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I will always remember Bishop Park praying, with members of the VIM team and the men and women of a little village in the Andes Mountains. We were holding hands in a circle, sunlight shining bright, dark skin, fair skin, tall and short, men and women and children - a couple of dogs barking and two newly born goats baying for their mother in the background. We had just concluded our visit after listening to the people who shared with us their dream of building sixty Chagas free homes for the families of their scattered community. I love the way Bishop Park prays; it’s kind of a full body and spirit way of praying, such passion, such vigor, such joy. I observed, through my own tears, tears rolling down the cheeks of several, in that circle, as they listened to his prayer translated into their native tongue.

 

As I was getting into the jeep to depart, one woman came running with a woven blanket over her arm. She opened it up to show me how beautiful it was. I asked her how much she wanted for it. She held up five fingers, and I said, “Fifty dollars?” She nodded, “Yes.” I knew I would leave there with that blanket as a way to cling to that fleeting moment, a way to remember why I even decided to make a second trip to Bolivia. Fifty dollars would help the community with their share of the $750 in materials for a new home.   I hung it on the wall, in my office, so every day I was reminded of her and the hopes and dreams of parents creating a future for their children. 

 

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the distinction between the paradigm of scarcity in contrast to the paradigm of abundance. $750 for a new home, a safe home, virtually eliminating Chagas Disease, falls under the paradigm of abundance.

 

This morning I listened to a news program on the subject of finding the “deals” in today’s housing market. The guest “expert” on the market was illustrating what was currently available for under $250,000 and calling these “real deals.” Never in my life could I get a loan for that amount, and yet this was supposed to be good news for home buyers. On another program I heard about new cars for sale at, “slashed prices.”   They reported that you can save over $4,000 on a new $40,000 car of your dreams. This may be a “deal” for some but way out of my price range. These two examples illustrate, for me, the paradigm of scarcity. I feel poor when I think about these “deals.” 

 

Jesus fed 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish offered to him by a boy. Already knowing what he was going to do, Jesus asked his disciples, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip answered, “Six months wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little” (Paradigm of scarcity). But the boy, not yet hardened by the ways of the world, offered what he had brought with him. At least Andrew mentioned what the boy was offering. Then he said, “But what are they among so many people?” Jesus gave thanks for the bread and fish and began handing out food for all to eat, “as much as they wanted” (Paradigm of Abundance).   John 6:1-15 What if Andrew did not mention the boy’s offering?

 

 

 

Any way you interpret this story, literally or as metaphor or something in between, the message is the same. God is the God of Abundance. The Bible is shot through with many illustrations of abundance and God’s option for the poor. Think about the daily manna given to the children of Israel, as they wandered in the wilderness. Think about the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16). Convinced that she and her son would die of starvation, during a famine, the prophet Elijah asked her to make him a “little cake,” from her last bit of flour and oil, and he promised her that she would not run out of oil and flour until the rains came. Abundance. Think about grace....enough for all of God’s children all around the world. Abundance.

 

With God’s help, we can accomplish so much, with very little. Look at what has been accomplished by all of you who have done your part to bring hope and joy to the people in the churches of Cochabamba and in the mountain communities that we have visited. And what we came away with, an Encounter with Christ, forever changed.

 

The world economy has nearly collapsed, but that does not mean that resources are scarce. As followers of Jesus the Christ, we can be in the world, but we do not have to be of the world, the world of scarcity. With God, all things are possible. 

 

What can you bring to Jesus? Just a little bit? Yourself? That’s enough. He will do the rest.

 

Peace and Love,

 

Carl Franson