Scarcity or Abundance?

One summer, on a mission trip to Chicago with sr. high students, I sat with everyone around tables, after a long day of work, and listened as the leader of the DOOR program there explained how we would be doing dinner that evening.  Each person would be given $, be transported, with 10-12 other folks, to an area of the city and encouraged to find dinner.  There were a few ground rules:

1. You couldn't use any of "your" money that you brought with you.
2. You couldn't do a street performance of any kind, because Chicago required a license to do so.
3. You could beg for money, but you had to tell people you were part of a group participating in a "poverty simulation."

You can imagine the moans, groans, and questions that erupted in the room.  "Seriously?"  "This is stupid." "But I'm sooooo hungry."  You can also imagine different ways in which individuals and groups handled the situation.

• Some people exited the van, walked into a convenience store and bought a snack item that cost less than $1.
• Some people cheated and pulled money out of their own wallets.
• Some people went in together to buy a pizza, only to find that they couldn't afford a very large pizza with only $10-$12.
• Some people went straight to asking for money and found it was harder than they thought, and that they felt pretty embarrassed to even be asking.
• Some people tried to find a grocery store, but their area of town was a food desert.
• Some people pooled their money, did find a grocery store, and also begged for money

The group I was in did that last thing, with no direction from me or the other adults, by the way.  We were able to buy enough food to feed everybody in our group, including sandwiches, chips, fruit, and even some ice cream that somebody behind us in line helped us buy.

As we processed this activity, we found that groups who focused on how little they had and became defensive of "my dollar" had the most difficult time, while groups who thought positively and sought communal solutions with "our money" seemed to fare better.

That experience was a real-life example of how different things can go depending on whether you focus on scarcity or abundance.  In a scarcity worldview, there are only so many resources and I need to "get what's mine" so I withhold from others, hoard what I do have,  and live in fear of losing what's mine.  In an abundance worldview, there is more than enough for what everybody needs, I take joy in thinking creatively about how to make sure everyone receives "enough," and I live without so much fear and anxiety.

In this week's story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people, we see a story of abundance, even though the disciples seem to live according to scarcity.  Whether this was a miraculous replication of 5 loaves and 2 fish into enough food to feed the multitude, or it was an example of everyone sharing what they had so that people were fed, it is a beautiful story of provision.

Questions to consider:

• As you think about resources, do you think in terms of scarcity or abundance?
• How does that affect your choices regarding the use of resources and/or sharing resources?
• When have you experienced unexpected abundance?
• When have you hoped for abundance and only found scarcity?

Matthew 13:13-21

Feeding the five thousand

¹³ When Jesus heard about John, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. When the crowds learned this, they followed him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick. ¹⁵ That evening his disciples came and said to him, “ This is an isolated place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves. ”

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “ There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat. ”

¹⁷ They replied, “ We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish. ”

¹⁸ He said, “ Bring them here to me. ” ¹⁹ He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them and broke the loaves apart and gave them to his disciples. Then the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ Everyone ate until they were full, and they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. ²¹ About five thousand men plus women and children had eaten.