“People often ask me why an Episcopal bishop would sign e-mails with the Hebrew word “Shalom.” I tell them that for me it is a continuing verbal symbol and a reminder of what it is I’m supposed to be about, and in fact, what all Christians are supposed to be about.

That word “shalom” is usually translated as “peace,” but it’s a far richer and deeper understanding of peace than we usually recognize. It’s not just a 1970s era hippie holding up two fingers to greet a friend – “Peace, bro.” It isn’t just telling two arguers to get over their differences. Shalom is a vision of the city of God on earth, a community where people are at peace with each other because each one has enough to eat, adequate shelter, medical care, and meaningful work. Shalom is a city where justice is the rule of the day, where prejudice has vanished, where the diverse gifts with which we have been so abundantly blessed are equally valued.”

An excerpt from:

A Wing and a Prayer: A Message of Faith and Hope

Copyright (c) 2007 Katharine Jefferts Schori

Used by permission of  Morehouse Publishing, an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated

www.churchpublishing.org

Written by

Katharine Jefferts Schori

26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church

Published by

Morehouse Publishing

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

2007

 

KATHARINE JEFFERTS SCHORI served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada from 2001 to 2006. Prior to her 1994 ordination, she taught and did research at Oregon State University, and was an oceanographer with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle. She is the first woman to serve as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA.