Sunday, September 27, 2015 - 7:43 p.m. PDT (Brightened slightly to show detail.) |
Sunday, September 27, 2015 – Some have said that the moon is
thirty thousand miles closer than its usual average. Thirty thousand miles is
actually a bit over the total difference between perigee (“super-moon”
proximity) and apogee (when it appears smallest because it is farthest away).
So, since the average is 238,900 miles, the moon was still over 225,000 miles
away on Sunday night. By mid-month, it will again be more than 250,000 miles
away.
For a photographer, the size difference is relatively
insignificant. The greatest obstacle is still the same: the atmosphere, its
pollutants, weather-related haze, or a small band of clouds may obscure every
attempt at capturing “lunar events.” By that, especially this past week, is
meant the total eclipse Sunday, and the full moon on the following night.
Seeing in the Dark – Part One
During the eclipse, I worked to get the right settings for
the aperture, exposure, focus, and tripod. As the moon rose above the horizon,
it also began to disappear as the shadow of the earth glided slowly up the
familiar face of “the man in the moon.” Before long he was only barely visible
to the naked eye, red with the effects of the light’s long trip through the
curve of our atmosphere, still somewhat shaded by the smoke from smoldering
forests near and far. The camera was doing a better job than I was of
penetrating the haze and accumulating the light of several seconds at a time.
But then, I noticed that my eye was doing a better job of something I had not
anticipated.
Sunday, September 27, 2015 - 8:05 p.m. PDT (Pretty much just as it was. Be sure to see it full-sized.) |
Looking away from the moon, I realized I could see far many
more stars than were usually apparent. I could even see a different kind of
haze directly above me in the bright band of The Milky Way. The eclipsed moon
being darkened, my eyes opened wider to admit a far greater spectrum. Even the
distant lights of farms and ranches well across the Pit Valley and miles away
down Dee Knoch Road stood out in sharper contrast to the blackness between
them.
Looking at my photo of the more distant star-field, a friend
commented that he didn’t recognize the constellations. I replied that neither
did I, since the patterns were made up of stars we wouldn’t usually see and,
given the very long lens I was using, they probably resided within other
constellations we would usually be looking at, paying little attention to the
stars of lesser magnitude within and around them.
Seeing in the Dark – Part Two
The following night was as near the exact opposite as
possible in this super-moon event. I decided to contrast the challenge of
capturing such a dimly lit face with the challenge of bringing out the details
of the moon’s surface when my naked eye saw only the bright white circle
against the otherwise, apparently black night sky. The same issues of aperture,
exposure, and focus were again made easier by using the tripod, but it was less
necessary than the night before. The length of the exposures was far shorter.
Still, my attention was again centered on only the slightest few degrees in the
vast reach of the night sky. At least, it was for a while.
Monday, September 28, 2015 - 8:54 p.m. PDT (Darkened slightly to show detail.) |
Before long, though, I began to notice other points of
light. The moon reflected off the surface of the water flowing down the Pit
River, but also on the partially-flooded rice paddies, and strangely off of
other items at various points along the valley. The spray, the pipes, and the
wheels of the wheel-lines on a ranch miles away were glittering. Metal roofed
barns glowed. The white farmhouse closest to us reflected moonlight against the
windshields of the trucks parked nearby. Again, as my eyes adjusted, more and
more of the stands of trees, fence lines, and out buildings became apparent.
Shifting My Focus
The super-moon got top billing this past weekend. Rightly
so, because it is rare to have the various elements coincide. But moon is just
as dark once each month, for the entire night. And it is, if only slightly
smaller, just as bright just as often. There have been times when I noticed the
brightness of the night sky through the windows of my home. There were also
times before the need for security lighting when I noticed that it seemed much
darker than usual as I walked by braille from the door of my office to the door
of my car. But I rarely stopped to look at the moon, much less at all the other
things that it’s brightness or darkness made more visible.
Truth be told, I have to admit, sadly, that the same will
probably continue to be my habit. Most of the time I don’t stop to smell the
roses, much less gaze at the moon. And, as a photographer, I’m known for what
and how I see things, too. But taking more time to relax and enjoy the scenery
is not the lesson I took away from my sojourns on the deck these past two
nights.
An Allegorical Application
The sense of God’s presence is rarely so absent as it was at
times in the earliest years of my walk with Christ. It takes more to amaze me,
too, at what He chooses to do in my life, whether miraculously or mundanely.
But what I do find waxing and waning is my perception of whether He is
accomplishing His purpose through me.
September 28, 2015 - 9:04 p.m. PDT (Pretty much just as it was. Also nice full-sized.) |
The tangible results of pastoral ministry definitely ebb and
flood. There are times when, if one were to judge from attendance, finances,
conversions/baptisms, or signs of personal approval from those we love, that we
would be convinced of our abject failure. These times are interspersed with
moments that might otherwise affect us, making us feel like God’s best, most
precious gift to those we are called to serve. Neither is an accurate
estimation, of course. But it can feel that way, or both ways, sometimes within
hours of each other.
I am in a particularly dark season at the moment. Some
desperately want me to have the answer, or the resources, or whatever else
would alleviate their circumstances, and I know of nothing that will change the
way things are for them (other than a sovereign God’s answer to prayer, of
course). There are others, however, whose needs I see, for whom I have clear
answers and ample resources that three decades of experience tells me would be
effective in their circumstances. But, as yet, they are still pursuing other
remedies, other anxieties, other hopelessness, and other self-directed
self-help strategies.
I have also known seasons of great brightness when I have
celebrated with those who have seen life events of brilliant magnitude,
miraculous interventions against impossible odds, and sudden reversals of
long-held patterns of dysfunction or addiction. As you can imagine, I like
these seasons better.
September 28, 2015 - 9:18 p.m. PDT (Pretty much just as it was. This one is worth seeing full-sized, too.) |
But in either one, the question that the two moons raises
for me is this: whether in the greatest possible brightness or the nearly
invisible darkness, what else is there that I should be looking at? As regular
readers may have noticed, I have been contemplating The Beatitudes quite a lot
lately. In each, Jesus states an aspect of the human condition that most would
evaluate as darkness: being poor in spirit, mourning, hungering and thirsting,
and being persecuted, but also encountering the personal expense of being
gently, merciful, pure in heart, or peacemakers. The shining brilliance of life
is not just the opposite of these conditions, but they can be seen in the
results of each condition, too. Those who embody these traits possess the
kingdom of God, they are comforted, they inherit the earth, etc.
So, if not to the circumstances in which I find myself, not
in the results and consequences that are promised to those The Beatitudes
describe, where else could I look? Instead of my personal perspective on the
brightness or darkness, I might be wiser to shift my focus, to see what else
Jesus might show me if I overcome my preoccupation with everything that usually
clamors for top-billing. It would be cliché to say that I need to look more
intently at Jesus. It is still true. But that is only part of the challenge. To
look at Jesus is to look at those He has called me to serve, and see, perhaps,
something different in and about them than the brightness or darkness of any
givenmoment.
After all, the brilliance that illuminated the entire
landscape, the darkness that allowed innumerable stars to make themselves
seen—both of these came from what only seemed to be two different moons.