More than 31 million people witnessed the spectacle called Totality--the four minutes when the moon totality blocked the sun as the sun tracked across the United States. It went dark. In that darkness, two truths shone: first, we are not in charge; second, we are not alone.
We are not in charge. No man-made, man-maneuvered, crane was large enough to move the moon across the sky to shadow the earth, to block the sun. No orchestra leader was musical enough to cue the birds to sing in advance of an afternoon nap; zoo giraffes to dance one last dance before settling down before a midday night, and flamingos to flock together to ward off their usual nocturnal predators. No HVAC engineer had the faculty to set a continental thermostat to cool down the earth 5 to 15 degrees in the path of totality under clear and cloudy skies from Eagle Pass, Texas to Bangor, Maine. The Creator of creation orchestrated all this--what man could never do. Totality revealed the sovereignty of God. We needed to be reminded that we are not in charge.
What natural revelation demonstrated this week, special revelation—God’s holy writ--has always doubled down, that the Almighty One is in control:
"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differ from another star in glory." 1 Cor.15:41
“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13
“All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?” Daniel 4:35
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21
Lesson two from “Totality” is this: we are not alone. We are the community of man. The path of totality across North America traversed 15 U.S. states—Blue States, Red States. Approximately 31.6 million people’s eyes were fixed on the sky as darkness and silence fell like a curtain. For four minutes, no one asked of the person next to them: what is your race, what is your color, what is your sexual orientation, your nationality, your faith? There was a totality of humanity. Guns were quiet, rhetoric was an unspoken peace, punctuated only with oohs and awes. Shalom, palpable.
When we all look up, are we not in the best position to see our community because of our parentage?
“Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?” Malachi 2:10
The eclipse event this week was the totality of two things: of God and man. We saw it; we felt the temperature between our selves drop. But we needed help of an external lens to cover our eyes to filter out the harmful, so we could see we are not in charge, and we are not alone. What happened had a spiritual precedence, how we must look at God and each other. It involved not a sun, but “The Son.” Christ was asked, “What is the greatest law? In essence, He was asked: what should be the ruling gravity of our humanity, our spirituality, the orbit of our obedience?
He answered, “First, love God who first loved you, who planned and purposed the Genesis 3:16 Seed of a woman to crush the head of the snake, so sin would not have sovereignty, that death would have no indebtedness over our eternity; that no one would be lost “for God so loved the world, He gave his Son. Love was the lens God put on mankind’s destiny. So, put on the lens of love and see God for who He is, not as an angry ogre, a terrible tyrant, an egomaniac, a merciless bully. He is love.
Secondly, Christ said of the greatest law: Love is a lens over man’s obligation to man. We are a community of love. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So, be patient, kind, unprideful, free of judgmentalism; not prone to keep score, but to keep each other’s concerns ahead of our own; to forgive as you want to be forgiven; to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, house the homeless.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15:12:
Do to others as you would have them do to you. Corinthians 16:14:
Do everything in love. Luke 6:31
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17:
Now abides three moons: love, faith, hope, these three. The greatest of these is love. Let love be your glasses to see and not be harmed and a harm to each other.
The totality is this: We are not in charge. God is. God is sovereign. What is revealed in creation is true from time before time: “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Col. 116-17
Secondly, we are not alone. We are community of humanity.
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! Psalms 133:1
Darkness has a way of being more revealing than light. I witnessed a profound moment of darkness several weeks ago. It’s not the light, but the darkness that reveals.
A transformer blew at the school where I sub. The lights went out like an eclipse during the second period class. It didn’t take long for true colors to come out. Students started cracking on each other. First there were ‘momma’ jokes, then one student revealed himself. “Jamar, where you at? Can’t see you man.” (Jamar was not his real name). He is one of a handful of black students in an all-white school. “I can’t see you, Batman. Jarmar where you at? It’s too black.” Jamar has been a classmate since elementary. That morning, the whole class laughed, except one. The jokester, hidden by the darkness, had his day. I immediately put a stop to it. “Not another word. You’ve gone too far. You’re close to going over the line.” You idiot! The lights finally came back on, but the damage was done. In the darkness, classmates showed themselves. What they would not say in the light was revealed in the dark. I saw Jamar the next day. “I’m sorry that happened to you.” He said, “No problem. I’m over it.” His eyes said differently. The hurt had been done. At an early grade, he had learned to live with his classmates, to stuff it to get along. This blackout revealed what he already knew.
In four minutes of darkness totality, God has totally revealed himself this week. Don’t let this cosmic spectacle eclipse these two truths. Love God. Love each other. Jamar’s experience is evidence that we have much to learn.
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