Eclipse

Posted on 4/12/2024 by Malinda Collier

So this happened (Monday April 8). We were not in the line of total eclipse but we were promised a changing of our day - a changing of our normal at around 3pm on Monday.

And so it was. We went out on the porch not knowing exactly what to expect. It had gotten darker but not dark. And as it happens we were joined by neighbors and then by a few of those just walking by wanting to take a look at the eclipse. We joked that if we were all together on the sidewalk looking up at the sky we wouldn't look so odd - we wouldn't be taken for a bunch weirdos staring off into space.

We became for a few minutes a community. We shared our eclipse glasses and helped each other use them to take photos. We talked a bit about being and living around here. What we liked - what we had experienced and what we hoped for. And then we walked away - back to our own lives and homes.

We were changed though - even if just for a few minutes. And I hope when I next see these folks they will remember me and I will remember them - with or without our eclipse glasses.

I think of St. Mark's so much in this way. We join together as community on Sunday mornings - people who just like this afternoon on my sidewalk might have never encountered or talked with one another otherwise. We share ourselves in the community of worship and fellowship. And it is good.

We pray and laugh and eat together. And we part maybe knowing something has been changed. Maybe in us, maybe in the community. Maybe in the world.

I think it has.

Malinda