We are told to live not with the notion of scarcity, but in the world of God's abundance. And yet I meet people everyday whose lives are empty. Their reality is scarcity.
It has been said that in this world there is plenty for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed.
The stewardship academy seemed to assume that every person in the United States has more than enough to meet their basic needs. That "even the poorest American is rich by the world's standards." I dispute that. I know some of the poorest Americans who struggle to keep bread on their tables and wonder when they will be evicted from their homes. -- One couple has already been evicted and had to double-up to have a roof over their heads. Another regularly chooses between needed medication and money for rent.
It is true that most of the people I know have extra, or could have extra if they hadn't committed everything they earn and will earn for the next 10 years to pay for what they have.
True stewardship must begin with simplification/alternative living/and not worrying so much about the future. It must begin with the realization that our first priority as God's people is "for the least of these."
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