Christianity Doesn't Exist Without Shalom

Colossians 3:15 tells us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

There was a time when farmers on the Great Plains would tie a rope from their porch to their barn on the first sign of a blizzard. They all knew the horror stories of friends and loved ones who froze to death after loosing sight of their barn or home and never left their backyard.

Parker Palmer says, “Today we still live in blizzard in which people are dying in their backyards. The blizzard hits us with economic injustice, ecological ruin, physical and spiritual violence, and their inevitable outcome, war. It swirls within us as fear and frenzy, greed and deceit, and indifference to the suffering of others.”

Truthfully, we all know people who have wandered off into this maddening world and have been separated from their own souls, they lose their moral bearing and sometimes their mortal lives.

What these people share in common is they attempt to leave home to find fulfillment but they get caught in a blizzard. And the ones caught are doing nothing more than looking for peace.

But this hidden peace is what Jesus promises.

In the Greek, Colossians says for us to carry with us the “Shalom of Christ.” I did some digging and this word, shalom, actually renders a weightier definition than peace. The more appropriate definition is wholeness.

Wholeness is the beauty of Advent. The coming of Jesus offers the potential for us to be whole. His birth and even his eventual return bring with them pieces of heaven, pieces of wholeness. It allows us to live in a secular world and still be touched by the divine. The Advent of Jesus, brings with it peace on earth and good will towards all people.

So if you are the one who is lost in the backyard and looking for home, then I tell you the presence of God is that rope tied from your backdoor to the barn. It is the guide that keeps you on track and in connected even when you have lost sight of where you are in life.

This rope is what our author tells the church of Colossians to grab. He says to have it with you wherever you go as if it is all you need.

Christianity doesn’t exist without peace. Christianity doesn’t exist without you holding that rope. For the rope is connected to God and your heart. To lose sight of the rope is to lose sight of your heart, to turn and walk away from your core self, your true self, and to also walk away from God. But to hold that rope, even when life gets hard, is to stay connected with the divine, the fullness of time, and the Prince of Peace.

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