In yesterday's post, we learned that the world in which we live, including the human beings in it, were created by a good God in perfect order. There was, at the time of Creation, perfect harmony between God and humanity, among the members of the human family, and between humanity and the physical world that God made and gave them to rule and enjoy. This state of perfect relational and environmental symmetry has a name. It's called shalom. Shalom is a Hebrew word/concept that is almost always rendered as "peace" in English translations. We typically think of peace as the absence of hostilities, but shalom is the state of such harmonious union that hostility is unthinkable. Perfect shalom is demonstrated in the union of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons so integrally united war is inconceivable. We were designed in and for shalom. We hunger for it. One of the most loved songs of the past century is "What a Wonderful World" (I love the original Louie Armstrong version!).
I see trees of green, red roses, too
I see 'em bloom for me and you
And I think to myself...what a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky,We love this because, beside the fact it is a beautiful work of art skillfully performed by a series of great musicians, we wish this were a true description of our world. We wish this were the whole story.
Are also in the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying, "I love you."
Billy Joel wrote and recorded "We Didn't Start the Fire" in 1989 (we're in my generation now!). It is a bit like Forrest Gump in five minutes: a panorama of American history from 1949 to '89, the span of his life at that time. It includes references to some good things, some novel things, and many things evil and tragic. I'm not much of a fan of looking at any period as the "good old days" (the only good old days are the ones in Eden, and no one alive today was there!), but '89 looks pretty good right now. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. We helped Osama Bin Laden kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan (oops). I had a full head of hair. There was no fiscal cliff in sight. The nation was not politically polarized (if you peruse here, however, you will see these weren't exactly rosy times, either).
What is our world really like? Israel, Gaza, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Spain, American politics. How are things where you work? Is your job a source of meaning where you work in harmony with others to produce meaningful and helpful outcomes? How is your marriage? How much work is it? How hard has it been at times? How are your finances? How are your children, your extended family? How is your neighborhood? Do you feel close to God? Are you in perfect harmony with Him? Some of these may be well, but most of us are experiencing struggles in some of these areas or can remember when we did. A few are blissfully ignorant, or at least pretending to be. The psalmist wasn't (cf. Psalm 12).
We intuitively sense something is wrong with our world. Philosophers have developed systems for identifying good and psychologists have built programs for behavior modification. Chemists have concocted remedies to alleviate suffering, and politicians promise us better days if we elect them (and complete chaos if we elect the other guys). What is the answer?
In Advent we are remembering Israel's darkness while waiting, hoping, for the coming of the promised and prophesied deliverer. It is an opportunity to reflect upon the dark state of our world as well. Shalom is broken and we live in that brokenness. We experience it every day. When we yearn for shalom, we are acknowledging we were made for better than this. There must be some way to make it right.
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