Monthly Archives: August 2014

“Script of Scarcity or Abundance?”

breadWhen Jesus instructed the disciples to feed the crowd of thousands, they only had five loaves of bread and two tiny fish. And yet, Jesus says, that was enough. I think it best (I don’t) not to take this story literally as this is a metaphorical story. This is a story/myth that points us to imagine a larger reality and truth about ourselves and the world. The story of the feeding of the 5000 seems strange to us because we often run off what I call a script of scarcity. But is that the script that Jesus wants us to read from? The Jesus I have discovered is a Jesus which always reads from the script of abundance.

When we run our lives off the script of scarcity, we think we will never have enough, and so gather more and more and increasing our bank accounts and hoarding out of fear. When is enough, enough? It’s never enough when you live your life off the script of scarcity.

The script of abundance is very different and in many ways very foreign to us. In this script there is always enough, through our love and care of one another, and trust in the God of a fruitful creation. “The disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.” This story is taken from the script of abundance and asks us to imagine how to share God’s abundance that has already been given.

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August 4, 2014 · 4:03 pm

Radical Ethic of “Love Your Enemy”

In this latest round of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict/war (July-August 2014) there is a disturbing new development of a disproportionate response. What we are witnessing now is far worse than the ethic of an eye for an eye. How are we to consider a disproportionate response in war? What is the alternative, especially as followers of Christ. From history, we can learn both disproportionate response and peaceful response. There are examples of both, but peaceful response is the road less traveled. If we are followers of Jesus we must remember that Jesus called us away from the ethic of an “eye for an eye” toward a radical ethic of “love your enemy.” This was lived in Jesus’ life and so we must live it in our lives … this must be imagined so that we are ready to offer a loving response rather than revert to a failed ethic of an eye for an eye. If just the ethic of the “golden rule” was lived out we might not ever have to implement the ethic of “love your enemy.”

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