The Moon Sings His Praises
Part of this was originally written Sept. 29, 2001
Tonight is nearly a full moon. After a beautiful cloudless day with a high in the low 70s, tonight is cool, clear and absolutlely autumnal. The light pierces through the trees leaving patches of cool blue-white on the ground. I can actually see the glare of the moonlight on my skin.
What is there about clear nights with a full moon that so transfixes us? We are always amazed at how bright it is. It feels magical and otherworldly, possibly supernatural. It is a paradox: it is nighttime, midnight, yet under a clear sky we can see plainly. There are well defined shadows; the Sun is gone yet we see a radiant disc of sunlight above us. The viel which normally covers our eyes, or rather that we cover our eyes with, is forcibly removed. We can see a magnificence in creation which we normally ignore. Our Divine sight is brought into focus and the normal metaphors given to darkness and night do not apply on these nights. We see beauty where normally we see the frightening unknown.
The sermon today was about the Traditional (re: Orthodox) world view that says that all of creation sings out in praise of God. Not metaphorically or symbolically, but actually. If we had eyes to see and ears to hear, we would recognize the chorus of the rocks and the praises of the trees. The full moon tonight was singing praises and I could almost hear it, or at least I imagined I heard it. Either way, between the butterfly this afternoon (see previos post) and the moon tonight, there is no doubt that God created the Universe and said that is was Good.
[Post script: It was a great sermon (and long in the good Southern way) and I will post a link when it is online.]
The first time I ever received the thought that creation cries out for God’s redemption was when I was studying in a program called “The Bethel Series” put out by the Lutherans in Wisconsin. I always knew about creation worshipping God, but not that creation cries for redemption.
While driving home from Pittsburgh last night, the moon was incredibly beautiful. The way its rays illuminated the edges of the clouds reminded me of what it must have been like for Moses to hide behind a rock when God showed His back to Moses.
Thank you for your thoughts Raphael. As always, worth reading and pondering.