My friends, during this past week with the experience of traveling to, and seeing the total eclipse of our sun by our moon, a phenomenon that can only happen at certain times and places because the ratio of size, one to another, and the distance between the two being, “just right” as to make this possible; I found that this particular experience fits well into the mystery of the Easter Season. Let me explain.
I have often spoken about Jesus’ human experience being more about letting us know how much our God loves us than about the “old theology” of Jesus’ coming to “save us from our sins.” Simply put, Jesus’ coming and living our human existence was really about showing us “the way” to do this well—in other words, attempting to be our best. And when more people than not, are in fact, attempting to be their best, life is really better for everyone.
So, above, as I suggested, that what we experienced in the total eclipse of the sun by the moon, fits well into the Easter mystery, I need to tell you in a bit more detail, exactly what we experienced.
We knew that we wanted to pick a spot, and for us, this was near the Illinois/Indiana border, where we would be alone so as to hear all the sounds, and lack of sounds during a total eclipse. From a previous experience of total darkness during an eclipse in 2017, we knew that birds and other creatures react to this phenomenon of nature in certain ways. And such was the case this time too. As the light became “dusky” at near totality at 2pm in the afternoon, frogs in the area ponds began to croak as they usually do at nightfall, and the birds that had been singing, ceased their song.
At totality there was the “diamond flash” that we have all heard about and the circle of light around our “black” moon, and total darkness across the land except for the light on the horizon over 50 miles away. It was an awesome, emotional experience for us that we will never forget, witnessing these stellar shapes that regulate our very existence, so beautifully—in a way, we might say—being a piece of their best selves! The 2017 eclipse that we experienced, while wonderful, happened for us in a cloudy sky, so the view wasn’t as spectacular as this 2024 one was for us!
And then there was the fact that so many traveled, as we did, 100s of miles to witness and experience this awesome event! Our trip home took considerably longer as we experienced a 100-mile section where we were bumper-to-bumper—cars out front and behind us as far as the eye could see. One might look at this and be irritated, but we finally realized that it was part of the experience, and it wasn’t able to “extinguish” what we had experienced in the eclipse.
The ability my friends, to rise above our day-to-day, often mundane lives, looking for the profound in the ordinary is what truly makes us “Easter people.” We can get stuck in the “salvation story” of Jesus being sent by a vengeful God to make reparation for our sinful lives, and when, this God, “He” does, we can sing, “alleluia,” or we can rise above our earthly existence to see the glory of our loving God in celestial creations, in our family members and friends, and in the love of our God for us—in sending Jesus who has shown us the way to become our best selves.
All the readings today carry that overall theme of “being our best selves” –basically telling us that this should be our personal life’s work. John’s 1st letter selection today says it well, and I paraphrase, [God’s love comes to perfection in the person who obeys God’s words]. Peter, in his words in Acts, recounts for his listeners how they have failed in the past, and he basically forgives them for what he names as their, “ignorance,” and encourages them now, to begin again, and to become their best. He goes on to tell them that if they do this, “all the families of the earth will be blessed” [in their offspring].
In conclusion my friends, I wanted to mention a public TV presentation this past week that basically explored what our future on planet earth could look like. I know when I first read the title and the explanation, I found myself thinking, “Oh, this can’t be good!”
We ended up watching it anyway and found that my 1st impression was wrong. The presenter, Ari Wallach, described how our present existence leaves many of us feeling that “something just isn’t right” –that we are, “between times,” looking, hoping perhaps for something better. Now, we all know that there are many reasons that we might feel that “something isn’t right” in the here and now –from our relationships with others, within families and nations, climate change, and protecting our beautiful earth, politics, religion and more.
Now, amid all this, Wallach says, just because our cities, for instance, aren’t necessarily “people-friendly,” with too much concrete, and too little “green space” doesn’t mean that in future we can’t come up with something better. Computer-generated images then showed more pleasant building shapes with curves rather than straight lines, with all kinds of green plants nestling up along the sides, less cars, more bikes, and so on.
It struck me my friends that the “something” or “some things” that aren’t right, are in our hands to change, if we have the will to do so! Can we do it alone? No! –but we can do our part! That is what the “letter-writing group” each week is all about, as an example.
The Easter story is all about our God first loving us, with the expectation that we will love God in return, and show that love by loving and caring for others, our beautiful world, not only for ourselves, but for those who come after us. That’s the Easter story and if we can do our part, as did Jesus, continuing his work, then, “alleluia” can truly be our song! It’s all about “love,” about something ultimately bigger than ourselves—about seeing the splendor, the awesome, in the every day, and continually working toward a world shared by all, for all. Amen? Amen! Alleluia!
All Are One Church 