I've always loved sunset and twilight. As I watch the brilliant colors fill the sky, then fade to a pale light that makes everything seem somewhat unreal, it is definitely sacred time for me. It is a moment when glory breaks through into the ordinary, when the veil between the worlds feels thin.
A few years ago I received a call from a former co-worker of mine in Miami. She and her husband were riding in the car back from her grandmother's funeral. She said she had a religious question to ask me -- surprising to me because from our prior conversations I knew she was not a believer, having given up the Jewish faith in which she was raised. But as they drove west into the setting sun, for a time the sky was spectacular. It was the most glorious sunset she had ever seen, she said. And as she watched it, tears in her eyes, it occurred to her that this could be a message: from her grandmother, from some divine power, telling her that her grandmother was ok; comforting her in her grief. She wanted to know if I thought that was possible. I said absolutely. And I know that for the rest of her life, she will think of that moment as a sacred time. And whenever she sees a beautiful sunset she will think of her grandmother, keeping the memory alive in her heart.
A few days ago I was speaking to my daughter who was home for Thanksgiving. Suddenly I noticed that through the window we could see just the barest edge of the sunset and it looked beautiful. I said, "Look," and she was intrigued enough by that little glimpse that we went out in the front of the house to see the whole thing. It was spectacular. The sky was an amazing shade of orange. And as we watched the colors changed -- morphing and changing, but each beautiful in it's own way. We sat and watched, in awe and blessed companionship, open up to the glory of creation. She tried to take a picture -- but couldn't get one that would do it justice. So she said she was trying to imprint that color in her memory. I expect it will show up in her art one day. It was a sacred time for us of wonder shared and love made manifest across the sky.
As I said, no picture could capture it -- but here is a photograph I found of another glorious sunset. My thanks to the unknown photographer for this gift. I invite you to meditate on it, let it resonate with your own memories of particularly beautiful sunsets. and think about how they too were sacred times. -- Rev. Christine Ng
No comments:
Post a Comment