My husband Ken loved the word "Shalom." It usually means, hello or goodbye or bless you but Ken's favorite defination was "Universal Reconciliation."
My husband David did not express this in words - he just practiced it. Like the time in a park in Minneapolis when he sat down on a bench beside a young woman in in full burka with only her eyes sparkling through. He persisted in chatting her up in spite of the fact that she never replied. Then, when I saw a young man running toward toward them I'm ashamed to say I was extremely nervous. But he told David the young woman had just arrived in the country 24 hours earlier and spoke no english. And they had just married that day. But David didn't finish, he just changed his focus to chatting up the young man.
Over the years several of you readers have inquired about Forum, a group that I love. It's a part of my church and we meet on Sunday morning but we do not call ourselves a Sunday school class. We recently took the steps to officially identify ourselves as a "Reconciling Group," The folks who crafted the welcoming statement worked hard to express who we are. Some people assume that we all think alike. That is the opposite of who we are. Here is a portion of the statement:
Forum is an open and inviting community of individuals who strive to live out Christ's teaching and our Wesleyan heritage while discussing contemporary and theological issues. We embrace the diversity of perspective and backgrounds of individuals.......We welcome and affirm that each person, irrespective of sexual orientation, gender identification, ethnicity, race, cultural background, physical or mental ability, economic status, age, and/or theological orientation is a child of God and has a seat at the Forum table.
I love exchanging views with folks who don't think like I do as long as they are civil and kind. My dream would be that we all "coexist in harmony. " I believe that the future of our universe depends on it.
Shalom to you my friends.
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