Have you ever watched hummingbirds? My recent retreat was in silence so during meals I would look out the window at the hummingbird feeder: small birds but beautiful to look at with the ruby collar and the iridescent feathers and acrobatic flying who would make any stunt pilot envious with their ability to start, stop, hover at will. I was enchanted. Then I was horrified because I noticed that their choreographed flights were not playful antics but aggressive bullying. One bird, not discernibly bigger or faster than the others, was preventing the others from coming to the feeder. I called him Arnold, all three ounces of him. A bird would approach the feeder and Arnold would chase him away. Three or four other birds would come and have a quick taste before Arnold came back and chased them away. Then he would sit on a branch and dare the next bird to try. The pattern would repeat. This went on the whole time while I was eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I presume all day. Arnold, it seems, was guilty of what economists call zero sum thinking: if you get more, I get less. Arnold did not want less so he kept the other birds away. I wanted to tell him that there was plenty for all. The Sisters came out every day to replenish the bird feeder. But Arnold just kept up his bullying ways.
We can contrast Arnold’s zero sum thinking with a word from the epistle for today: “Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow.” Sugared water might be a zero sum game but grace is about overflowing abundance bestowed on more and more people, plenty for all. When you think about God you have to think in terms of abundance. There are about 10 billion galaxies in the observable universe. The number of stars in a galaxy varies, but assuming an average of 100 billion stars per galaxy means that there are about 1 billion trillion (that’s 1 with 21 zeros after it) stars that we know of. On Earth the best guestimates are that a total of 8.7 million species live on the planet. Of that number there are more than 10,000 species of beetles. God must love beetles. And that is not even counting the fact that more than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth have died out. T. Rex has a lot of company. The best guess is there are 37.2 trillion, that’s with a “T,” cells in your body about 300 million of which die every minute. (So how come I’m not losing weight?) You get the idea. God is all about abundance, profusion, plenty, copiousness.
Zero sum thinking is a human temptation. Look at the mother of our patron, St. James. She wanted the biggest piece of the pie for her boys and devil take the hindmost. There’s only so many seats at the table and I want the best ones. I got mine. Sorry about you. The gospel writer says that “when the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers.” They weren’t indignant that the brothers were looking to hog the plate. They were indignant because their mothers didn’t get their first to claim their share. Hey, what about me. Jesus teaches them they need to change zero sum thinking. It’s not about getting, it’s about giving since there is enough and more than enough. “Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life.”
What about us? Do we think like a hummingbird or do we believe in God’s abundance? We know that St. James eventually got it. He experienced God’s abundant grace and gave himself into serving. As an apostle he traveled to the edge of the known world bringing the gospel according to legend. We don’t need to go to the edge but can stay in Chicago because there is need of the gospel right in our homes and neighborhoods. But we do need to decide whether we are going to use zero sum thinking – I have to get mine – or abundance thinking, that what God gives is meant to be shared. What might that look like in the concrete?
Take time, for example. If there is one thing that seems in short supply it’s time. There are never enough hours in the day to get all the things done that need to get done. So maybe time is one thing we can hoard and parcel out sparingly. But God gives abundantly and there is always time enough to let a child know how special they are. There is always time enough to say a consoling word to someone who is hurting. There is always time enough to find your quiet place to spend in prayer with the God who loves you. You see, Church, God gives us eternity so we can certainly spend the time that we have sharing love with the people woven into our lives.
Well, the talents I have are certainly limited, no big deal. No great abundance there. But if I can drive and bring someone to Church with me; if I can listen and call someone who is shut in; if I can visit and bring Holy Communion to the homebound; if I can help stuff a basket with groceries God can take that little bit and multiply it thirty, sixty, a hundredfold until there is an abundance.
Well, if there is one thing I am sure of it’s that we don’t have an abundance of treasure. Just ask the bill collector. But do you remember the story of the magic penny? When you give the magic penny away with love, you always end up having more. The magic penny of love multiplies and grows so that pretty soon pennies are rolling all over the floor. If you hold onto it the magic penny just stays a penny. But if you give it away, abundance.
The challenge: are we going to be like Arnold, the hummingbird and guard our stash or act like the God of the billion trillion stars. Happy Feast Day, St. James.
