Dear Faith Family,
Monday afforded us a surreal experience. For a few moments, "the world was wrong." The sun, gone, but not set. The sky blue, while in the dark. Stars and planets shining, in the daytime. Birds and squirrels quieted (at least in our neighborhood) while crickets sang a midafternoon song. Words cannot do justice to the oddity and wonder of those brief minutes of total eclipse. Nor can I adequately describe how amazingly the world was put right at just a sliver of the sun's return.
Abruptly, we went from dusk to midday—no gradual dawning. The deep blue instantaneously transitioned to bright blue. Immediately, distant stars and planets returned to their invisible orbit. Crickets quieted in the blink of an eye, and the "normal" bustle in the trees returned to normal. And just like that, it was over. In truth, there was still nearly an hour before the view of the sun would be wholly unobstructed by the moon. Yet, if you're like me, the "return to right" meant a return to the day's labors.
It seems that Annie Dillard's experience of the 1979 total eclipse concluded, like many of ours,
"One turns at last even from glory itself with a sigh of relief.
From the depths of mystery, even from the heights of splendor,
we bounce back and hurry for the latitudes of home."
But what if we didn't rush back? What if, instead of hurrying back from the glory, mystery, and splendor we had witnessed, we took a moment to stay, to dwell in the wonder of what we had seen? What if we allowed the awe of the extraordinary to shape everything we do to make a life in the ordinary?
That's the question we asked on Sunday. While what happened during Monday's eclipse was amazing, it wasn't the most "end-of-the-world-like" happenings during daytime darkness (check out Matthew 27:45-54!). Nor was Monday's instantaneous "return to right" the most dazzling (check out Matthew 28:1-10!). How "fortunate" for us that Monday's experience was in such close proximity to Easter weekend's remembering the Light of the world (John 8:12) covered for a moment in the darkness of death only to instantly return to right the world as the resurrection and Life (John 11:25).
Staying awhile in the wonder of what we've seen and experienced in Easter so that we might make life good will be our collective encouragement over the next six weeks. If you missed Sunday, I'd encourage you to listen to the sermon here to catch up on the conversation and to ground our shared rhythms and practices during our extended gaze.
For today, may the words of John the Beloved allow us to stay longer in the glory, mystery, and splendor of the Son, dead and alive forevermore.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us,
that God sent his only Son into the world,
so that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loves us
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sin…
So we have come to know and to believe
the love that God has for us.
God is love,
and whoever abides in love abides in God,
and God abides in them.
(1 John 4:9-10, 16)
Love you, faith family! God bless.