When I look at your heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars that you have established: what are humans, that you are mindful of them? mortals, that you care for them? (Psalm 8:3-4)
‘Not the middle of nowhere but the centre of everywhere.’ Cameron Corner, where the borders of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia meet, is not an exciting place. The only reason for going is so that you can say that you have been. It is, after all, the conjunction of lines somewhat arbitrarily drawn on a map by old blokes many years ago.
There is not much there, a bronze marker on a concrete plinth, and a hundred metres or so away, there is the Corner Store, more of an outback pub really, where you can buy a cold beer, or a coffee – instant made with UHT milk. Behind the pub is a fuel tank with the legend. ‘Not the middle of nowhere but the centre of everywhere.’ I guess it depends on your perspective.
My first reflections were geometrical: Does the surface of a sphere have no centre, or can any point be the centre, in which case the ‘edges’ are the opposite point?
For ancient cartographers Jerusalem was the centre of the earth, the navel of the world. We used to believe that the earth was the centre of the universe. Now we know that our galaxy has roughly 10 to the power of 11 stars (according to the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy we live at the ‘unfashionable end of the western spiral arm’) and there are roughly 10 to the power of 11 galaxies in the universe. With the psalmist we can well say, ‘What are we that God should be mindful of us?’ And yet… Ω
What is this? Lent is the 40 days, excluding Sundays, before Easter. Traditionally it is a time of reflection and pilgrimage. To help you on this journey, Sanctuary has put together daily stories and images from people in the congregation which are focused on God in this place. Why this theme? Read this! #Lent2023. Our Spiritual Geography © Sanctuary, 2023. Sanctuary is based on Peek Whurrong country. Full acknowledgement of country here.
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