No, they’re not remnants of some ancient civilization, nor do they point the way to Superman's Fortress of Solitude, and they aren’t evidence of extra-terrestrial landing sites.
These concrete arrows were first placed on the Earth in the 1920's. They were the most visible part of the Transcontinental Airway System, designed to aid Air-mail pilots as they traveled across the United States. Lacking the level of technology we enjoy, today, these pilots could easily get lost. At the time, it was a perfectly reasonable approach to providing a useful navigation aid.
The arrows were painted bright yellow. At the center of each was a tall tower with a rotating beacon boasting a million-candlepower light. So, even though it was possible to see them from the ground, they were designed to be seen, and were best seen, from the air.
At their peak, there were over 1,500 of these "ground beacons" stretching from New York to San Francisco. Day or night, pilots could find their way across the country and back. Their makers intended these arrows to serve as a kind of covenant between themselves and those who had to depend on the arrows for essential, maybe even vital, information.
Today, though, they seem a little simple.
Kind of like rainbows.
After a rain, we see a rainbow arcing across a portion of the sky and feel a little jump of elation, an appreciation of its beauty. Few of us stop to reflect on an essential truth: rainbows are anything but simple.
Without the rain, no amount of sunlight striking our atmosphere could produce a rainbow. For a rainbow to appear high up in the sky, there has to be a brilliant light source and there has to be millions upon millions of rain drops to reflect/refract that light.
To Noah and his family (in this week’s Genesis passage), the appearance of a rainbow was brand new. Before the Flood there had been no rain. Whatever mechanism God used to change our atmospheric composition to bring about that first rain, it remained in place when the flood subsided. And it produced, for the first time, the conditions necessary for a rainbow.
Technically, you can see a rainbow from the air, but it doesn't look quite the same; it can even appear as a circle from certain angles. Where you need to be to see the phenomenon as a bow is on the ground, with rain before you and the sun behind you.
God placed His bow "in the clouds" so that, for all generations, we could be assured that God would never again destroy all flesh by means of a flood.
The rainbow is just one of the covenants God has set between Himself and us ... signs we can see as we travel this spiritual journey on our way to where we are reunited, pointing the way so we don't become lost.
Whether it's bows or arrows, the intent is the same. If you want a successful journey, look for the signs along the way.
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A somewhat different version of this reflection appeared in February 2015.
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If you want to read more on the giant concrete arrows, some of which can still be seen, you could Google them or you could try http://www.citylab.com/work/2015/02/why-is-america-dotted-with-giant-concrete-arrows/385472/?utmsource=GristFB&utm_content=buffere1847&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
First Sunday in Lent (February 18, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=71
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15
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Lectionary Breakfast meets most Friday mornings at 8:00. We gather at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant (Franklin and New Road, near Outback. Look for us at the back.) We read the week’s scriptures and then dig in for the sustenance.
The food's good, too.
Enjoy the week!
Steve
