Would an easier answer be that (in simple two-body Earth-Sun orbit) the Earth is sitting in the Sun's gravitational field. Apart from tiny negligible wobbles du

Would an easier answer be that (in simple two-body Earth-Sun orbit) the Earth is sitting in the Sun's gravitational field. Apart from tiny negligible wobbles due to the Sun orbiting the earth-sun centre-of-mass, this gravitational field is static and always points directly towards the Sun. And so the Earth feels, right now, a pull towards where the Sun will visually appear to be in 8 minutes. Likewise in a galaxy, the gravitational field always points to the centre of the galaxy. Lots of tiny wobbles due to stars moving around, but mostly just points directly to the centre (and the giant black hole lurking there maybe?).