Shalom - At What Cost?


Shalom   
A word of Jewish origin
Spoken both at meeting and parting
Invoking peace, wholeness and contentment.
What’s the price for peace?
Being silent to “keep the peace”?  
Avoiding conflict?
Displacement?   Or even death?
What price am I willing to pay for this shalom?
Peace - At the cost of my silence?
Words suppressed and left unsaid
Feelings ignored, treated as unimportant
Peace - at the cost of my silence?
No. This is not peace - It is cowardice.
The loss of self to preserve a facade of unity
A victimized silence to avoid resulting anger
Peace - at the cost of my silence?
No. This is not peaceful - it is control;
Where the price of silence pushes down one
So another can be exalted.
Peace - at the cost of my silence?
No. I am to stand up for justice
To speak the truth
And offer hope for change.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers
(not the peacekeepers)
For they shall be called the children of God.”
Shalom - but NOT at the price of my silence
Peace - At the cost of conflict?
When the heat is turned up
Residue bubbles from the heart
Evidence that makes me uncomfortable with my own perceived goodness.
I may be keeping the peace outside, but where’s the shalom inside?
Peace - at the cost of inner conflict?
The unsettling tells me to look deeper
It’s a clue that something needs to change - in me
Peace - at the cost of inner conflict?
Yes, when it moves me closer
To honesty and vulnerability.
A willingness to go against the norms, though
Can provoke and inflame those around me
Peace - at the cost of outer conflict?
Yes. I may want to avoid it
But conflict can be an opportunity
For transformation
The beginnings of healing and rest.
David said, “Turn away from evil and do good,
seek peace and pursue it”  
Shalom can be the outcome of resolved conflict
Peace - At the cost of displacement?
Where relocation becomes a necessity instead of a choice
Where the process of fleeing for one’s safety
Strips away worldly possessions,
My life’s work
Even my homeland?
Where my status becomes that of a refugee
A displaced person.
Peace - at the cost of displacement?
That’s not peace - it’s survival.
Where I find another home for my family
Where I begin to make a new life for myself
Peace - at the cost of displacement?
It’s not peaceful to be starting over
Rebuilding from a state of bankruptcy
Beginning to make something out of nothing.
Peace - at the cost of displacement?
Sometimes the only way IS
To leave the bad behind
To flee the old
To move with hope toward the new.
Jesus said, “I was a stranger and you took me in,
Hungry and you fed me
Homeless and you gave me a place to live.”  
Shalom can come with the cost of displacement
Peace - At the cost of death?
When I give someone the silent treatment
When I remove myself from a relationship
Interactions stop
Communications cease
Peace - at the death of a relationship?
That’s not peace and quiet - it’s isolation.
If the relationship was toxic
Then it’s death can be a first step towards shalom.
When life’s final breath is drawn
No words can be spoken.
With no more arguments, conflicts cease
Peace - at the cost of death?
It is a final separation that’s irreversible.
But if that person was a child of God
They will now experience shalom
Being face to face with Yahweh Shalom
Peace - only at the cost of death?
Can there be shalom now?
Only if there is death to our selfishness
Death of our pride
Death of sin.
For that we need the cross
Where death already paid the debt owing
Along with a supernaturally empty grave.
            It’s the power of Yahweh Shalom, living in us
That enables the journey
Towards wholeness and transformation.
“He lay down his life for us
That we may be called children of God.”
Shalom - at the cost of Jesus’ death
What price am I willing to pay for shalom?
Not the price of keeping silent,
As each voice is needed
Until justice is restored and Peace reigns on earth.
Can I coexist with conflict, even while working for peace?
Only as I embrace conflict as part of the process.
Can displacement facilitate a new life beginning?
I am also a displaced person
Journeying towards my heavenly home
Experiencing my needs being satisfied in the meantime.
And if I have to choose between death and life
I choose life, with the Lord of Peace at my side.
“Flee the desires of youth
And pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace”

Shalom

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