What is Abundance?

By Kristina Roth

Seeing light coming from the other room, Scrooge peeks inside to find that sure enough, the next ghost has paid his visit. Inside, he finds the ghost, surrounded by food and drinks of plenty, living into the common phrase, “Eat, drink, and be merry.” The ghost is holding a cornucopia in his hand—a goat’s horn overflowing with whatever tasty goodies you want. Upon a very plentiful harvest, the rich man in the Gospel of Luke decides to build larger barns to store up his excess goods. With ample goods for years to come, he can put up his feet, relax, and eat, drink, and be merry. Quite so, in stave three of The Christmas Carol, Scrooge has stored up excess goods, but is actually living in scarcity, fearing that he will not have enough. 

God says that we should not worry about our life, what we will eat or what we will wear. Telling people not to worry about food and clothing is fine for those who have no problem buying food or clothing. What about our homeless friends at Bonhoeffer House, who struggle to find daily sustenance? Jesus says that unlike the rich fool, the ravens that God created do not have storehouses or barns, and yet God feeds them. The lilies of the field do not toil or spin, yet they still continue to grow, and God clothes the grass. God continually does these things. As humans, created in the Imago Dei, set apart from the rest of creation, we can be sure that God will continually provide those things for us as well. However, God is calling us to be generous, to replace fear with faith, anxiety with trust, and to move from greed to generosity. We are not to worry about food or clothing because it is our responsibility to care for others. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions, but in sharing and helping those who do not have a lot.

So often, mission and ministry to the poor operates on the assumption that we have a resource, and they have a need. However, the poor often have skills, gifts, and talents that meet our needs as well. Far too often, the homeless friends in my community are neglected and completely disregarded. Many people keep their distance from the poor and the marginalized because their presence challenges the ways they are using their money. As a church, we are failing if we do not allow the poor and marginalized to be partners in ministry. We must create space for mutually and friendship that rearranges these deeply held assumptions. Acts calls us to share all of the resources that we have. If the Body of Christ includes all people, then that includes our poor and marginalized friends. We must have mutual care for each other, sharing our resources so no one goes hungry and all are clothed.