Chicken Little Theology

May 1, 2022

Pastor Brandon’s sermon this morning was taken from Acts 9:1-6, the story of Paul’s conversion. His theme was how God chooses unlikely people through unlikely circumstances for his purposes. But what really caught my attention was his text not from the Bible, but from Chicken Little.

“The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Most of us know the story; it’s a folk tale that is true to life as we know it. For the past three years we’ve listened to talking heads from every tv or computer screen crying out with rabid alarm, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” Those aren’t their exact words, of course, but their theme is identical—“The world is coming to an end! Climate Change! Racism! Covid! Democracy is in danger!—The world is coming to an end!” They prey upon people’s fears and ignorance in order to manipulate and control. 

This is not to say we do not face real problems, but I’ve been around long enough to remember when the same people who are shedding crocodile tears over climate change said the world was going to face another ice age. That was before the ice caps were going to melt and flood every coastal city. Doomsday prophets are a dime a dozen; the sky is falling. But what if we change our perspective? Instead of the sky falling, maybe heaven is getting closer.

What if all the things about which we fret and worry about are God’s way of tapping us on the shoulder, trying to get our attention? Maybe instead of perseverating over all the bad things that could happen, we should listen to God calling us to himself. Wouldn’t it be a kick in the teeth of the media moguls if instead of cowering in fear like Chicken Little, eager to bow before any of the schemes the high and mighty have for the peons of this world, we were to say, “No, the sky isn’t falling; heaven is getting closer.”