“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world. –Psalm 19:1-4
Did you spend some time this past Monday viewing the eclipse? Did you travel to the zone of totality? At the end of our weekly staff meeting, the St. Luke’s staff ventured outside, eclipse glasses in hand, and we spent some time watching the heavenly phenomena taking place. It was a remarkable sight to see.
An eclipse is a truly a wonder. The sun, the moon, and the earth must be in just the right place for this to occur. For us to view the eclipse is even more challenging. Mother nature must corporate as well. Thankfully, there were no clouds that day and we were blessed with great visibility. It is such a rare occasion, and I am glad we were able to take some time to witness this eclipse.
I took note of several things that afternoon, but perhaps the one thing that really caught my attention was not in the sky, but as I looked around. From where we were gathered, you could see down two streets. The sidewalks were filling up with people. Workers were stepping out of their office buildings, and people were standing still to gaze at this spectacle in the sky. I thought to myself, there is not many things that occur that can cause us to stop our business and all look into one direction. It was obvious to me that this natural phenomenon was performing a bit of a miracle as people paused and all focused on the same thing, for just a few moments.
I found great joy in the thought that at this moment we were all witnessing a reminder of the creative power of our God. Long ago, the psalmist wrote of the ability of the sky to teach us about God. just like a great sermon, or a powerful hymn, during that eclipse, “The Heavens” were telling us about our God who spoke all things into existence. “The skies” were broadcasting to everyone who was watching that One who created the world also ordered His creation that now demonstrates how mighty our Heavenly Father truly is. I hope you enjoyed the eclipse. I sure did. It was a beautiful reminder to me that our God is an awesome God.
-Rev. Keith King, Pastor of Worship
