Greetings!

Sorry about last week’s no show but yuh dun noa ow it gu sumtaim; di body jus nuh up tu par! Anyway, here I am today, giving thanks for mercy and grace. I trust that you are well and that despite the various and sundries, you are hanging tight, trusting [in] the One who has promised to be with us always [Matthew 28:20]. Believe me, that is a promise we all need to take to heart in these times; there really is no other help or hope, but in the Lord of our life and God of our salvation. Alright, hold your horses; I was not gearing up for an altar call, even though I was feeling a hallelujah coming on [smile].

Seriously though, how do people who do not have a faith in which to ground their being, manage from one day to the next? I honestly do not know and frankly, I have no intentions of finding out. You see, I am of the view that such living i.e. without spiritual backative from the heavenly realm, is in reality, merely existing, which is compounded by the added burden of not knowing where one is going. Such a life continues to evolve from one joy-less activity to another and at the end of our day or days, there remains uncertainty about what if anything we achieved.

During the emancipendence holidays, as we call it here in Jamaica, merging two national holidays [emancipation and independence] into one week of celebrations, I was able to do a fair bit of quiet reflection. As my friend Aileen would say, nuff kansidarieshan gwaan. Between watching our bright stars [every last one of them] sparkle and shine at the Olympics, which were also in progress, I had time to quietly reflect on life, its ups, downs and for me, in these afternoon years of my life, that which truly makes for life more abundant. One word kept recurring in mind and heart, triggered I believe by the ongoing global upheavals, it is the word Shalom.

How does one experience peace amidst such heart-rending, mind-boggling turmoil? How does one remain focused and confident amidst the daily litany of woes coming at one it would seem, from every corner? How does one maintain a positive outlook when all the evidence seems to be pointing towards an anarchical direction…when we are being sucked, as it were, into a vortex of nonfulfillment, from which there is no foreseeable reprieve? The prophet Jeremiah, in looking at the continued devastation and dashed hopes of his people, famously asked… “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?” [Jeremiah 8:22]. That cry is being echoed by so many in this time but as I reflected, I realized, not for the first time but in a more poignant way, that the answer to our and the world’s restlessness…the balm for our pain-riddled world, is Shalom.

Now, the English translation of this word as Peace, conveys images of contentment and a lack of external turmoil, but doesn’t fully encapsulate the essence of the Hebrew Shalom. You see, Shalom is harmony, wellness, wholeness and tranquility rolled into one and according to certain Messianic Jews, there is also an underlying connotation of permanence. Webster’s definition of the word points in two directions viz. peace that results from a cessation of hostilities and peace that is achieved when there is freedom from turmoil within the human person. So, what am I getting at?

Barbara Holmes, faculty member of the Center for Action and Contemplation and a contributing writer in Fr. Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations, speaks of Crisis Contemplation as “the soul’s arising even in the midst of the most challenging crises humanity faces” So I ask myself, what gives rise to such arising? I believe it is the experience of Shalom. It is the result of having our gaze so fixed upon the Eternal One, that being held by and holding that look of love, our entire beings begin the slow yet deliberate process of transcending the temporal challenges of our broken world and, catapulted thereby into the realm of the infinite, we begin to experience the healing grace, the warmth of Shalom as it arises within and emanates from us, keeping us always within the circle of its liberating embrace.

I don’t believe I can or have adequately unpacked this deep and loaded word, but I hope I have shared enough to entice you to delve some more into its many splendored realities and to practice that which the psalmist enjoined in Psalm 34:14, to seek peace and pursue it. These words of the psalmist are supported by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossian Church [3:15-16]. He tells them and us that as God’s beloved, we are called to a life of Shalom…to allow this graced gift, to rule our hearts.

Well, let’s hope there is something here for you to chew on, until text time. I wish for you a peace-filled week as amidst the challenges and turmoil of our world, you allow yourself to be held in Shalom by and remain in the grip of, our good and gracious God.

Grace+