It's 2 am, as it typically is the night before I give sermon (apparently Abe doesn't believe in getting 9 hours of sleep). After a disappointing day of absolutely no snow whatsoever, I looked up on the walk back from C-Groups to see stars in the sky. Being from NYC, it's rare for me to see any more than 2-3, so I always jump around like a kid under the sight of them. Tonight, though, was different; tonight I just stared at them.
When we go outside, many things look plain/normal to us. The cars driving past, the brick/steel buildings, people wearing earphones; these are all things that we walk pass without paying much attention to. But if you took someone from the Medieval ages and brought them here to Penn State, EVERYTHING WOULD BE FASCINATING. The clothes, credit cards, cellphones, even students riding their bicycles would blow their mind. But there's one thing that wouldn't phase them: the sky.
Looking up at the moon and the stars in the sky, I realize that these are things our ancestors before us also gazed upon at some point. That I'm looking at the same moon some random guy living in Papua New Guinea also looked at 3,000 years ago. The same moon David looked at in Psalms 8. And when I realize that, I start to cry. That although the flowers and waters and mountains and planets and stars are all beautiful, and that people throughout history have worshiped these things because of their beauty and awe, we are God's masterpiece. We are all human, just like all the people who lived throughout history were.
Sometimes we just need to look up to remember we're not so different from others.
-Abraham Sylvestre
When we go outside, many things look plain/normal to us. The cars driving past, the brick/steel buildings, people wearing earphones; these are all things that we walk pass without paying much attention to. But if you took someone from the Medieval ages and brought them here to Penn State, EVERYTHING WOULD BE FASCINATING. The clothes, credit cards, cellphones, even students riding their bicycles would blow their mind. But there's one thing that wouldn't phase them: the sky.
Looking up at the moon and the stars in the sky, I realize that these are things our ancestors before us also gazed upon at some point. That I'm looking at the same moon some random guy living in Papua New Guinea also looked at 3,000 years ago. The same moon David looked at in Psalms 8. And when I realize that, I start to cry. That although the flowers and waters and mountains and planets and stars are all beautiful, and that people throughout history have worshiped these things because of their beauty and awe, we are God's masterpiece. We are all human, just like all the people who lived throughout history were.
Sometimes we just need to look up to remember we're not so different from others.
-Abraham Sylvestre