In the evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp… When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat… I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel… They asked, and [God] brought quails and gave them food from heaven in abundance. He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river. Exodus 16:13, 15; 17:6; Psalm 105:40–41
“It will be useful, in mature materiality, to reflect on the compelling power of the narrative of scarcity. For many in the “clean plate club,” eating is required because of “starving children in Africa.” Beyond that, however, is the relentless insistence of consumerism that we are entitled (because we are Americans) to have more and own more and eat more.
The ideology of consumerism intends both (a) to affirm the legitimacy of satiation and (b) to attest that we do not yet have enough to be satiated and must still secure (purchase) the next offer of satiation. The hope of mature materiality is that we may be disengaged from and resistant to that distortion of reality.
The ground for such disengagement and resistance is rooted in trust in the creator God and the generativity of God’s creation that is the primary story line of the Bible. That biblical story line has its pivot point in the narrative of wondrous manna in Exodus 16
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In that narrative Israel is in the wilderness, cut off from the food supply of Pharaoh. Very quickly the newly departed slaves, in their anxiety, yearn for Pharaoh’s food supply. In the wilderness there are no obvious life-support systems. In that very place that seems utterly bereft, however, bread is given . . . and meat . . . and water, all the necessities for life!”
Walter Brueggemann in Materiality As Resistance: Five Elements for Moral Action in the Real World (Louisville: WJKP, 2020), 31.
The new header photo features Kathmandu. I am here for historic GTP meetings with representatives of the various Christian alliances along with many skilled lawyers, accountants, and other professionals. Today, they travel from the 7 provinces to this city. Tomorrow is the big meeting. Appreciate your prayers.
And no I cannot see Mt. Everest. This is the rainy season so there are many clouds. It’s okay. I am looking to a different mountain for help. My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.
I find it brilliant that Brueggemann starts with “the compelling power of the narrative of scarcity” when most Christians start with the reality of God’s abundance. Why? I have found as both a biblical scholar and Christ follower that I don’t find myself in Scripture or society unless I look at the bad examples and wrong thinking.
The narrative of scarcity guides the unbridled consumerism and accumulation in modern American society. It says, “You have to look out for number one.” Between the lines this thinking says, “There is no generous God looking out for you.”
Then Brueggemann moves us to the manna story. I love the manna story of the Old Testament. When we read the manna story alongside the Lord’s Prayer we discover that the God who invites us to trust Him for daily bread has a track record of trustworthiness.
Ponder the sinfulness of the scarcity mindset and the patterns it causes us to embrace. Ask the Holy Spirit what needs to change to grow in trust in God’s abundance. Ironically, the antidote to the gluttony and greed – patterns linked to scarcity and promoted in society – is generosity. Giving helps disengage. How might you grow your giving today?