Can We Work Together for the Welfare of the City?

In our increasingly fragmented world, we tend to isolate ourselves into separate cocoons of mindsets, attitudes, and beliefs. And there is a reasonable concern (fear?) that some groups will use power to subvert or eliminate those differences. To control 'the other.' This presents a challenge. If you peruse our site, you'll find that we are faith-based. We will elaborate on that below. But we hope that does not deter you or anyone from working with us, as we also seek to work with people of any or no faith. There have been occasions when someone expressed interest in helping us with our work but have shied away when they heard the mention of 'faith.'

At Shalom, we seek to treat every person with dignity and respect. There are many understandable and good reasons that people have rejected belief in God or rejection of religion in general or of a particular faith. Our purpose is not to disrespect, control, or coerce those with different beliefs. In fact, several of those who have served with us do not espouse a particular faith. We have often benefitted over the years from working with those of different beliefs in serving our community. And we have assisted many who have not expressed any particular faith. We all need community and to work together for the good of others.

Our mission is to bring 'shalom' to the city. Shalom gets its name from a Hebrew word that some recognize only as a 'greeting' or 'peace.' The use of the term in ancient biblical texts carried a much broader and more holistic meaning, including health, wholeness, unity, prosperity, safety, completeness, joy, welfare, and peace. Really, all of the above. While some of us see these as grounded in faith principles, there are no doubt others who see the importance of helping others to find such wholeness without relating these to a faith of any sort.

When we say 'faith-based,' what do we mean? There is a Christian faith element for some of us in our group that grounds and motivates our desire to help people. We seek to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. As such, part of our work involves studies in biblical and theological topics with those who voluntarily choose to participate in such. And we meet many who need assistance through these classes. But our mission of wholeness moves beyond those particular classes. Occasionally, particular elements of our work may not match your beliefs or interests. That's perfectly fine with us. We seek to provide avenues of service you can feel comfortable contributing to and serving alongside Shalom.

Three ancient texts guide our thoughts and practices in this regard:

"Seek the welfare [shalom] of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare [shalom] you will have welfare [shalom] (Jeremiah 29:7)

“And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: This is what the Lord of hosts said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’”

(‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭7‬:‭8‬-‭10)‬ ‭

And, "Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." (Romans 12:16-18)