Abundant

God is calling for a prophetic community to emerge, drawn from the nations of the world, that is characterized by uncommon devotion to the compassion and peace of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Through divine grace and wisdom, this faith community has been given abundant gifts, resources, and opportunities to equip it to become such a people. Chief among these is the power of community in Christ expressed locally in distinctive fashions while upholding a unity of vision, foundational beliefs, and mission throughout the world. – Doctrine and Covenants 163:11a

Does anyone besides me find the bolded statement in the middle of the above paragraph startling? Think about it. Were we not taught in Econ 101 that the first principle of economics is that resources are scarce? Is it not a fact that most of us live our lives assuming that principle is true? Do we not spend vast quantities of time and mental/emotional energy worrying about the fact that there is not enough money to do the things we would like to do? Is that not true in our personal lives as well as our collective expression of community we call the church? And yet, here we have this recent scriptural text saying exactly the opposite!

a•bun•dant
–adjective
1. present in great quantity; more than adequate; oversufficient: an abundant supply of water.
2. well supplied; abounding: a river abundant in salmon.
3. richly supplied: an abundant land.

The idea takes some getting used to, does it not? Perhaps we need to think differently just to get our heads around it. Of course the sentence is not about money is it? The sentence in question refers to abundant gifts, resources, and opportunities. (Okay, resources can certainly include money.) And, the sentence is set in context, which is all about what God is calling to the church to be.

What if the real resources we need are human ones, not financial? What if it is about the actions we take working together and not about buildings or other physical resources? The statement says we have been blessed with abundant gifts, resources (human), and opportunities to become a prophetic community characterized by uncommon devotion to the compassion and peace of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Wow! Are we ready to go there? Are we ready to express that kind of community locally; i.e. in the places where we live?

Reading the statement from this perspective, perhaps there is little wonder both section 163 and 164, given just three years later, seek to encourage us not to be afraid! (see 163:1a and 164:9b)

Okay, maybe I need to go blow some more bubbles now!

Posted by Carman