Scarcity

We operate out of a fear of scarcity. We seem to forget several of the gospel stories about God's abundance. The feeding of the 5000 happens in all four gospels. Maybe its to reinforce this image of abundance with which we are supposed to operate. All the stories talk about the overwhelming crowd, all of them relate how the disciples believe they should be sent away. All of them relate the meager offering they have from someone there. Jesus astounds them all by insisting they have all sit down, they take the few loaves and fishes and feed them all with leftovers gathered at the end.

 

There are other stories of God's abundance like the prodigal son, the parables of the sower and the seed, the story of Jesus healing to all who came to him. Yet we deny God's abundance in everything we do. There isn't enough for everyone is all around us. We operate out of a lack of money, a lack of volunteers, a lack of supplies and ignore the possibilities which are all around us.

 

I think of my friends in South Sudan who have taken displaced people into their village to feed, to house, and to share water with. Everything around them screams there is not enough. They don't have huge stores of food, the market was totally looted, the water is from one well and they collect rainwater to supplement it. Yet they somehow believe there will be enough, that God will provide they will not refuse any guest because that would be shameful.

 

Whenever we begin to think there is not enough we need to remember our grounding in God's story. We need to trust and have faith that God will somehow provide. Then we need to act out of this abundance we have been given.