Eclipse

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2

Although our moon often appears very bright in the night sky it projects no light of its own. The brightness we observe is the reflection of our sun’s brilliance onto a surface that is gray, rocky and harsh. The moon’s surface is so unreflective that our eyes only perceive about 11% of the sun’s light that shines upon it.

It is likely that many of you had the awe-inspiring experience of standing in your yards or on your decks recently to witness a unique event – a full lunar eclipse. This occurs when the orbit of our little planet passes on a line directly between our neighbors – the sun and the moon. What we observed was our own shadow. We came between the sun’s light and the moon’s surface.

In this modern age, with so many discoveries catalogued in recent centuries, we are simply educated observers of this remarkable, heavenly event. However, even though we understood what was happening we were still amazed at the magnificent drama playing out before our eyes. Having watched this 90-minute display it is easy to appreciate the dread that a total lunar eclipse caused in the hearts of millions of our ancestors before Copernicus, Kepler and Newton presented rationale, scientific explanations for these occurrences. History records infinite myths from all cultures that attempt to bring acceptable meaning to this momentary loss of the moon. They include wolves, wives, frogs, blood, dragons, spirits of the dead and an assortment of angry and jealous gods and goddesses. It’s amazing how gullible our forebears were! We are so culturally advanced that once the eclipse reached its zenith we were able to go into our bedrooms, turn on our high def televisions and watch ‘Survivor 12,’ ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and ‘America’s Most Smartest Model.’

I have observed that the orbit of my life tends to follow a path that obscures The Light of the World. My sarcasm, distrust, anger, frustration, ego, selfishness, envy, greed, need to be recognized and drive to succeed are poor conductors and reflectors of God’s Love. Rather than being a transparent window opened to the brilliance of God’s redemption I am often a gray, rocky and harsh being casting shadows on those around me. It is easy to appreciate the dread of being a Christian my witness has caused in others.  Oh, that we would learn to allow the Light of the Son to pass through us; that we would set ourselves aside and be willing to become light.