Heavens Above!

Starry, starry nights in early winter can take your breath away and open your eyes to one of Mother Natures’ silent spectacles. Pitch black dark and a sky dazzling with multitudes of twinkling stars. My mission was to combine oratorical skills with astronomical knowledge to convince the church’s youth group that we may or may not be all alone in the universe, but we can certainly enjoy and appreciate it, for heaven’s sake.

The group of teenagers and chaperones drove to one of the remote pastures within a few miles of the church and far away from any lights. Each one brought a sleeping bag and willing attitude to expand their horizons. They distanced themselves on the grass as the final aspects of dusk yielded to the enveloping darkness of a moonless sky. The stage was set; the curtain ready to rise shortly. The only thing lacking was a more contemplative audience!

Here’s where a form of yoga works its magic in relaxing the mind of the young and the restless. I ask each of them to find a star, any star, and fix their gaze on it. Then draw an imaginary line from their mind to that star so that they might put their minds on those lines and travel to and fro between the pasture and that point in space. After this experience has settled them to a more focused way of seeing things, they are then asked to relax, close their eyes totally, while breathing deeply. Relaxing. Eyes closed. After counting from ten to nothing, I ask them to open their eyes. I wait for the corporate gasp as they experience the pristine glory of the cosmos right above their bodies. In the bleakest of blackness, stars show off their brightest and best.

“Please hold on for dear life,” I warn them, “because you are now travelling nearly 70,000 miles per hour as the earth rotates on its axis and makes its way around the annual solar orbit.” This does not include our galactic speed through the rest of the universe.

Now the stage is set for a conversation about the canopy of stars in the heavens above. The stories include how some cultures developed constellations and accompanying stories for nightly sightseeing and storytelling. It’s a great chance to talk about how the creation might have been formed with a big bang 13.8 billion years ago or a super god who whipped it up within a week about five thousand years ago.

After exhausting all the possible questions about the universe for which few answers were readily available, it was time to wrap up the evening with that question of all questions. Using my best bravado and ministerial machismo, I yelled into the vault of sky above “Is there anybody out there?” After the question ricocheted off the pine trees and a pregnant pause calmed what breeze was out there, a small miracle happened: a huge shooting star crossed the night sky in simple and silent splendor. Without daring to add any of my hubris to such an astronomical epiphany, we quietly exited the grassy amphitheater of our shared sense of wonder.