Article January 16, 2012 Issue

My encounter with the sun

Manfred Krüger

On our way home from our Association, an annual gathering of the students of a Christian Science teacher, my wife and I passed by the public observatory in the city of Frankfurt on Main. We were invited to come in and witness a special event, and we agreed. Walking up the winding stairs, we soon got to the open dome.

Gradually it dawned on us what would happen: It was bright daylight outside, and the huge telescope had been focused exactly in the direction of the sun. By means of a special procedure, we were able to look at the surface of the sun in detail that had been hidden before. I saw the movement of the plasma going on there, and the sun looked so near that I thought I could almost catch it and put it into my pocket.

Such an expanded view just seemed to fit with the inspired message of the Association meeting, which had focused on God’s spiritual creation. Pausing at a green after we left the observatory, I opened my copy of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and looked up the definition of Sun. It reads: “The symbol of Soul governing man,—of Truth, Life, and Love” (p. 595). What an inspiring statement!