Wild Abundance

Wild Abundance Commentary by Wesley Vander Lugt Cite Share Show Bible Passage The title of this work, The World Spills, comes from an essay by philosopher Bayo Akomolafe who writes that ‘the world spills in excess of itself’ (Akomalafe 2024). God sets the world firmly on its foundations (Psalm 104:5), but life on and within earth spills over in wild abundance, which the psalmist identifies with the Lord’s manifold works (v.24). The world that spills over abundantly is a world that cannot be controlled by humans. Food from the earth sustains humanity (v.15), but ultimately this is an uncontrollable gift from God (v.14) rather than an inevitable result of human effort and ingenuity. Like all creatures, humans depend on the open-handed God for food and satisfaction (vv.27–28). We do so with the belief that God sends his Spirit to sustain us and to provide abundant gifts (v.30). Or as Samuel Wells has articulated, ‘God gives his people everything they need to worship him, to be his friends, and to eat with him’ (Wells 2006: 1). Stephanie Ann Vander Lugt captures the abundant imagery of Psalm 104 in both the profusely coloured fibres of this work and the way they literally come spilling out of the lower left section of the weaving. From one perspective, this may appear messy and haphazard, especially compared with the neatly emanating spheres in the rest of the work. From another perspective, however, this spillage witnesses to the wild abundance of the world that motivates the psalmist to sing a lifetime of praises to God (v.33). The shape of The World Spills suggests the layers of the earth, while the various colours connote the symbiosis of clouds, flames, water, mountains, soil, and all the creatures who depend on God’s provision and power. References Akomalafe, Bayo. 2024. ‘The Children of the Minotaur: Democracy and Belonging at the End of the World, 7 February 2024’, available at https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/post/the-children-of-the-minotaur-democracy-belonging-at-the-end-of-the-world [accessed 18 March 2025] Wells, Samuel. 2006. God’s Companions: Reimagining Christian Ethics (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing)