Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021
Norfield’s Senior Minister reflects on the Bible Verse of the Day: “Feeding our Flock, One Scripture at a Time!”
Isaiah 45:12
God, says: “…I made earth, and I created humans [and all living things] to live on it. I handcrafted the skies and direct all the constellations in their turnings.”
The “Pale Blue Dot” is a photograph of Earth taken on February 14, 1990, by NASA’s Spacecraft, Voyager 1 at a distance of 3.7 billion miles from the Sun. Please take a moment to find that Pale Blue Dot in the image above.
The image inspired the title of planetary scientist, and astrophysicist (among other things) Carl Sagan’s book, “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,” in which Sagan wrote*:
“We succeeded in taking that picture, and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you know, everyone you love, everyone you’ve ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines. Every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
There is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish this pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known. Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.”*
Take a moment to reflect on Sagan’s words. They are a reminder that the earth belongs to God who, “…created humans [and all living things] to live on it.” and we have simply been entrusted with its care. “Wouldn’t we care for it better if we recognized how small we are compared to the universe?” “Wouldn’t we treat each other better, more kindly, more respectfully, if we understood how dependent we are on each other?” “Wouldn’t our compassion spread for one another if we grasped how unique God has made us?” The more we explore the universe, the clearer it becomes how much we need each other and more importantly how much we need the God who created us one and all.
Today’s Prayer:
Help us remember how great you are o, God, so that we might care for the gift of this planet and one another. Amen!
*Excerpt from Carl Sagan, commencement address delivered May 11, 1996.
*For those who have a special pastoral prayer request, please email Rev. Wilson at revbrwilson@optonline.net.
Be Safe,
Be Well,
Don’t forget to Pray,
and Keep the Faith!
The Rev
