Naomi King (@revnaomi) tweeted a great question recently: “What are your favorite #inspirational quotes about abundance?” Her prompt reminded me of how critical a theology of abundance is to a healthy spirituality. In contrast, a theology of scarcity can spiral into an unhealthy spirituality. A search for the words “abundance” and “scarcity” on my computer turned up the following quotes:
- “Instead of fixating on what you perceive as ‘wrong’ (pathologies, scarcity, or anxiety), inquire into what is right, good, and exciting.” (See the practice of Appreciate Inquiry.)
- “Where can we partner with what God is already doing in our midst? Where is there already life, connection, and energy?” (See Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn.)
- “[Beware] living comfortably with the market’s limited vocabulary of competition and scarcity.” –“Wordcare: Hauerwas, Language, and the Church,” edited by Stan Wilson and Kyle Childress
- “Do you want an economy of grace based on generosity, or an economy of scarcity based on acquisition?” –Wendell Berry, from an interview with Rose Marie Berger. Available at http://www.sojo.net/magazine/2004/07/web-exclusive-wendell-berry-interview-complete-text.
For Further Study
- Carl Gregg, “Enough Is as Good as a Feast” (September 28, 2010). An excerpt: “The Feeding of the 5,000 was both miraculous and God-inspired, but not magical — merely emblematic of what is always possible whenever individuals and groups open themselves to the transformative power of putting the love of God and neighbor into practice.” Available at http://broadviewchurch.net/2010/09/sermon-enough-is-as-good-as-a-feast/.
- Walter Brueggemann, “The Liturgy of Abundance, The Myth of Scarcity.” Available at http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=533.
The Rev. Carl Gregg is the pastor of Broadview Church in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.
Follow him on Facebook (facebook.com/carlgregg) and Twitter (@carlgregg).
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