Tuesday 02 December 2008

Background

There was a James Garner western series on TV in North America35 years ago which never made it to the UK because it was judged'his only failure'. In fact, it was a fascinating series because,like all good fiction, it was really a commentary on the modernworld. 'Nichols' (the name of the town, the series and the Garnercharacter) was a western set as late as 1914 in Arizona, with thesheriff (Garner) on a motorbike rather than a horse. Unusually fora western, the hero (if that is what he was) did not carry a gun,and opposed the use of violence as a way of solving anything. Whenpeople faced off he would say, "This is the 20th century: we don'tdo things like that anymore".

In today's passage for Advent, the prophet Isaiah dreams of a timewhen God's rule is recognised by the whole world (represented as aprocession of all the nations into God's presence). This hasnothing to do with any nationalistic aspirations, but is auniversal hope. At that time, Isaiah says, everyone willacknowledge that violence is no way to resolve issues, even betweennations, and they will divert resources from preparing for andwaging war to responding to people's needs. He calls this"walk[ing] in the light of the Lord" (verse 5).

Many people at the turn of the millennium hoped that the 21stcentury would be a time when "we don't do this anymore" could besaid generally about warfare as a means of settling internationaldisputes. The UN's MillenniumDevelopment Goals were all about diverting resources towhere they are most needed, with the aim of ending world poverty.Now, with wars in the news every day, we are told that thedevelopmental goals the world set itself just a few years ago arenot going to be achieved.

If you know only one word of Hebrew, it is probably 'shalom', whichis used as a greeting and is usually translated as 'peace'. But theconcept of peace that shalom stands for is not just the absence ofwar. Shalom is about the wellbeing, welfare and safety ofindividuals in a community, whether as members of families,societies, nations ... or of humankind in general.

To Ponder

What world events make you want to say, "We don'tdo things like that any more"? What other options are there?

How can you participate in the growth of shalomin your family, your community, your nation or the whole world?