In the midst of this election year or should I say election four years, (it seems no sooner do we elect a president that others start running for the next election), the candidates and their handlers seem to make every issue, every problem, every point one that is do or die. If something is not done about this issue or that issue then life as we know it will cease to exist. In other words every issue seems to be another version of the "Chicken Little" story "The sky is falling!".
This way of looking at life is not only reserved for politics, it seems that in every aspect of life, whether it has to do with culture, politics or religion, those who bang the drum, those who take up the air time, those who call themselves leaders, those who call themselves faithful, seem to echo Chicken Little, "the sky is falling!"
When I look at religious leaders especially in my own church I would have to say we seem to be going through our own "Chicken Little" story concerning religious freedom, health care and issue of obedience, i.e. LCWR and religious life, liturgy, same sex unions, the New Evangalization. Every communication, every statement, every homily or sermon, especially by church leadership seems to announce that the "sky is falling, a tsunami is coming, faith as we know it will end."
Now I have to expect the "sky is falling" approach to life from the world of politics. Which I guess is sad on my part. But it is hard to take most if not all candidates, politicians, seriously. Just listening to the political ads, speeches and interviews, these ladies and gentlemen while their words say otherwise seem to be only out to get themselves elected. They care but they have their own futures at heart, thus twisting, stretching and manipulating the truth, facts and reality and sometimes even lying are all in a days work. They are certainly helped by the elements of a polarizing media, some of whom bang the drum of "the sky is falling" whether there is an election or not, it is just an everyday reality for them. This noise in my life usually goes in one ear and out the other. It doesn't raise my heart rate, it doesn't cause me to act or respond. Life will always be more that politics!
However, I am not as forgiving or as apathetic when it come to religion, faith and my own church. We have been around for 2,000 plus years and the history of the world, the history of the church tells us that there have been many issues, problems, treats, scandals, challenges, disasters and changes that we, humankind and church, have lived through. The challenges of a Great Depression, two World Wars and countless other conflicts in the last century alone makes this point clear and this does not even take into account treats,challenges and changes in faith, religion and church over the same period. Each age has had it struggles some more profound than others. The issues, treats, challenges and changes we face as a culture, society and church today while different are no great, no more challenging, no more critical then the those of years, centuries and ages past. They all, whether past or present, demand thought, consideration, dialogue, discussion, compassion, decision, action and living.
God is the only one who can truly bring the sky to its end. Everything else is the human struggle. Living out this struggle is not always easy, fun or positive. Yet, whatever the challenge, we always come out the other side. There is always a tomorrow, always another day to live unless God says differently. This is our faith, 'that God so loved the world," that is what we believe! It is God who is in control and it is up to God whether or not the "sky falls!" If not the sun comes up, a new day dawns, perhaps not the same as yesterday but we are offered once again the opportunity to live in the grace and presence of God.
In St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians, (Gal 2:1-2, 7-14) the first reading mass the other day, Paul talks about a struggle in the church between those of the Jewish tradition who now follow Jesus and those of the Gentile tradition who now follow Jesus. It is not any easy time for either side as they make they way, However, for Paul the "sky is not falling" it is just a time of change, of challenge, of dialog. As decedents of that early church we are proof that life does go on!
I did some research and there are many versions of the "Chicken Little" story. The most famous ones are those with an unhappy ending where everyone follows Chicken Little's proclamation that the sky is falling and get eaten by the fox. However, in other versions there are happy endings. The other characters do not follow Chicken Little's shouts that the "sky is falling" and go on to live the gift of life.
Let us pray for the wisdom, hope and patience to hear the voice of God in all the often hysterical noise of our time and thus to continue to bring the gift of God's presence to each new day!
