"when i look at the stars i see someone else"
reflections from a starry night
This weekend Emily and I took a trip to New York to visit some of our dearest friends.
On Friday evening we found ourselves outside a cottage in the Finger Lakes looking up at the stars. Although it was a cool 40 degrees, we couldn’t help but look up at the stars for hours. While there were some reflections and observations about the sky, the night was mostly silent.
You’d think that such a pristine, starry night with the galaxy aglow would create the perfect environment for profound theological reflections or at least a bit of existential dread. But what came to mind was neither of these things—instead, it was that unforgettable riff at the opening of the Switchfoot song “Stars.”
If you grew up in evangelical, youth-group culture, then these Switchfoot lyrics are likely buried deep in your brain right next to “John 3:16” and the dance actions to Audio Adrenaline's “big big house.”
Released on Switchfoot’s fifth studio album Nothing is Sound (2005), “Stars” is a journey of finding meaning in chaos. John Foreman, Switchfoot’s lead singer, opens the song by looking inward:
Maybe I've been the problem, maybe I'm the one to blame
But even when I turn it off and blame myself, the outcome feels the same
I've been thinkin' maybe I've been partly cloudy, maybe I'm the chance of rain
And maybe I'm overcast, and maybe all my lucks washed down the drain
The chorus, in contrast, leads Foreman to look beyond himself to the stars. There, he can see someone else and, in return, feel like himself again.
But when I look at the stars
I see someone else
When I look at the stars
The stars, I feel like myself, yeah
The second verse then takes an external perspective before turning inward again:
Stars looking at our planet, watching entropy and pain
And maybe start to wonder how the chaos in our lives could pass as sane
I've been thinking about the meaning of resistance, of a hope beyond my own
And suddenly the infinite and penitent begin to look like home
Almost 20 years later, I think the stars continue to observe the same “entropy and pain” and wonder “ how the chaos in our lives could pass as sane.”
But I also think Foreman is right—the stars can orient us to a purpose much larger than ourselves. Looking to the stars (that is, looking beyond himself) gives Foreman a new perspective—one oriented towards the “other.” His focus no longer is his own “overcast” self-pity, but rather a hope that lies beyond himself.
When we look to the stars rightly, we see beyond them to the God who breathes galaxies and whispers light into existence. This Creator God is one who calls us to rejoice and remain a creation called “good” that reflects the presence of God in and towards the cosmos.
To whom, then, will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.- Isaiah 40:25-26
Reading:
Go Back to Where You Came From And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American - Wajahat Ali (Norton, 2022)
Ecowomanism: African American Women and Earth-Honoring Faiths - Malanie L. Harris
Watching:
Rings of Power (Amazon Prime)
Thor: Love & Thunder (Disney+)
Listening:
(self-titled) - Marcus Mumford
Ebb & Flow - FELIVAND
Thinkin Bout You - stories, Kavya Borra