Eclipsing Christ

One of my favorite movies as a child was “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Later, I read the original book of the same name by Mark Twain. As a home educator, I used it for teaching both American Literature and Science. It is the story of an accidental time traveler from the 1880’s, the Connecticut Yankee, who somehow finds himself lost in ancient Britain. In one incident he uses an eclipse to astound King Arthur and get out of a sticky situation. He was able to predict it, which made him seem magical, and he became a rival to the King’s magician Merlin. In his own time, he was an engineer and had learned about this eclipse in his studies.

Eclipses are like that, magical but predictable, sometimes filled with foreboding and sometimes awe-inspiring, sometimes spiritual. The recent Great American Eclipse was no exception. Many people made doomsday predictions, which seems to be the norm for natural events such as this. We are still here. But on the other hand, it did occur between the Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Jewish remembrance of Passover. For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it also happened just three days following the anniversary of the founding of the Church in 1830, and at the time of their spring general conference. It is also the season in which many people believe Christ was actually born.

A favorite YouTube channel of mine, called “Navajo Traditional Teachings” recently did an episode entitled “Native American (Navajo) Beliefs About The Eclipse.” I found it very enlightening despite the fact the subject was about the darkening of the Sun (pun intended). The speaker talked about the Navajo belief that an eclipse reminds us that everything we are or touch or see or hear, or experience, everything on the earth, depends on the sun for life. It is a symbol of the father of us all. When the light is taken away, it is if he has died. Without the Sun, there is no Life. The followers of the traditional Navajo ways will stay in their homes during an eclipse, sitting in quiet reverence for the duration. Some will softly sing appropriate traditional songs or say prayers which remind them of the sacredness of the event. He says much more in a far more beautiful way than I can, but this is enough to show their basic understanding of the spiritual side of an eclipse.

I experienced the 2017 eclipse with one of my sons and two of my grandsons. We went up on a ridge overlooking the valley where we lived and set up a telescope with a piece of paper and cardboard, ready to try viewing it through a pinhole. We were not as successful as we would have liked to have been, but we had a good time being outdoors in the fresh air. I would say fresh air and sunshine, but there wasn’t quite as much sunlight as usual. The sky only darkened about 80% at our location. A slight breeze came up, it cooled us off a bit, and our voices naturally quieted down. We didn’t hear any birds or movement around us. It was as if nature took a pause to catch its breath before gathering momentum as the light fully returned.

As I thought about this year’s event, my personal experience with an eclipse, and the many things written or spoken about it all, a few things came to mind.

First, all nature including humanity are intimately connected in ways we cannot fully understand. It would benefit us to contemplate this connectedness and consider if we can make better choices in our personal lives to improve the relationship between ourselves and the natural world.

Second, the entirety of the eclipse is about 2.5 hours. The length of the totality is only about 4 minutes. This reminds me that our life on this planet is but a small moment in time and we should try to live our best life at peace with ourselves and others, as far as humanly possible in a fallen world.

Third, as Christians, perhaps we should pause and reflect that once upon a Passover in ancient Jerusalem, the light of Christ was darkened as he suffered in Gethsemane and on Golgotha. Three days later his tomb was empty, and the light began to shine in the hearts of Mankind once again. It is definitely worth a few minutes of my time to ponder the meaning of His Life and be more thoughtful as to how I live mine.

Ultimately, Christ is the reason for this season, for all seasons, for all natural wonders, and for life itself. The world could be much worse, but even if it is, Christ provides us a place to put our Hope and our Faith. This is my faith and I'm sticking to it.

Karen Murray is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints experiencing life as a wife, mother, family historian, author, and political activist.