PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

August 11, 2024

NORTH STAR

                When I was a boy scout, our troop had camping trips to work on our merit badges and scout skills.  One of our tasks was to locate ourselves in an unfamiliar setting without a compass.   The place to begin was finding north.  Then east, west, and south fall into place.  As I remember, during the day it was possible to have a pretty good idea which way was north by looking at moss growing on trees.  It generally grew on the north side.

On a clear night it was easy to find north.  All one had to do was find the north star using the Big Dipper as a guide. However, finding the North Star at night became more complicated on cloudy nights.  Sometimes it was almost impossible.  Also, it could be difficult finding the star if there was a lot of surface light.  In a city setting the stars can almost be completely blocked out.  This makes it difficult to find one’s bearing by using the stars.  Fortunately, there are other resources such as street signs which helps one find north.

One of the main characters in Robert Crais’s L.A. Requiem is Elvis Cole.  In chapter 12 he talks about moving to Los Angeles, the city is another major character in the book.  “When I first came to Los Angeles, I was fresh out of the Army and accustomed to using the constellations to chart my passing.  The L.A. skies are so bright with light that only the most brilliant stars are visible, and those are faint and murky.  I used to joke that it was this absence of stars that caused so many people to lose their bearings, but back then, I thought answers were easy.  Now I know better.  Some of us find our way with a single light to guide us; others lose themselves even when the star field is as sharp as a neon ceiling.  Ethics may not be situational, but feelings are.  We learn to adjust, and over time, the stars we use to guide ourselves come to reside within rather than without (L.S. Requiem, The Best Mysteries of All Time, Reader’s Digest, p. 130).”

In Cole’s observation we see echoes of Jeremiah 31:31-33: “’The days are coming’, declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant though I was a husband to them.  This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord.   ‘I will put my law in their minds and write on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.’”  The author of the Book of Hebrew quotes this passage, not once, but twice: Hebrews 8:10 & 10:16.

As we make our journey under the sun it is imperative that we have a North Star to keep us grounded.  In our hectic and chaotic world, it is easy for our north star to become crowed out.  We become like Elvis Cole looking for the north star in the haze of the lights of Los Angeles.  God’s covenant with the people of Israel and Judah was intended to be their North Star.  Unfortunately, the Hebrew’s North Star got buried under all the rites, rules, regulations, and rituals.

To help the Hebrew people keep their covenant with God, God put the covenant in their hearts and minds.  Elvis Cole talks about the stars that guide us come to reside within rather than without.  We need to internalize our North Star so that it becomes a part of the very fabric of our being.  It is there to keep us grounded even when we are not aware of its presence.  It becomes more a part of who we are than the breath we take.  In fact, some internalize their North Star through the use of breath prayers. Paul talks about it being the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, working in us to keep our covenant with God.

(Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)