Missionary Renegade: The Daily Meditation: "Seeing the Miracle of Multiplication" The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for Monday, 7 May 2018

Monday, May 7, 2018

The Daily Meditation: "Seeing the Miracle of Multiplication" The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for Monday, 7 May 2018

DAILY MEDITATION: "Seeing the Miracle of Multiplication" for Monday, 7 May 2018

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The opposite of a scarcity mentality is an abundancy mentality. With an abundancy mentality we say: "There is enough for everyone, more than enough: food, knowledge, love ... everything." With this mind-set we give away whatever we have, to whomever we meet. When we see hungry people we give them food. When we meet ignorant people we share our knowledge; when we encounter people in need of love, we offer them friendship and affection and hospitality and introduce them to our family and friends.
When we live with this mind-set, we will see the miracle that what we give away multiplies: food, knowledge, love ... everything. There will even be many leftovers.

For further reflection...
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death." The Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.' " That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat." Each morning everyone gathered as much as was needed and when the sun grew hot, it melted away." (Exodus 16: 2-3, 11-15, 21 (NIV))
Your response...
How could trusting in God's abundance enable you to live differently?
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The Daily Meditation: "The Temptation to Hoard" The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

DAILY MEDITATION: "The Temptation to Hoard" for Sunday, 6 May 20186

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As fearful people we are inclined to develop a mind-set that makes us say: "There's not enough food for everyone, so I better be sure I save enough for myself in case of emergency," or "There's not enough knowledge for everyone to enjoy; so I'd better keep my knowledge to myself, so no one else will use it" or "There's not enough love to give to everybody, so I'd better keep my friends for myself to prevent others from taking them away from me." This is a scarcity mentality. It involves hoarding whatever we have, fearful that we won't have enough to survive. The tragedy, however, is that what you cling to ends up rotting in your hands.

For further reflection...
"Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits them no sleep. I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when there are children there is nothing left for them. Naked they come from their mother's womb, and as they come, they depart; they take nothing from their labor that they can carry in their hands." (Ecclesiastes 5: 10-15 (NIV))
Your response...
How can you move from the house of fear to the house of love today?
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The Daily Meditation: "God's Generosity" The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

DAILY MEDITATION" "God's Generosity" for Saturday, 5 May 2018

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God is a god of abundance, not a god of scarcity. Jesus reveals to us God's abundance when he offers so much bread to the people that there are twelve large baskets with leftover scraps (see John 6:5-15), and when he makes his disciples catch so many fish that their boat nearly sinks (Luke 5:1-7). God doesn't give us just enough. God gives us more than enough: more bread and fish than we can eat, more love than we dared to ask for.
God is a generous giver, but we can only see and enjoy God's generosity when we love God with all of our hearts, minds, and strength. As long as we say, "I will love you, God, but first show me your generosity," we will remain distant from God and unable to experience what God truly wants to give us, which is life and life in abundance.

For further reflection...
"You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy." (Psalm 65: 9-13 (NRSV))
Your response...
Do you think of God as stingy or generous?
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The Daily Meditation: "Signposts on the Way to God" The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

DAILY MEDITATION: "Signposts on the Way to God" for Friday, 4 May 2018

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How do we know about God's love, God's generosity, God's kindness, God's forgiveness? Through our parents, our friends, our teachers, our pastors, our spouses, our children ... they all reveal God to us. But as we come to know them, we realise that each of them can reveal only a little bit of God. God's love is greater than theirs; God's goodness is greater than theirs; God's beauty is greater than theirs.
At first we may be disappointed in these people in our lives. For a while we thought that they would be able to give us all the love, goodness, and beauty we needed. But gradually we discover that they were all signposts on the way to God.

For further reflection...
Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." (John 13: 7 (NRSV))
Your response...
How do the limits of others' love for you point you to God's deeper love?
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The Daily Meditation: "The Mosaic That Shows Us the Face of God" The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

DAILY MEDITATION" "The Mosaic That Shows Us the Face of God" for Thursday, 3 May 2018

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A mosaic consists of thousands of little stones. Some are blue, some are green, some are yellow, some are gold. When we bring our faces close to the mosaic, we can admire the beauty of each stone. But as we step back from it, we can see that all these little stones reveal to us a beautiful picture, telling a story none of these stones can tell by itself.
That is what our life in community is about. Each of us is like a little stone, but together we reveal the face of God to the world. Nobody can say: "I make God visible." But others who see us together can say: "They make God visible." Community is where humility and glory touch.

For further reflection...
Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we may no longer suffer disgrace." Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section; and Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, made repairs next to that. Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters. The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallun... he rebuilt it, roofing it over and putting its doors and bolts and bars in place. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam, as far as the steps going down from the City of David... So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty two days. When the others heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God." (Nehemiah 2:17; 3:1,3,8,12,15; 6:15-16)
Your response...
How does your experience of community reflect the mosaic that Henri describes?
Comment on this meditation.

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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
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