Day 20, Thursday, Book of Faith – Lenten Journey
“When we pray for daily bread, we pray for it all – for ourselves and for everyone else. No exceptions. And it could be done. It is not a question of scarcity. God created our beautiful blue-green planet in such a way that it naturally provides in abundance all that is needed for all people to live well.”
I like this passage from our reading and am certainly challenged by it too. First I like the truth of it. Imagine if God had created our beautiful blue-green planet in such a way that there would be scarcity. What kind of sick god would that be? “Here, I’ve placed you on this planet, but I purposely haven’t given you enough. Oh yeah, I love you and want you to love me too.” God, thankfully doesn’t operate that way, but too many of us forget that. Way too many of us worry too much about scarcity, and that worry betrays an assumption that God has not provided enough.
That worry has also created terrible imbalances within the world: The haves and the have-nots. In our worry that scarcity is just around the corner we keep more for ourselves than we need to, causing suffering to those who do not have. I think the quote from Day 14, (page 54), is appropriate here as it was discussing the will of God. “In a truly just world nobody would have more than enough of the material necessities of life until everyone had enough. Then it would be all right to have more than enough – but only then.” The “us” and “our” in “give us this day our daily bread” push us to keep in mind that the material things in life are intended for the WHOLE group; not just some. God wants daily bread to be available to all.
One of the questions to ponder this day is what are some of the problems facing distribution of our “bread” in the world today. It immediately brought to mind Haiti and the news report I heard about the government taxing the food and materials being brought into the country before they could be distributed. I can only assume that problem was recified as I’ve not heard about it since that first news announcement, but is this part of the problem? Greed, not only on the part of governments around the world but also on the part of the people who have more than enough.
Certainly our God is a God of abundance. I look only to me and my family and realize how truly blessed we are. We have homes, certainly enough food, closets full of clothing and footwear, comfort and stylish furniture, money to pay for heat, medical care, and once in a while an evening out or even a vacation.
This reading has allowed me to think about those outside my family and my community. To look at all people throughout the world and apply this prayer and petition to them. I had not done that before.