We can still look up

Late Sunday night, Jason and I drove through the woods of Westford to arrive at MIT's Wallace Astrophysical Observatory. Tucked away on 1300 acres owned by MIT, this teaching observatory opens its doors to the public a few times a year. And we got two spots!

After waiting in a dark field, we were summoned inside, where we climbed a tight, spiral staircase up into the dome. Yes, it was just like in the movies: a large dome with a vertical opening to the sky, and a massive telescope pointing at the heavens. When our guide made a few taps on the adjacent computer and sent the dome and telescope rotating to a different part of the sky-- WOW. And then we each got to climb up a set of wheeled stairs and peer through the eyepiece to see a star formation that was 2,000 light years away.

To be honest, it wasn't much to see: just a blurry white cloud. But it was still amazing, and since I am a pastor and a nerd, one of my first thoughts was: I am seeing that star 2,000 years ago, so I am seeing light that existed when Jesus was alive! WOW.

Our lives can close in around us so easily, with anxieties about our work, our family, our nation, or our health blotting out nearly all else. For me, looking up at the sky has always been a way to quickly expand my vision, remember God, and breath into the vastness of creation.

So even if we can't look through an Ealing 24-in Research Cassegrain Coudé reflector on an asymmetric German equatorial mount, we can still look up!