On The Other Hand

In the musical, "Fiddler On The Roof,"  Tevya displays a beautiful and very real relationship with God.  He carries on a conversation with God throughout the story saying, "Dear God, on the one hand....then on the other hand..."  In this way he prays through the various problems and decisions of his life, seeing both sides of the issue before making his choice.  Until his third daughter informs him that she is going to marry a Gentile, and he says to God, "There is no other hand."

How difficult, but at the same time how critical, it is to see all sides to any situation.  When making decisions concerning our life, whether personal, communal, political, ecclesial, business or whatever, it is so important to realize that there are various ways of looking at the question under discussion.

Many of the "hot button" issues of our world deserve discussing, airing all sides so that intelligent and informed decisions can be made.  Whether we are talking about involvement in war in Iraq or Afghanistan, tax cuts for this group or that, stem cell research, abortion, same sex marriage, the relation of Islam to terrorists, or whatever other concern you carry, there is a need to hold in depth discussions in order to grasp the full implications of all aspects of those issues.  Only when we have set aside our preconceived judgments and conclusions, entered into honest dialog under the guidance of the Spirit in an atmosphere of prayer can we hope to arrive at some sort of peace and harmony in our torn world.  Maybe, in some cases, like Tevya, we will come to the conclusion that "there is no other hand".  But that cannot be the starting place.

If this season of Christmas shows us anything, it is that God will go to any extreme to bring forgiveness, peace and healing to our broken world.  But God needs our consent and cooperation to get it accomplished at this time in history.