Few words in all of the Old Testament are as rich as the Hebrew word shalom. As a matter of fact, the translations of this one little word are varied and numerous- trying in vain to capture the fullness of the idea it is meant to communicate. The most common translation we have for the word is peace, but that does not seem to go far enough. Therefore, it is also translated prosperity, tranquility, well-being, safety, and security. Maybe the best word we have in the English language, however, that even comes close to capturing the true essence of shalom is the word wholeness. Because at its core shalom is about experiencing the creation intent of God. Shalom is life as God intended it to be- life before sin and brokenness. Shalom is finding our way back into the garden where we were created to enjoy and experience God in His fullness as we "walk with HIm in the cool of the day." It is what our souls are really and truly longing for- deep communion and connection and intimacy with our God.
-Jim Branch
The biblical word that most fully expresses this theological understanding of community is shalom, sometimes translated from the Hebrew as "peace." Shalom is an all-encomapssing word covering all the many relationships of life and expression a vision of what the Israelites conceived of as the ideal of what life was intended by God to be. In describing shalom, commentators use words as "wholeness," "totality," "the untrammeled, free growth of the soul in conjunction with others," or "harmonious community." Or as a report of the World Council of Churches puts it: "Shalom is a social happening, an event in interpersonal relations." The report continues, "The goal towards which God is working, i.e., the ultimate end of his mission, is the establishment of the shalom, and this involves the realization of the full potentialities of all creation, and the ultimate reconciliation and unity in Christ.
-Mutual Ministry by James C. Fenhagen
Shalom...gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God's will being completed in us. It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life. Every time Jesus healed, forgave or called someone, we have a demonstration of shalom.
-A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson
Shalom is a peace that not only recalls all the pieces of one's life but sees how the parts fit together in a unified and glorious whole. Shalom involves rest and gratitude; it provides a balance and harmony where all things seem right.
-The Healing Path by Dan Allender
The Christian journey is a journey in wholeness. It is what we might call an adventure in spiritual growth. To talk about spiritual growth, however, is to talk about all of life. Spiritual growth involves not only the way we "pray" but the way we "play." It is concerned with harmony, the person is nourished by the Spirit of God. Harmony emerges when our work, maintenance, play, and freesense are held together in realistic balance.
-Mutual Ministry by James C. Fenhagen.
The witness and vision of John's Gospel call us to enter more deeply into that mystery of the union between the living Jesus and the believer. We share the shalom, that vibrant word of peace and wholeness spoken in the locked room on Resurrection night. Our empty nets are filled from the lake; the fire and food are prepared for us on the beach. Our inner healing moves to a deeper place, and Jesus Christ gives us the mandate: "Feed my sheep."
-Feed My Shepherd by Flora Slosson Wuellner
Every summer, I go to the Boundary Waters, a million acres of pristine wilderness along the Minnesota-Ontario border. My first trip, years ago, was a vacation, pure and simle. But as I returned time and again to that elemental world of water, rock, woods, and sky, my vacation began to feel more like a pilgrimage to me- an annual trek to holy ground driven by spiritual need. Douglas Wood's mediation on the jack pine, a tree native to that part of the world, names what I go up north seeking: images of how life looks when it is lived with integrity.
Thomas Merton claimed that "there is in all things... a hidden wholeness."... up north, in the wilderness, I sense the wholeness "hidden in all things." It is the taste of wild berries, the scent of sun-baked pine, the sight of the Northern Lights, the sound of water lapping the shore, signs of a bedrock integrity that is eternal and beyond all doubt. And when I return to a human world that is transient and riddled with disbelief, I have new eyes for the wholeness hidden in me and my kind and anew heart for loving even our imperfections.
In fact, the wilderness constantly reminds me that wholeness is not about perfection. On July 4, 1999, a twenty-minute maelstrom of hurricane-force winds took down twenty million trees across the Boundary waters. A month later, when I made my annual pilgrimage up north, I was heartbroken by the ruin and wondered whether I wanted to return. And yet on each visit since, I have been astonished to see how nature uses devastation to stimulate new growth, slowly but persistently healing her own wounds.
Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness- mine, yours, ours- need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life.
-A Hidden Wholeness by Parker J. Palmer
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