By the Way: Awe-filled and thankful for the humbling show

By Medicine Hat News on September 9, 2017.

Our family made the trip down to southern Idaho so that we would be in the path of the moon’s shadow during the eclipse on Aug. 21. We camped in the small town of Arco and met people from all over. The town pretty much shut down for the morning of the eclipse, and there was a gathering in the town park so that people could watch it together. We couldn’t have asked for better weather — it was hot and there was not a cloud in the sky.

Partial eclipses are cool — you look up with your eclipse glasses on and see a bite taken out of the sun. But that doesn’t even come close to the experience of totality. The big moment happened around 11:30 a.m. About 20 minutes before we could start to feel that it was getting cooler, like the cool breezes you feel around sunset. We could also tell that the light was changing — things just started to look weird, and shadows were more pronounced. And then all of a sudden, it’s like the lights just went out. The sky turned this beautiful deep blue and around the jet black disk of the moon was the sun’s corona. I’ve seen pictures of it but they don’t do it justice. It was so brilliantly white, and it almost looked like individual threads coming out from the sun in all directions. And the horizon in every direction looked like it does at sunset, orangey-red. It was just all so beautiful.

And people just naturally started cheering and clapping. And then in what was the fastest minute and a half of my whole life, it was all over, the moon moved a little bit more, and we naturally looked away because it was bright again. It was done. I get it now why people travel to chase eclipses around the world.

To spend a minute and half in the moon’s shadow is a good dose of humility. I was reminded that the universe does not belong to me. I had this overwhelming sense of awe, that there was nothing that I could do that could stop what was happening. I also had this sense of wonder that the beauty of sun is hidden from us, except in these brief moments where the moon gets in the way. And as much as I would liked to have had it last longer, or be in a more convenient location, there’s nothing I can do to make that happen either.

We throw the word awesome around for practically everything. The eclipse was one of those moments when I really was awe-filled, a truly awesome event: awe of creation, awe of God, our creator, awe of being a creature in a wondrous universe. In that humility I’m thankful I got to enjoy the show. That minute and a half truly is priceless.

Rev. Jeff Decelle is pastor at Unity Lutheran Church.

7
-6