by Cathy Vinson

In the ignited atmosphere preceding the two miraculaous feedings, Jesus makes one consistent requirement of the people: have them sit down. It wasn't a question of anointing being present, the crowd had to be in a posture to receive, and this meant sitting.

While God offers to feed us miraculously from His treasures of wisdom, will we sit? Will we wait and take a moment to submit to His presence? Can we, or must we rush onto the next thing? Perhaps this is the calamity of our souls in this time.

One of the most influential theologians of this half of the century, German Jurgen Moltmann, accurately explains our plight: "Although the world offers us unlimited possibilities, our own lifespans are short. Hence, many people panic because they think they might miss something, and thus they accelerate the tempo of their lives. The difference between lifespan and world possibilities seduces us into a 'race with time.' We want to gain more from time so we can get more from life and, precisely, in so doing we miss life. We believe that only the person who lives faster gets more out of this short life....

"The experience of the presence of the eternal God brings our own temporal life as if into an ocean that surrounds and supports us when we swim in it...We become calm and composed, and we begin to live slowly and with enjoyment. Only the person who lives slowly gets more from life! Only the person who eats and drinks slowly eats and drinks with enjoyment. Slow food; slow life. Only the person who is extremely rich can waste time. A person who is certain of eternal life has a great deal of time."

Matthew 14:19; 15:35