Marvelous Mars

Lutheran, The, Nov 2003 by Lee, Robert E A

Yet Creator God is mindful of each of us

Like thousands, perhaps millions, of others I chased Mars across the heavens in late August. I'm not a star-watcher and can't identify many of the planets or constellations, but the rare,close calling of Mars to our planet Earth caught my fancy.

On the night of its stellar premiere,andeven.for a few nights afterward, I saw it as the most glistening light in the sky. It seemed elongated,and I wondered if what I was seeing was an iridescent vapor trail or just an optical illusion. First at 11 p.m.and then again at about 2 and 4 a.m., I followed its progress from east to west. But was Mars moving or were we on Earth rolling toward the morning to make it seem so? Both, maybe. We knew it would be back tomorrow night if nothing clouded ourvision.

Seeing it up there among Orion and Ursa Major and Ursa Minor and all the galaxies, I reflected on its cosmic wonder. The King James verses of Psalm 8 that I had memorized decades ago arose in my mind to supply a spiritual and poetic caption to this, vision:

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who hast set thy glory above the heavens. . . . When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man (humans, me) that thou art mindful of him (them, us) and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

It can be,and should be, humbling when we pause to consider how tiny and infinitesimal each of us is in the infinite universes of space. By the same token it can be, and should be, awesome to us as we consider,accept and actually believe that the Creator God can be mindful of us-so much so that God even allowed his son,Jesus,to be sacrificed in love for each one of us on this planet.And none of us could begin to believe and accept this if God's Spirit had not also been sent to prompt, nudge, enlighten and empower us with the divine gift of faith.Wow!

Mars will gradually recede into its more distant, yet still often visible, orbit. Evenings and mornings come and go,as do the seasons. And here we are-basking in the glory of the Lord above and about us. And perhaps forgetting that the same Lord who established this astounding creation (just how we will never fully know) also crowned us with glory and honor, as the psalmist declared.

Lee works as a free-fence consultant through REALWorld Communications. He is a member of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Baldwin,N.Y.