阅读经文 

良善、纯全、慈爱的创造主创造了一个奇妙美好的世界。创世记第一章美丽的创造之歌以这个震撼人心的宣告作结：“神看着一切所造的都甚好。”星罗棋布的天空、温暖的太阳和皎洁的月亮、茂密的森林和其中的生态圈、充满水生物的海洋和雀鸟鸣唱的天空——这一切都甚好。具有神形像的人类，被授予权柄护理看守神所造美好的大地，这也是好的。一切都非常好。

在这个月，我们将会时常思考一个重要的词语：shalom。这个通常被翻译为“平安”的希伯来字，其实有更深的内涵。“平安”主要指没有冲突，但shalom则意味着良善、繁荣、正常的关系，以及万事都像神造它们时那样美好。Shalom指万事都符合它们的本性，好叫它们能实现神造它们的目的。

活在正常的关系中是人类兴旺的要素——与神、与人、与己和与神所造的世界有正常的关系，这是神的本意。可是，因着人的罪和叛逆，那些关系已被扭曲和破坏了。贫穷和随之而来的诸多限制，是不正常的关系引起的恶果。纵然如此，神出于爱的伟大拯救行动，是要叫我们和受造世界从罪的捆绑中释放出来，从而恢复起初原有的shalom！

The good, perfect, and loving Creator made an amazingly good world. The great song of creation in Genesis 1 closes with this resounding affirmation: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” The star-studded heavens, the warming sun and glistening moon, the lush forests and the underlying biosphere, the sea teeming with marine life, and the air humming with birds—all of it was good. And human­kind, bearing God’s image, empowered to care for God’s good earth, was also good. It was all very good.

An important word that we will consider often this month is shalom. This Hebrew word, often translated as “peace,” means much more than that. While “peace” often refers mainly to an absence of conflict, shalom suggests the presence of goodness, flourishing, right relationships, and all things being as God created them to be. Shalom points to all things living in line with their character so that they can fully achieve God’s intentions for them.

Living in right relationship is essential for human flourishing—right relationship with God, with others, with self, and with God’s creation. That’s what God intended. Yet because of human sin and rebellion, those relations are twisted and spoiled. Poverty and all its limitations are the result of relationships gone wrong. Even so, God’s great work of love is to free us and his creation from the bondage of sin and to restore shalom!