Last Saturday evening, the earth experienced the first of three “super” moons that will be visible to us during 2014. Unbeknownst to most of us, there are occasions when a full moon coincides with the closest approach the moon makes to the Earth and the result is a supermoon – resulting in a larger-than-usual appearance of the lunar disk. Facebook was filled with people who had their telescopes out to view a moon that appeared as much as 30% brighter and 14% larger than most full moons.
So, on July 12 we had the first full moon after the June 21 solstice. Around this time of year, in North America, buck deer start growing antlers, thunder storms rage and farmers struggle to pile up hay in their barns. Thus, according to folklore, we call this full moon the Buck Moon, Thunder Moon or Hay Moon. We did have two other supermoons earlier in the year, but they were both new moons, not full moons, and there are still two more full supermoons to come later in this year – on August 10th and again on Sept. 9th although the moon will be closest to the earth on the August 10th event.
The verse for this evening recognizes the fact that God created the Sun and the Moon although God never named these two heavenly bodies. Theologians believe that this is because the Egyptians had more than 3000 gods that they worshipped and these two magnificent creations, in comparison to to the awesomeness of God, weren’t even worth naming. We are told, in Genesis 1:16, “God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.” So if you are ever asked whether God named the sun and the moon, the answer is “no” – He just created them.
My encouragement this evening is that God wants you to shine as bright as the sun, moon and stars. He has every expectation that you will appreciate His creation ad the things that He has created for our benefit. My prayer is that you will consider it a priority to take care of the earth and all that goes with it as we are stewards of all that God has entrusted to our care. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…