Rambling Rector

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From the Rambling Rector

 

A Rock

 

The inspiration for this month was the eclipse that we witnessed in August. It

seemed that the whole country went outside to watch the moon cover the sun

by over 90%, a deep partial solar eclipse. I watched from the Spyway at

Askerswell and was fascinated by the array of self-made viewing equipment

that everybody had brought with them, some more effective than others (my

pin hole box was particularly poor). Everybody was being safe in their viewing

techniques and everybody was sharing their viewing with those around them. The certified

viewing glasses gave the best viewing experience by quite some margin. Some people were

disappointed that the eclipse was not as spectacular as the last solar eclipse, some 25 years

ago; others were amazed at the spectacle. Whatever people’s viewing experience, there was a

buzz everywhere I went for at least a week beforehand.

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A total solar eclipse (which this was not quite) is a feat of creative science. The sun is 400 times

further away than the moon and 400 times bigger. This is why the sun and moon appear the

same size in the sky when they are so different in size and the moon can completely cover the

sun, even blocking out the light completely at a total solar eclipse. That strikes me as a part of

intelligent design, rather than inter-stellar accident. A wonder of creation helps us understand

God as the creator of heaven and earth and the whole universe. God is also involved in the

detail of every human being. A god of the big and the small, the simple and the complex.

It has been commented that just as we became very excited about the spectacular nature of the

eclipse, we easily forget the spectacular in the every day. The latter loses its edge because of its

familiarity. Staying with nature for a moment, just think about the environment in which we live:

our landscape, hills, trees and rivers are all just as amazing. A forest from 400 metres away and

the detail of the bark of a tree from 1 metre away. The symmetry and mathematical patterns of

flowers, the delicate eco-climate that sustains life here on earth, the emotions, feelings and

relations between human beings. The kindness and care from so many people that sustains

society. All of these things can easily be taken for granted and it can be taken away by careless

human beings. Don’t forget to appreciate the everyday.

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When I was a child, we always said grace before meals “for what we are about to receive, may

the Lord make us truly thankful.” I mentioned this at the first harvest service in Broadoak, and it

seemed that the whole congregation knew it better than me! Yet that daily short prayer before a

meal achieves something quite large – an appreciation of the food we eat.

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I sometimes think that the same is true of the church. Many people want the church to be there

in the middle of a rural village (and I fight to keep it alive and active), yet they have lost the

equivalent of saying grace before a meal. Not going to church not only has an affect on its

sustainability in the long term, but also for our appreciation of the world in which we live and all

that we have. Church also has an affect on the long term sustainability of an individual’s spiritual

health.

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We live in an age where everything changes rapidly, world peace seems to be in decline. A

parish church, village community that is simply there, worshipping faithfully each Sunday. A

building that is open for peace and prayer is not an occasional spectacular, but a rock in an

avalanche.

 

Rev Chris

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