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| "Pacific Currents" by Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast,
Conference Minister, September, 2000 Under the Expansive August Skies
Late August is awesome in my book. Whether that "book" is my hefty calendar with odd papers protruding and making unseemly dives to the floor, or a journal crammed with memories and observations, late August is awesome. On August 24, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr's voice rang across the mall and the reflecting pool in Washington, D.C., setting in motion a sonic wave that still resonates within our souls, "I have a dream." On August 26, 1920, U.S. women were granted the right to vote: a celebration of the political recognition of the God-given magnitude of humanity. Big moments under the expansive August skies. This August 24th my husband and I marked the 25th anniversary of our ordinations to the Christian ministry. We also watched the Perseid meteor showers. Roger wrote about that astronomic display, "When the sky comes alive, when a small particle of dust enters the earth's atmosphere at 10,000 miles an hour and puts on its magnificent show, there aren't words for the way my heart goes." We are such infinitesimal specks amid the galaxy. "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?" [Ps. 8] Maybe, for our Creator, we humans are the particles of dust who careen and carom through the atmosphere. Maybe God responds to our question, "When all y'all put on your magnificent show, there just aren't words for the way my heart goes." Late August is big time. A time for marveling. About the heavens and our own trajectories through the cosmos. Crickets string iridescent beads of song in the stillness.Marvelous Cygnus stretches overhead, soaring amid the wistful delicacy of pastel nebulae. Bright Vega, modestly hugging the horizon just weeks ago as summer's harbinger, now strides to the pinnacle of the firmament. Timeless night. In a world that rotates much too rapidly, Hurtling years and seasons past us recklessly This jeweled darkness extends respite, reprieve. O give thanks to the God of Gods, whose steadfast love endures forever, who alone does great wonders, who by understanding made the heavens, who spread out the earth on the waters, who made the great lights, the moon and the starts to rule over the night... This celestial silent beauty orchestrates a momentary harmony within our cluttered human lives. Peering over the edge of the Milky Way, we cannot bother to be disturbed by our tiny-ness. Instead we grow in boldness, knowing we dwell among the stars. O give thanks to the God of gods, whose steadfast love endures forever. ~ Mary Susan |
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