Watch your world over the next week or two (or three): Where do you see something that looks like Shalom, that looks, “Shalom-y” if I can invent an expression.You don’t have to make a declaration: This Is Shalom. – But what do you see – on a playground, or in the supermarket, or online, or at home, or in a hospital, or on the street – that makes you think: Now that has elements of shalom: of diversity, of creativity, of power and engagement, of relationality, of growth and of energy and newness and … How would you describe it?Over the next couple of weeks I want you to find at least THREE such “moments” or “events” in your world. Write them down. Briefly describe them to yourself. But then pick one of those “moments and write a strong paragraph – in a way that captures the beauty and energy and Shalom-iness of the moment or event. (I’m going to ask you to share this description with each other.)
And then I want to ask you to ask yourself this question about those events:What kind of (political/economic/family/education/industry/legal – pick one or more) imaginary might you construct or build, might you imagine proposing or working toward that could turn that single event into a larger experience for more people, for more of God’s creation?What might it look like to extend this one small moment of God’s Shalom? What ‘in-this-world’ change of system or structure might such a vision demand of us, of you?
Start this now … and we’ll continue to work on it through the next unit (and maybe beyond).
