After the Shema is commanded in Deuteronomy the explaination to the command is given. And it is as simple as, “so you can tell the story of your salvation from Egypt to your kids.” The story begins in slavery in Egypt and moves to the promised land, and so, as the description embeds, Shema is an act, a command, involving memory. The section ends the salvation narrative with an odd phrase, “So that we might have shalom as we’re doing right now.” Memory and a full engagement with Shema is also an act in naming where you are now. You can imagine a grandmother have this moment with her grandson, “you see where you are right now, it’s because God has rescued us—wrapped us up in shalom and so we live and love well in response, that’s it.” What is interesting in Deuteronomy specifically is its tendency to not speak of the command(s) but rather the command. Sure there are rules and regulations, but when it comes to command—Deuteronomy seems to jump from Shema into the complex realities it deals with—as a new community finds itself with responsibility to live now in light of a story—a bloody, weary, odd story of their passing through.
What are you doing right now, and how have you landed just here and just now? The deep and telling question is if you know how you got here. Is there a beginning to your journey? A moment you live in light of, trying to stay in its glow? I’ve been thinking about how it is life seems to flow all around me taking me forward and that naming the stream is an achey exercise in coming to terms with what drives you forward. Is it you, or is it something wider—that started before you were born and will continue on without you. But, here you are doing what you are doing right now. As Father Rohr has said along with others, don’t push the river. I would add, as I find a flow—trust where it is from and where it is going.
