Rising Stars, Falling Stars

 Even though I woke up earlier than usual, I'm getting a much later start to blogging than usual.  But I did want to make a blog post today, the day after Joe Biden's announcement which feels historic:  the first Asian, the first black, but not the first female vice presidential candidate.  However, I have hopes that the candidacy of Kamala Harris will go more smoothly than that of Geraldine Ferraro.

I am pleased with the pick for any number of reasons, and by now, most people have enumerated reasons to be happy in far more detail than I plan to do here.  I am happy that Biden had so many candidates to choose from, once he declared that he would pick a woman for his vice president.

I don't know why my brain sprang awake at 1:30, but it's been awhile, so perhaps it will be a one time insomnia.  I wasn't worried about anything specific, unlike most times when I wake up at 1:30.  At 2:46 a.m., I made this Facebook post:  "If I'm going to have insomnia (the waking up at 1:30 a.m. kind, not the can't fall asleep at all kind), I'd like to go outside and watch the Perseid meteor shower. But there have been helicopters in the vicinity since 2 a.m., and that noise makes me want to stay inside. And yes, I do realize I am speaking from a place of privilege--those helicopters aren't looking for my middle class white lady self."

And yet I did go outside several times to try to see a falling star.  I saw Orion, which usually appears in late summer here.  When we first moved here, I thought it was so strange to see that constellation, the only one I can recognize, the one I associate with cold winter nights of star gazing.  But we are so much further south down here that the night sky is different.

I looked at moon and star charts and tried to look where the meteors would be, but I saw nothing.  I thought about Kamala Harris as a rising star, not a shooting star.  I tried to write a poem, but nothing came together.

I'm also late to writing because I spent the time I usually spend writing on sermon preparation.  I'm doing my 3rd sermon by way of small videos that I stitch together.  Then my pastor will stitch it in with the larger fabric of the worship service he's assembling.  On Sunday, I'll post a link to it.  Although it's short--just over 7 minutes--I'm pleased with it.  Some days, a shorter message is better.

I am still loving the practice of putting together a sermon this way.  I wish I had better videography skills and equipment, but my church members are fairly forgiving.  It's a change from the way we used to do sermons, and I think it's good for all of us to challenge our brains a bit.

Just like having a female VP candidate will do.