Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.
~Hafiz

Last night the sun was spreading its love all over the sky. Yesterday we were witness, if we chose to notice, to a partial eclipse of the sun. Here in the Midwest, the light show began a little after seven in the evening and continued on for about an hour. Those who were watching may have noticed how incredibly bright the sun’s rays were. You could not, and should not have, looked directly into its light.

A little after seven my husband and I headed over to the bluff that looks over the river. At the street that runs along this high point, people had already gathered. Several had set up impressive telescopes, the better to view this heavenly phenomenon. As we arrived so did a couple of minivans. Small children unloaded their lawn chairs and spread blankets for their comfort while waiting and playing in between peeks at the sun and the moon dancing together. Several groupings of men stood around the various telescopes talking the lingo of such devices……words like lens, aperture, scope and some numbers were being tossed about with ease. I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about. But I so loved watching the camaraderie they showed one another, how they had all gathered round, friend and stranger alike, to have this common experience.

What surprised me most, I guess, was how gracious and welcoming they were to those of us who only had a lowly piece of paper with a whole poked into it. Our pitiful excuses for eclipse watching learned in an elementary classroom. Those with telescopes invited us to look. “Do you want to see? Just be careful not to move anything.”, they cautioned the novices.

And so I looked. I have never been very good with telescopes or binocular or most things with lenses. Maybe it’s something genetic. It always takes me a long time to find my object and sometimes by the time I do, it has flitted away. But I took my time noticing that this eclipse process moves at a pace for even those of us who are challenged by such gadgets. I adjusted my eye, moved my head back and forth and then side to side, never touching or bumping the finely calibrated scope.

Finally,there it was. The brilliant, shining sun with what looked like a round bite out of it. But it wasn’t a bite at all but the moon making its way into the path of this other sky light. I smiled and shook my head ‘yes’ to the telescope owner who shared in the wonder of the moment with me. I stepped aside so another human could take my spot in the place of awe.

Something about this whole experience touched me deeply. I looked up and down the walkway at the people who had gathered to see this gift of Creation offered without admission. I did not know them when we arrived and I still do not know their names. But for that hour of time we were united in a sacrament of wonder. Unlike our ancestors who must have been terrified by such a sight, we knew what was happening but it didn’t lessen our amazement at it. We stood, tiny in our place on one planet, looking toward the two lights by which we see our days and our nights as they moved and made a shadow play for our pleasure. In all the ways in which we have progressed as upright creatures, in all the brilliant things we have created and produced, we were still, like those ancient ones, filled with awe at the sight of it.

As with every sacrament, I could only say, thanks be to God.