To live in the period in between the time of Jesus of Nazareth and the fulfillment of God's mission is not easy. Like Jesus we look at the city and feel its pain in our very depths. We long for the fullness of shalom - of peace and well-being under God. We work and pray for a city that experiences all the dimensions of shalom that are bound up in the use of the term in the Hebrew Bible: peace, justice, care of the poor, safety, prosperity, harmony and a bustling life.
We see God at work already. We experience a taste of God's gracious presence, both within our churches and, in God's mysterious ways, also at work in wider Melbourne wherever there is justice, wherever there is love and wherever people search for God. If the church in Melbourne loves the city enough to pray and work as one, then we may indeed experience God's shalom and here the yearning of Jesus for his people to enjoy freedom and direction under God will be finally satisfied.
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