2 Ways to Share Eclipse Awe

I don’t know if you heard or not, but on Monday there was this thing called an “eclipse”? It came as a total surprise to me!
 
I’m proud to say that I was there for the OG 2017 Total Eclipse of Totality™. Good for you if you got to see the 2024 version.
 
Seeing as the next Total Eclipse of Totality™ is going to be coming around in 2044, I thought, “Hey! Why wait for 20 years to re-post a perfectly good 2017 Total Eclipse of Totality™ blog? Let’s strike while the iron’s hot.”
 
So, here are my eclipse reflections from 2017 and two ideas on how you might create a similar experience in your congregation (and good news! You won’t need a Cheez-It):
 
 
Wow. Five hours ago, I experienced eclipse totality. I am still basking in the glow of an awe-inducing experience. I’m on a natural high from this once-in-a-lifetime event.
 
It lived up to all the hype…and it was free. No one collected a single cent (except of course for the t-shirts, magnets, and commemorative beverage glass I purchased – but that’s me getting eclipse-induced mania).
 
I live across the street from beautiful Bush Park in Salem, OR. Smack dab in the path of totality. The city advertised that people could come and camp out for up to two nights prior to the eclipse. The city staff did a great job of welcoming people. [Here’s hint #1 coming right up.]
 
Take note how they did it:
 
-  signs were posted to make the basic rules known
-  water was provided
-  bathrooms were strategically located with directions on where to find them
-  a “welcome center” was placed in the middle of the action giving visitors plenty of information.
 
Visitors felt like they belonged.
 
I’ll admit that initially I wasn’t too keen on the idea of having people sleep in “my” park. But by Sunday night I was amazed at the sight of tents pitched on the green, meeting nice people, and well, I started to feel the love.
 
By Monday morning with crystal clear blue skies buoying us, my 1,200 new best friends were waiting for the main event to begin.
 
For those two hours, pre- and post-eclipse, we were all of one accord.
 
No one knew or cared or asked who was Republican, Democrat, independent, conservative, or liberal. We met people from all over the United States, from Japan, the Netherlands, and a honeymooning couple from Australia.
 
We were all part of the human family.
 
It was pure emotion during the moment of totality with tears and collective whoops and hollers and cheers for the moon making its way between us and the sun.
 
And the operative word for the day was…“Wow.”
 
Shortly after the event, we were asked by a researcher from UC Berkeley to fill out a survey on our feelings about “awe.”  And I wish I could have sung that old hymn in response:
 
Oh Lord my God
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds
Thy hands have made
I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout
The universe displayed
 
Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great thou art
How great thou art

Experiencing a total eclipse may be an incredible and rare life event. You certainly can’t recreate an eclipse, but you can give people the chance to experience awe in your own setting.
 
1. Be intentionally welcoming.
 
2. Give them a communal experience – with a moment or two of wonder – that they can carry with them long after they leave your building.  
 
Awe. It’s a good thing. Let’s let people experience it more than once or twice in a lifetime.
 
 Original post from August 23, 2017
And that's our JayD, in the photo, with eclipse fever. RIP, JayD.

Cesie Delve Scheuermann (pronounced “CC Delv Sherman,” yes, really) is a Stewardship Consultant for the OR-ID Annual Conference. She is also a Senior Ministry Strategist with Horizons Stewardship. For 25 years, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she has helped raise over three million dollars for numerous churches and non-profit organizations. Watch the sense of awe (even through cloud cover) a news anchor and the family she interviewed experienced at Niagara Falls. Magical.
 
You can reach Cesie at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com, at CesieScheuermann.com, or at cesieds@horizons.net. Want to schedule a meeting? She’s got you covered!
 
Schedule a meeting now.
 
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