Words of Grace: SHALOM by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

W. E. Sangster, who was a Methodist preacher during the Holiness movement of the last century used to teach that the way to pray for a spiritual revival was a draw a circle around yourself, and to ask God to work a miracle first inside that circle. My friend Paul Nixon who wrote our study on the words of grace suggests that shalom works best in this way. He writes: “We are much more likely to be effective influences for peace and justice in our communities and in our world, if first we are living in harmony with God, if God’s shalom has filled our lives personally” (Mother Tongue, p. 182, Paul Nixon).  Maybe you are that kind of person, if not you probably know someone like that. 

Shalom is of course the Hebrew word for peace, but it means more than the absence of war or conflict. Shalom means wholeness and harmony. Shalom means contentment in our personal well being and in all our relationships from the one-on-one to our community to those among nations. 

In 1992, the United Methodist General Conference (our every 4 year international meeting) was meeting in Louisville Kentucky. At that same time you may remember riots were erupting in Los Angeles because five police officers had been accused of excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. He was black and they were white. As we watched the beatings over and over on the television, there was a national conversation about police brutality and racism. When the police were acquitted, riot erupted on the streets of LA. Fifty three people were killed and two thousand were injured during the riots. Rodney King appeared on television during the riots and gave his famous quote from the time: “Can’t we all just get along?” 

As I said, at the same time, the United Methodists were having our every four year international gathering called General Conference, in Louisville KY. One of the members of the General conference was a wise pastor from Columbus named Joe Sprague. Joe would later become a bishop. Joe and some others presented a resolution to create the first Shalom Zone in Los Angeles. We would claim an area of peace. The Shalom Zone initiative still exists 20 years later. We have one in Columbus. The idea was that a group of churches, or a district or conference could concentrate their resources in an area of extreme conflict, poverty and need, claim God’s shalom, and really make a difference. 

You see, sometimes we have to draw a line around a neighborhood and say “enough.” No more gun violence, no more failing schools, no more gangs, no more hungry children. In the name of Jesus, we are going claim God’s shalom in this four block radius. We are going to claim healing and wholeness here. We are going to be peacemakers here and now. 

Eventually, if enough of us do that and the “shalom zones” connect, then the whole world becomes a “shalom zone.” Now that would be a miracle of biblical proportions. That would be something worth giving our lives for. One circle of shalom at a time we can bring peace to our world.  Starting with each one of us creating this circle and then expanding it out around the world.  

Here is what Jesus said about being peacemakers: “You are blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.” And at the end of his life: “Put your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords.”

I think the comment about swords could be used to give us a glimpse about where Jesus might stand on the debate about ordinary citizens owning assault weapons. But we will save that for another day. 

Let’s just look at the comment about cooperation rather than competing and fighting. When we show people how to cooperate then we discover who we really are in God’s family, to be a light, to be an example.  

You see, here at The Village, we are followers of Jesus and we believe that when we follow Jesus we ARE changing the world.  So, Jesus says, we will live as people who not only have a spirit of cooperation, but we will SHOW other people how to cooperate. That means we won’t fight. PERIOD.

But it gets complicated. I know. Does that mean, if you’re on a plane and the hijackers are going to fly the plane into a building and kill thousands of people that it’s wrong to fight the hijackers and crash the plane into a field? Was there a non-violent way to take out Osama bin Laden? Not so easy to talk about these is it?  Thankfully those are the big questions that most of us don’t have to face on a day to day basis.

But have you seen the videos on the morning news, where parents are telling their children when they leave school to go down the street and fight the bully? What is a child to do, when at school the teachers and the counselors are saying, don’t fight, talk to a trusted adult, and “we don’t tolerate bullying at our school” and then they go home and mom or dad says: “You’ve gotta fight to make it in this world.”  Sometimes it gets complicated.

Decisions are not so clear.  But I will stand here and say that some things are clear. As the people of God, we have to start claiming shalom somewhere. I can take my string outside of my pocket  (Cheri then pulled a rainbow string) and lay it down and say, within this circle, I will be peaceful. And I can start each day with that prayer: may I be well, may they be well. I breathe in tolerance, and breathe out forgiveness. 

I am moved to spread my tiny shalom zone into a larger shalom zone throughout the day.   As I work, as I come into conflict with other people. What makes it most difficult for you to make be at peace with another human being? “Why can’t we all just get along?” in the words of Rodney King?

You see, I think we can stand inside our individual circles of shalom. We can center ourselves and pray. But then we step outside of our circles and somehow we don’t take God with us. We don’t take our shalom with us. We forget who we are.  We forget we are people of peace, we are people of shalom.

We become people who cannot forgive, and people who cannot cooperate and compromise. We compete and we fight. We have to win.  I have to win at Bowling (Kurt added Putt Putt Golf). 

Roger Conner, a peace negotiator experienced in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shares four basic principles for constructive conflict between parties in conflict.

11.     Be passionate. That does not seem hard to do when there is conflict. 

22.    Be honest about who you are. If you truly want to make peace with someone, do not weasel around, playing with the truth and trying to manipulate the situation. Honesty and peace go hand in hand.

33.    Be respectful, calling people by their names and not speculating about their motives. For example if a person who is anti abortion wants to be called pro life then call them what they wish to be called – being respectful of who they say they are and don’t call them names you have created.

44.    Be committed to truth. No guilt by association. Hold yourself to your highest values and hold the other side to their highest values.

.    Paul Nixon adds 

 5. Remember that God is always present on both sides of a conflict. God is with all of us; rarely is either side completely right in a conflict. Remembering that God loves the other person too goes a long way in helping us deal with the situation in a more peaceful way. 

 

Just remembering that the other is a beloved child of God goes a long way toward this.  These guidelines are helpful in world conflicts and in interpersonal conflicts: passion, honesty, truth, respect and remembering that God is with the other person too.

Often what happens is we allow the passion to over-take all the others. We let things escalate. We stop all communication. We simply end the relationship. That person is not worth my time. But does it really feel good to be cut off from someone. I don’t think that is how God wants us to live. Shalom means peace and wholeness in the world. It means my peace connects to your peace, not that I created my peace by cutting myself off from you. Now of course, if there is someone in your life who abuses you, and you have no choice but to distance yourself from an abusive person I understand that, but that is the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, I believe we are called to the constructive work of making shalom in the world.

So I invite you, during your prayer time this week, to take out a piece of string, and place it around you. You can do this sitting or standing. Create your own little shalom space. With each breath, breathe in God’s shalom. Use this prayer: “may I be well, may they be well.” Breathe in tolerance, and breathe out forgiveness.   You can picture world or national conflicts, or individual people. 

Remember these words of Jesus: “You are blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.” (Matthew 5:9) Amen.