A MESSAGE FROM REV. KAREN KINNEY: GIFTED WITH SPIRITUAL ABUNDANCE
Grace and peace to you,
How do you define abundance? Merriam-Webster defines it as an ample quantity or wealth or affluence. Abundance gets interpreted as having a lot of something – usually money or power or material resources.
I wonder though, what abundance might mean in 
the spiritual sense? Bible Hub defines spiritual abundance in this way: “refers to the fullness of spiritual life and blessings that believers experience through their relationship with God. It encompasses the richness of God’s grace, the depth of His love, and the overflowing joy and peace that come from living in accordance with His will.”[1]
In the stories we will explore on Sunday, we see this notion of spiritual abundance lived out. Our Gospel story comes from Mark, and indeed it is in all four Gospels: the feeding of the 5,000 from five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus has tried to give himself and his disciples a break – a quiet space, after sending them out two by two with no provisions, save a staff and enduring the heartbreak of John the Baptist’s beheading.
But a quiet space was not to be had and soon a crowd of 5,000 men and presumably even more women and children, had gathered to hear his teaching. The disciples want to send them away – let them go into the nearby villages and towns to find something to eat.
Jesus has another idea though, telling the disciples, you give them something to eat. They immediately think about abundance as money and they don’t have enough. But spiritually, Jesus has more than enough spiritual abundance. And, soon more than 5,000 have enough to eat with 12 baskets left over.
What might it look like to start thinking of abundance in those terms – that we have enough to feed more than 5,000. That we have the gifts of faith and trust, the gift of God’s love to go out and serve in our corner of the world, the gift of grace and mercy that can be extended, and the joy and peace that comes through those gifts. What might our mission and ministry look like if we felt that spiritual abundance every day.
You might recall the story of Black Mountain Presbyterian Church’s spiritual abundance in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The surrounding communities were devastated, but on that next day after the hurricane, members gathered at the church building, removing all the food they had from non-working refrigerators and freezers and cooking it all on gas-powered stoves.
That day they fed anyone who showed up and within the next few days, they were feeding more than 1,000 people per day. Their mission statement is this: “Has everyone been fed?” They became an anchor in disaster relief for their community. Indeed, their spiritual abundance grew and grew every day.
In this time of transition, in this time of living in a broken and fearful world, can we hold onto our spiritual abundance? Can we begin to think about abundance in a very different way from how the outside world thinks of abundance? Can we trust that God has gifted us with spiritual abundance, and if we embrace that, how might we answer the question, “Has everyone been fed?” Lots of questions as always. The invitation is to come and see, and come and explore on Sunday.
Blessings,
Pastor Karen
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[1] https://biblehub.com/topical/s/spiritual_abundance.htm