Disappointed But Not Surprised

Monday, here in central Indiana, we enjoyed a total solar eclipse. This is a rare sight. Arguably, one of these is visible from your home once in a lifetime. It was amazing. Truly.

My wife and I spent the afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with ~50 thousand of our closest friends. The day at IMS included appearances by both race car drivers and astronauts. A series of lectures was held in which NASA astronauts and scientists—many graduates of Purdue University—gave talks on various aspects of the eclipse as well as space travel past, present, and future. I’m a bit of a space travel fan, so it was a very enjoyable day.

Yet, in all the hoopla and insight, there was no mention of the Creator—not one. While I’m disappointed by this, I’m not surprised.

None of these experts had traveled to IMS to extol the wonders of our Maker. This wasn’t their intent. Even if they hold views of faith, they wouldn’t have felt comfortable speaking of them. I get it. Our society is no longer interested en masse in such pondering. But I propose we can safely admit that to go through such a day without a mention of He who made us, and the universe in which we float, is at least regionally tone deaf. In any gathering of 50K (mostly) midwesterners, there is going to be a high minority, if not a flat majority that holds faith in a Creator—or at least leans in that direction. So, why not a mention of Him? Perhaps there could have been a bit of poetry regarding the creation or a quote from a faith-holding scientist of the past. Wouldn’t this have added a bit of gravitas to the day’s proceedings? For among the many ways one might immortalize what we witnessed, one way would be to give (at least) a nod to Him and His handiwork.