The Comet

Namely, Halley’s Comet, which returns to viewing distance from Earth every 76 to 79 years. When I saw the comet in 1986, it was not that spectacular; but by going to a dark-sky place called Enchanted Rock, I saw what looked like a star with a long line stretching away from it. The 1910 appearance, which my grandfather observed, was much more impressive, inspiring fear of being poisoned when the Earth passed through the comet’s tail.
         
Howard Thurman, the minister and civil rights leader, was fearful when he—as a young boy—looked at the 1910 comet; but young Thurman also had a mystical experience while viewing Halley’s:

           In that moment (of seeing the comet) something was touched and
          kindled in me, a quiet reassurance that has never quite deserted
          me. As I look back on it, what I sensed then was the fact that what
          stirred in me was one with what created and controlled the comet.
          It was this inarticulate awareness that silenced my fear and stilled
          my panic.
            https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/prayer/a-boy-and-a-comet 
          
So, what has all this to do with Quakers? Well, most Quakers believe in God/the Inner Light/Spiritual Power or at least a mystery at the heart of the universe. For many, if not most friends, Nature and natural phenomenon like the Comet evoke a mystical experience of that Spiritual Power, that Mystery.
         
And Quakers believe in connectedness, the connectedness of Spirit with human beings and of human beings with one another. Halley’s Comet connects human beings across the generations. When I saw the comet in 1986, I thought of my beloved Grandfather. When the comet returns in 2061, my granddaughter Evie will—I hope—remember me.
         
~ Richard Russell