubt it.
In a sense, this is what the biblical word shalom means. We typically translate this Hebrew word to mean peace, but it’s so much more than that. When we use the word peace, more often than not we are really talking about the absence of war and violence. The word shalom points to a greater sense of wholeness or completeness. Shalom is used throughout the Old Testament to describe a completed stone wall without missing bricks or even when Job describes his flocks having shalom because none of his animals are missing (Job 5:24). The word goes far beyond objects as well, it is also attributed to people.
Shalom can used to describe the process of repayment or restoration. Perhaps the most powerful use of the word shalom is in the context of rival nations. When rival nations make shalom not only do they stop waging war against one another, but instead they seek to work together for their mutual benefit.
Perhaps you’re still gathering for family celebrations. I wonder what shalom might look like in that context. Imagine if your conversations around the Christmas dinner table weren’t just absent of snide remarks, sarcastic comments and obvious eye-rolls, but instead they intentionally sought mutual benefit and reconciliation. Imagine if your visits weren’t filled with a spirit of guilt and your gifts weren’t given with a sense of obligation, but instead they were offered as a gesture of love and hospitality to bring about balance and restoration.
This Sunday we’ll gather for our Tolling of the Bell and Lighting of the Candles service. We’ll ring the church bell for every person who has passed away this calendar year and we’ll light candles for every individual who has joined the family of Rose Park as well. As we prepare for this service, we’re praying for wholeness, restoration, and shalom. We’re praying that in the midst of our sorrow and our joy that God might provide us with shalom and wholeness by the power of the Spirit.
Ultimately, it’s our hope to be a vessel of shalom wherever we go. So, as you continue to gather and celebrate the birth of the Christ-child and as you prepare for worship on Sunday, may you seek to bring about wholeness to each relationship you step into.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark
Photo by Thierry Cleymans on Unsplash