Are We Taking Shalom for Granted?

“Donvale is a special community”.  

“God is evident in our daily lives at school”.  

“Seeing and experiencing how Christ is put at the centre of relationships at DCC is why we love the school”. 

Such comments are made regularly and repeatedly by many a parent and senior student, especially in the first or second year of their family’s time as part of the DCC community. 

In enrolment interviews, the testimonies of family friends who have commended the school to the applicant family consistently have similar emphases.

We have set a high standard for ourselves – we call our College’s strategic intentions document “Shalom”. When it was being developed, I undertook a research project among senior leaders on staff and Board members of the day. I asked them to reflect on their understanding of what shalom is, as mature followers of Christ. And, secondly, how it should (or does) play out in the life of our school.

Here are some of their replies:

• Shalom is a much broader understanding of peace – a peace that’s not absence of conflict, but a holistic, wholesome, flourishing peace. 
• Shalom is ultimately found through reconciliation with God –the way things should have been between us and God, us and each other, and us and creation. 
• Everything is in its right place and free from sin. 
• Shalom is a place where God's grace is evident in God’s people as they commune together in peace, devoid of hostility.
• Shalom is an active word; it is at the heart of God's mission – the reconciliation of humankind. 
• Shalom is a way of life, rather than a word that describes an aspect of life. It is the ceasing of striving. 
• Shalom is the human embodiment of a child orienting themselves towards their Heavenly Father. 
• It’s the concept of living in the seventh day of creation, knowing that the reconciliation and restoration work with God is done.
• One respondent’s response is worth repeating verbatim: ‘Shalom is the “wind on your back” as you “walk up a hill” in life. (It's the joy of the Lord in the middle of rebuilding the wall of Nehemiah.)’

And here is a collection of their reflections in how it affects their actions as workers, colleagues and fellow disciples while in our community.

• Shalom means learning how to live as a disciple who embraces grace, and whose actions allow God's reign, peace and restoration into all they do.
• Shalom  means learning how to live as a disciple whose actions created an environment for people to thrive in reconciled relationships.
• Shalom guides our ambassadorship as children of God. 
• The degree to which one is able to subordinate one’s own personal choices to God’s is the degree to which shalom is experienced. This subordination allows for righting wrong when others are hurt.
• As a community at school, shalom-seeking is acting in the knowledge that if there's a part of us or a member who is not experiencing shalom, then that causes a disturbance in all of us. 
• Shalom is about finding a place where making peace keeps the school in godly community, even if its members cannot agree on everything. It includes reconciling situations and putting relationships first. 
• It's about recognising the need to rescue the “one” and being prepared to leave the “99”, knowing God will take care of them.
• Shalom means, as we discern God’s call on our work and on the directions of the school, needing to seek the presence of God and abide in him. 
• Shalom is seen in the strength of character to wait on God, to be obedient in the face of whatever difficulty awaits.

In conclusion

Christian education researcher Nicholas Wolterstorff, in his book 'Educating for Shalom' writes:

“Shalom incorporates delight in one’s relationships. To dwell in shalom is to find delight in living rightly before God, to find delight in living rightly in one’s physical surroundings, to find delight in living rightly with one’s fellow human beings, to find delight even in living rightly with oneself.”

Australian theologian (and sometime school chaplain) Ryan Holt suggests that schools adopting shalom-oriented practices will embody and celebrate the virtues of God’s kingdom – justice, mercy, forgiveness and gratitude – and lament the absence of shalom. 

Our school motto is Micah 6:8 “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (NIV). 

Loving mercy is all about being faithful to our relationship with God and the other (person). It is about pursuing a relationship that acts in line with a covenant of constant love and humble dependence on God so central to seeking shalom. Seeking justice in that communion with one another adds richness to this love and dependence.

I was so glad to find the summary of that research I did in the midst of lockdowns and remote learning. It gave me great encouragement about what was possible for our community, if we seek out a lived experience of shalom in our daily activities and interactions.  

May we never forget the importance, as followers of Jesus, the Prince of peace, of seeking to live “as God would have it be” – seeking shalom with Him, each other, the things we steward and the world we live in.

Shalom