October 28, 2014
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
I have to admit being initially disappointed by last Thursday’s partial solar eclipse. I had eagerly anticipated something more apocalyptic, along the lines of Moses vs. Pharoah, or A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. But at 4:30, I looked out my living room window and saw nothing but normal daylight. I even went outside to look at the sun directly.
Whoops. That was a mistake.
With my eyes still squinting from sun shock, I drove to the middle school to pick up the girls. A small crowd had gathered in the parking lot, next to the van from the Sanford Museum and Planetarium. They had set up a “Solar Eclipse Watch Party” for the public, and I started to walk over to express my condolences. “Bummer of an eclipse,” I was prepared to tell them.
But Linda Burkhart, the director of the museum, saw me and waved me over. “Want to come take a look?” she asked excitedly. Take a look at what? At a non-event? I glanced up at the sun to see if anything had changed.
Oops, I did it again.
Partially blinded once more, I stumbled over to their table and noticed they had set up some contraption. It was called a solar scope, a fancy version of the shoebox pinhole reflector that we learned to make as kids. Sunlight entered a small orange tube that protruded through a large cardboard box, then reflected off a convex mirror near the base. The reflected image bounced onto a large display area on the box lid.
There was no mistaking what I was looking at on the display of the solar scope. It was an impressive image of the partial eclipse, perfectly rendered to show even the sun spots in the center of the sun. I could hardly believe what I was looking at. I instinctively glanced up at the sun again, for the third (and, thankfully, final) time. Then I stared at the reflection, and realized details I couldn’t possibly capture with my naked eye.
The partial eclipse was happening, after all. I just needed the aid of a reflective device to enjoy it without hurting myself.
When my girls finally came out of the school, I yelled to them. “Look, girls! It’s the partial eclipse! Look up at the sun!”
“Right. Whatever, Dad,” Grace said. “We’re not dumb.” They walked straight over to the solar scope and enjoyed the show, proving once again a capacity for common sense that sometimes eludes their old man.
ALL SAINTS’ SUNDAY
Once again, I have this irresistible urge to translate an experience into a sermon illustration. When I looked at the sun’s reflected image through the solar scope, I remembered one of my favorite quotes by theologian and author G. K. Chesterton.
In his biography of St. Francis, Chesterton described the venerable saint as “the mirror of Christ rather as the moon is the mirror of the sun. The moon is much smaller than the sun, but it is also much nearer to us; and being less vivid it is more visible. Exactly in the same sense Saint Francis is nearer to us, and being a mere man like ourselves is in that sense more imaginable. Being necessarily less of a mystery, he does not, for us, so much open his mouth in mysteries.”
I love Chesterton’s description, not just of St. Francis, but of all the saints who have gone before us. They are for us what the moon is to the sun: a glimpse of the sun’s radiance, in a form that we can comprehend. To consider the fullness of God’s glory, given our limited and finite capacity, would be like staring directly in the sun. It would offer us little benefit, and it might even cause us harm.
So we turn to the saints, that grand collection of spiritual ancestors whose faithfulness and example pave the way for our own life of faith. Sainthood is not a concept that gets used regularly in Protestant circles; we often leave it up to our Catholic siblings to talk about canonization and feast days for the saints. But the letter to the Hebrews makes it clear that those who have finished the course before us comprise a “great cloud of witnesses” that can encourage us with perseverance and faith.
This Sunday, we will have our annual All Saints’ Sunday celebration, where we will begin the worship service honoring the members of our church who have died since last November. We will name them, light a candle in their memory, ring a bell in their honor, and stand in solidarity with their life and legacy. It is always one of the most moving moments in our worship life together, and you will want to be part of it.
Together let us give thanks for these saints, who are a reflection of God’s glory to us all.
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
Email: mdevega@sp-umc.org
INGATHERING THIS SATURDAY
Join us at the parking lot of Western Iowa Tech this Saturday morning to help with the Iowa Annual Conference’s Ingathering effort. Just a few hours of effort with sorting, counting, and packaging materials will make a huge difference to people in need all around the world.
FALL BACK THIS WEEKEND
As a reminder, be sure to set your clocks an hour back this Saturday night, as we return to standard daylight time.
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