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One Sunday I found myself conjuring up an image of myself as Katniss Everdeen, the hero of The Hunger Games as she is often depicted with a sling of arrow over her shoulder. That image brought to mind one of the issues Katniss faces - the scarcity of resources in her area compared to the abundance of wealth in the capital of Panem, an imaginary North American country. When I returned home that Sunday, I decided to reread an article by Parker Palmer, Loaves and Fishes: Acts of Scarcity and Abundance.
Drawing on the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes, Palmer asserts that the disciples are caught up in an assumption of scarcity. They believe the people gathered to listen to Jesus need to get their own food. The disciples want to send those gathered away. Palmer writes, “There is a powerful correlation between the assumption of scarcity and the decline of community, a correlation that runs both ways. If we allow the scarcity assumption to dominate our thinking, we will act in individualistic, competitive ways that destroy community. If we destroy community, where sharing with others generates abundance, the scarcity assumption will become more valid.”
In responses to the disciples suggestion that the people need to fend for themselves, Jesus says, “You give them something to eat.” The gathered community is to remain intact - and the disciples are to share what they have. Palmer asserts, “In the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus did not act alone - he acted in concert with others and evoked the abundance of community. The ‘body of Christ’ is not the physical body of Jesus but the corporate body of those who gather around the Spirit.”
It seems appropriate that the image of Katniss came to mind as I walked toward the community we have been given. May we find an abundance of love and compassion here and be willing to share that abundance with others in concrete ways.