Key points
- Excitement is building for a total solar eclipse that will occur across much of North America on April 8.
- Some United Methodist churches in the “path of totality” are finding creative ways to engage the public during the big event.
- More than a few United Methodists will be traveling to position themselves for a good look at the eclipse.
Those attending Easter worship this year at First United Methodist Church in Ogden, Utah, will not only hear a sermon and sing alleluias. They’ll go home with special glasses.
The Rev. Kim James, pastor, decided to take advantage of the solar eclipse that will occur across eight days after Easter.
She ordered 250 pairs of eclipse-viewing glasses to hand out on the big Sunday. Each pair comes with label sharing the church’s contact info and John 1: 5 — “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
James explained her strategy by email.
“Here in Utah, we aren’t in the path of a total eclipse,” she said. “It will only be partial. But I thought we could have some fun with this. Every Easter it’s the preacher’s challenge to tell the ‘old, old story’ in a new and relevant way. So it’s worth an eclipse try, right?”
Any solar eclipse is special, but the one on April 8 will create a 115-mile-wide — where the sun is completely eclipsed — that extends from Mexico through Texas and 14 other states and on into Canada, affording millions of people an optimal look.
Excitement is building, and United Methodists are finding creative ways to get in on the action.
For example, Highland Lakes United Methodist Church, in Buchanan Dam, Texas, will be turning its campus into an RV park, expecting to get a share of thousands of visitors coming into the Texas Hill Country because of its highly favorable eclipse-watching location.
Highland Lakes United Methodist is in an area that will have daytime darkness for a whopping 4 minutes and 24 seconds. Months ago, the church decided to raise funds by charging for RV parking in the days leading up to the event.
It’s dry camping — no bathrooms or showers. But the church’s United Methodist Men group will be cooking for visitors at least one meal, and everyone on site is welcome to attend church the day before the Monday eclipse.
“We’re offering the basics and a lot of friendship and fellowship,” said Doak Field, the church’s lead trustee. “We’re hoping to have people worship with us.”
Field notes that his part of Texas has struggled with drought of late.
“We’re praying for rain, but not on the day of the eclipse,” he said.
Wesley United Methodist Church in Greenville, Texas, is farther north and well within the path of totality. The church and small city are in Hunt County, where daytime darkness will last 4 minutes and 12 seconds. Here, too, a crowd of visitors is expected.
On the Sunday afternoon before the Monday eclipse, the church will welcome staff from the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.
Light after darkness
Will Alexander, a member of University United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, is scheduled to defend his dissertation a half hour after the solar eclipse on April 8. He’s a transportation engineering Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin and his dissertation is titled "Bridging the Gap: Unifying Transportation Planning Operations Through Enhanced Travel Demand Modeling."
Alexander said, “I'm anticipating a defense that should have everyone lightly unsettled, as not only will the amount of daylight be returning to normal around the time I begin, but also because I want to present traffic as a game and share a means for playing the game better, from a public agency perspective.”
The narthex will be set up with 12 stations offering eclipse-related exhibits and demonstrations. Church members will be trained to assist the museum staff in answering questions about the eclipse.
“Guests may expect Jesus’ hospitality and the excitement of learning about God’s handiwork of creation,” said the Rev. Chris Yost, pastor.
The First United Methodist Church in Morrilton, Arkansas, is in a community that has pitched itself as a perfect place to witness the eclipse.
“We are in the middle of the path of totality, and with great mountain views and with an incredible darkness totality of 4 minutes 13 seconds, you’ll have an experience of a lifetime,” says a website Morrilton created for the occasion.
The Rev. Bill Sardin said First United Methodist Church will be open on the morning of April 8 for anyone who wants a quiet place to reflect and pray.
“We hope the eclipse will open minds and hearts to the wonder of the creation God has made,” he said.
The pastor’s kids are astronomy buffs but his own excitement about the eclipse is more general.
“I’m a big nerd, and being a big nerd, I’m really looking forward to this,” Sardin said.
Ginghamsburg Church, a United Methodist congregation in Tipp City, Ohio, will experience the total eclipse for more than three minutes, and is opening its 900-space parking lot for viewing.
The Arkansas Conference’s Camp Tanako, in Hot Springs, Arkansas, also is well-positioned and will be handing out eclipse-viewing glasses and snacks to visiting church groups and families.
Little Grassy (United Methodist) Camp & Retreat Center, in Makanda, Illinois, is in the path of totality and plans a weekend of activities followed by watching the eclipse on April 8.
“All our buildings are booked, but we are still booking campsites,” said Daniel Schall, facilities manager.
Norwalk, Ohio, also is in the path of totality, and Norwalk First United Methodist Church will have a March 21 event where people can purchase and then personalize eclipse-viewing glasses under the direction of art therapist Dawn Freeman.
She, too, references God in discussion of the eclipse, saying by email that her church will be using glasses and art “as a metaphor for inviting His light to shine in and through us.”
Olmsted Manor Retreat Center in Ludlow, Pennsylvania — affiliated with the Western Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church — has scheduled a three-day “eclipse retreat,” to be led by the Rev. Jeff Sterling.
He’s a telescope-owning retired United Methodist elder who finds theological meaning from his own stargazing and from the vastness of the universe as documented by images from the Hubble and Webb telescopes.
“That to me is the perfect embodiment of Psalm 19 — ‘the heavens declare the glory of God,’” he said.
Sterling is eager to use his solar filter-equipped telescope to witness the eclipse.
“It’s a fairly rare event, and to be on the edge of the path of totality, which we will be here — that’s huge,” he said.
The Rev. Larry Dunlap-Berg, another retired United Methodist elder, works at Southern Illinois University’s STEM Education Research Center and is in the thick of its efforts to educate about the eclipse. The university is in Carbondale, Illinois, which was in the path of totality for a 2017 solar eclipse and will be again on April 8.
Dunlap-Berg helped with outreach and planning in Nashville, Tennessee, for the 2017 eclipse and remembers the day ruefully.
“We got to nine seconds before totality and a cloud moved in and just stayed there,” he said.
The many people travelling into the path of totality for the April 8 eclipse will be counting on — even angling for — clear skies.
The Rev. Molly Vetter, pastor of Westwood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, will be in the Dallas area to watch the eclipse with family members and friends. Karen Hannum, of Woodland United Methodist Church in Woodland, California, plans to join her three siblings for eclipse-viewing in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.
Pattie Klein, of Estes Park United Methodist Church in Estes Park, Colorado, looks forward to a 10-day trip that will land her at a campground near North Little Rock, Arkansas, for the April 8 eclipse.
“I’m a retired electronics engineer who worked as a federal employee in the space industry my whole career,” Klein said. “I was involved in the spacecraft end of that business, not really astronomy. But I have always had an interest in the heavens.”
The Rev. Lin Cheek and her husband will travel from Frederick, Colorado, to Arkansas to witness the eclipse with her mother and stepfather.
“It’ll be a first for all of us,” said Cheek, pastor of Rinn United Methodist Church. “As my stepfather said, ‘See you when the sun don’t shine!’”
Hodges is a Dallas-based writer for United Methodist News. Contact him at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.
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