Thought for 11 October

Psalm 19:1-3

The heavens tell of the glory of God.  The skies display his marvellous craftmanship.  Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.  They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies.

When I had a look at Facebook this morning, a lot of the posts had photos taken last night or in the early hours of this morning of the Aurora Borealis usually referred to as the Northern Lights.  The photos were taken by people I know in Stonehouse, Carluke, Newmains and New Stevenston and loads of people I don’t know all over Sotland and they all looked different and they all looked stunning, dramatic and incredibly colourful. 

The spectacle of the aurora is not specifically mentioned in the bible.  This is most likely because it is a phenomenon only witnessed by countries much closer to the Arctic and Antarctic Circles than any of the countries that feature in the bible.  In the ancient Scriptures, the word “aurora” carries a profound spiritual significance that goes beyond its natural beauty. The celestial event of the aurora borealis, with its vibrant streaks of colors dancing across the night sky in the Northern hemisphere, has captivated mankind for centuries. Yet, it might also be interpreted as a divine example of God’s creation. 

The only person who gave God a mention when posting the photos was my friend in Stonehouse.  It just so happens that it wasn’t long ago that she was ordained as a minister in the Church of Scotland. 

I apologise in advance but another major disappointment I have often mentioned in these thoughts has once again came to my attention.  In the last couple of weeks, I have been in two big shops that were already displaying their Christmas decorations.  In one I noticed one of their Christmas tree baubles featured a dinosaur with a wee Santa hat!!!!!  In past years, I have still found an occasional decoration with an angel or a stable or a star or some other feature of the real Christmas story but this year, in those two shops, there were none. 

There is a decided trend within society to remove God and Christ from any part of it.  We have seen it happen in education.  We have seen it happen in the media.  Our reading for today tells us of signs in the sky that ‘reflect his marvellous craftmanship - day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known’.  I guess it’s just down to the bible alone where we will get to hear about how we can freely obtain eternal life through Jesus Christ and learn about the things that happen in our everyday lives that are directly attributable to God and it begs the question of why society goes out its way to hide it from the world. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, Your work in creation is beautiful beyond our imagination.  We do not have the words to describe how wonderful it is.  Lord, you light up the sunrise, and spread out the sunset.  You place the sun, the moon and the stars into the infinity of space.  There is no work of human hands that even come close to all that you have created yet mankind looks to science and to each other rather than acknowledge your place in this world.  We pray for the day when all will know the truth.   Amen