Are you ready for the solar eclipse this coming Monday?

Here in the Boston area, we’ll be seeing a partial solar eclipse.  We’ll witness some sky darkening, but not a total eclipse.  For that, you need to go north to New York, Vermont, or Quebec as several of you have said you will be doing!

A solar eclipse is, of course, when the moon passes directly in front of the sun.  During a total eclipse, the sun’s rays are blocked out entirely for about 4 minutes and it can be quite dramatic.

It is that drama of a total eclipse that has caused many Christians throughout history (and even today) to attach ominous foreboding to the event.  Eclipses have long been thought to convey the judgment of God or bad omens for people and societies.

While I don’t share that view, I do think that a solar eclipse is an occasion to reflect on the handiwork of God in the cosmos and, by extension, in our day to day lives.

For example, the reason that eclipses are possible is because the sun’s diameter is about 400 times greater than the moon, and the sun is also 400 times farther from the earth than the moon is. As a result, the two appear to be about the same size.  When the moon passes in front of the sun, they seem to fit together.

That makes sense but it is also a huge “coincidence,” wouldn’t you say?  How is this size-match-up between objects that are nowhere near the same size possible?  Hmmmm…

Also, we know when every future eclipse will be.  So did every ancient civilization.  They are completely predicable.  One might even say that such predictability reflects an “ordered” universe; one that bears the hallmarks of a greater hand at work.  Again, Hummmm…

Scripturally, the most profound solar eclipse in the bible for us Christians occurred during the crucifixion of Christ:

“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed…” (Luke 23:44-45)

That’s a really long eclipse, but it does indicate that God was at work in the event given that it coincided with Jesus’ death.

So from a faith perspective, what do eclipses tell us?  They are certainly not bad omens.  In fact, just the opposite.  They are a reminder that the universe we inhabit is not random place but a created place.  It is a place where things beyond the chaos of our lives and society are ordered and predictable because the universe is the handiwork of God.

Additionally, in light of the crucifixion eclipse, they tell us that God’s love eclipses human failings and pain.  They tell us that God’s compassion is in alignment with every moment of hardship, violence and ugliness in the human experience with a redemptive, resurrection power.

Far from being a weird coincidence, solar eclipses tell us that when the darkness comes, we can be assured that the light always returns.

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic