Enough for all? ...

Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Is there enough for all on this planet? Do we have enough food, enough shelter, enough clothing, enough work? Do we have enough space? It is an important and basic question. And as Christians we should be concerned. We should think about it and work towards it. And we should not stay with the physical things, but also ask: is there enough love, enough spirit, enough faith for everyone? Enough future? Enough appreciation? Enough perspective?

One layer deeper in the problem …

There are delusive answers to the question. You might just count for example the amount of food on the planet, divide it by the number of people and then conclude that there is enough if we share equally. You might take the amount of money, divide it by 9 Billion people and come to the conclusion that all problems would be solved when we just share equally.

But that is, sorry about being very straight, complete nonsense. There is no process of sharing equally, and the real problems have not been touched when you start with this type of unrealistic reasoning. You would make a point if you could describe a process of sharing things equally. But it is even difficult to give food to the people who have no food without interfering with local powers and structures. It is today very difficult to give in a way which does not deepen the problems! We interfere with both political and economic structures and processes - and it is the political and economic structures and processes which we need to tackle to make progress with food and money!

But political processes are part of social and historical developments. We have very different people, social experiences, skills, background, family structures and faith structures on this planet. The role of men and women, the role of hierarchies and age, the role of work and power is different, and so are the results of the social environment and the social and economic processes in each country and region on this planet. There is a lot to do here! And the real problem is to interact with society locally as well as globally!

There is hope …

We may be discouraged by the mere size of the problem to feed the world. We may be discouraged by the mere size of the problem to make progress with getting all humans into a proper environment, where they can pursue their happyness, where they can do their work, evolve their creativity, succeed with their job, their family, their leisure, their personal goals. For me, one story which is about not having enough is highly encouraging. Here, Jesus is faced with the same problem, and he solves it in a wonderful way. Have a read intnto John 6:

7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii1 worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

There is hope. The hope comes from God himself, from Christ Jesus. It is in faith, but also in justice, in truth, in a humble spirit. People of faith will develop hope, and where Christian faith gains influence in the hearts of many, there will also be mercy and activity towards a just and balanced social order. Wealth will help to develop the world, it will do good, not bad, it will be used to let societies prosper. (RWEP) ... more texts