It started from a single line from someone describing what "sin" meant. Their definition was that sin "is the culpable disturbance of Shalom." For whatever reason, that struck a chord, and subsequently this piece of written word flowed, ready for Easter Day 2021... The Culpable disturbance of shalom
Shalom. Peace. But more than peace. It’s the balance of it all, The intention of Creation: Relationship with man Relationship with God. Life itself. You see, there was this garden, Or so the story goes, Where God roamed free, And people could be found In the perpetually pleasing presence Of the one who gave them breath And life And purpose And all was well: There was “Shalom” Shalom. Peace. But more than peace, The balance of it all, The intention of Creation: Relationship with man Relationship with God. Life itself. But then came the “Culpable Disturbance” Culpable - Purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently Disturbance - Interruption of a settled condition Where choices made which Purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently Interrupted the settled condition And Shalom exits stage right. The unbalance becomes evident. The purpose and direction is lost. And into the vacated stage comes death. And together we’re wrapped up in a word called “sin”, Entwined in a world we called sinful, Synonymous with a branding of guilt Shame Blame Not for the disturbance But for our very existence. We began to believe We were no longer in the image of God, We were the distortion of His Shalom… We were no longer “Very Good” We were a shadow of what we should have been. We were a people rejected, subjected to death. And justifiably so… But our existence wasn’t the problem It never was. The problem was the pattern The ripples of the disturbance That echoed through time And caught us in their wake Taking us further from the place Of Shalom. Shalom. Peace. But more than peace, The balance of it all, The intention of Creation: Relationship with man Relationship with God. Life itself. We became a creation marked by greed, Lost in lust, Green with envy, And focussed on number one. At our hands The land was used Mankind Abused And the image of God, Green-fingers of God, The nature of God Refused In anything but the deities we built For ourselves… Of ourselves… Trying to recreate Shalom In shifting sands. And while the remnant remembered Reminisced and Reminded It wasn’t enough to help us see The value of life The intention of love The balance of peace Offered by God So Jesus enters stage left. Emmanuel, God, Man as well, Born into promise and purpose, and preaching potential Moving, making, mending, reminding, Healing and helping the hurting Living and loving and looking To show us Shalom. Jesus knew what it was To love God and live a life of love Indeed This is how God showed his love: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. That we might know Shalom as a way of life. Shalom. Peace. But more than peace, The balance of it all, The intention of Creation: Relationship with man Relationship with God. Life itself. And the Son of God, The Son of Man, Who lived to show us that we can Be Shalom restorers Justice implorers God Adorers Died. But where there is still death There can be no Shalom. Death. Lack of Breath. The final disturbance banishing the Life of God from our nostrils Keeping us from Shalom. And so death needed defeating Shalom needed restoring Once. For all. An act designed to remind us Not of our guilt, our shame, the blame we claimed For existing, But of the enduring love of a God who above all Sought Shalom with us Through our repeatedly Purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently Interrupting the settled condition… Of getting caught up in the ripples… Of forgetting who were were made to be… Of not seeing the Glory of God in ourselves… Others… Creation… Because If we didn’t recognise it in his life, We can’t deny it in his death: This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins… For our Culpable Disturbances. But where there is still death There can be no Shalom Which is why we need the empty tomb The stone rolled The Linen fold The weeping Mary held in the garden As her tears turn from grief to joy Appreciating Shalom restored And finally seeing that NOTHING can separate us From the love of God. Nothing. Not even Death. Because we weren’t broken Weren’t unlovable Weren’t outside of the image of God We’d just lost our Shalom. Shalom. Peace. But more than peace, The balance of it all, The intention of Creation: Relationship with man Relationship with God. Life itself. And whilst it might be That Jesus’ death is The atoning sacrifice, The at-one-ing moment It’s in his re-living that we see it completely Know it more deeply… And the culpable - Purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently Disturbance - Interruption of a settled condition Of our world By God Through Jesus Was completed. Where we made choices which Purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently Interrupted the settled condition And Shalom exited stage right, Now God made choices which Purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently Interrupted our condition And Shalom takes centre stage. Shalom. Peace. But more than peace, The balance of it all, The intention of Creation: Relationship with man Relationship with God. Life itself. |
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