264 Chapter 8 society should be, according to the minutes, similar. In pairs, the members of the conversational community studied verses 1–7 and, afterwards, shared their insights. The following is what they said about the basic attitude: P1: If you see shalom as God’s counterpart to the Fall: peace with Him, with your neighbour, loving God above all else and the neighbour as yourself, if that is your driving force in contact with other people, then this helps put words to that. P2: Shalom is about all of your relationships, whoever comes your way. I think we need to talk to students about that. P3: What appealed to us in the Biblical concept of shalom or peace is that it includes the other, that you pray for the other, that you look around for the other in the place where you are placed, that you are not only focused on Jerusalem but equally on Babylon. The Jews had to pray for the city, not only for a return but also for the place where they were. P4: That’s exactly why we think it would be nice to spend four years talking with students bit by bit about this theme: Shalom. That’s about more than just your relationship with God. We have a professional profile ready to go and in terms of personality formation that is about the cores that all have to do with relationality: I am connected to the Christian faith, to the neighbour, the world, myself, tradition from past and present to future. If you are going to load that with the concept of shalom, you are indicating that, for good connectedness, something is needed. What then is your mission with regard to your neighbour, the world and so on. P1: Agreed, and that should go together. Again, of course, you shouldn’t go overboard like some humanitarian clubs. It is both – shalom is both peace with God and peace with one’s neighbour. P4: How do you avoid going completely in one of the two directions? P1: That’s very personal, I think. The challenge per person is that you are in such a way in life that you always know how to make the connection. That you also have the boldness to bring that forward openly with an example or however you can. For example, in kindness, in hospitality, attractiveness that makes people dare to confide in you so that you can tell something about your faith. The basic attitude that the participants in this conversation were looking for is closely connected to the shalom idea (P1). This idea functions as a driving force when it comes to working on one’s openness (as P2 said), which starts with prayer and attention to others (P3), boldness to engage in an exemplary
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw