I Didn't Know That

If anyone asked me as a child what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said “an astronaut.” I was fascinated by the idea of exploring the universe and actually leaving the earth. I loved the US Space Program and the astronauts were my heroes. I thought I knew everything about some of the more famous missions. Here’s something I didn’t know until recently:

The day that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their historic first steps on the moon, another “first”  took place. Before the Apollo 11 lift-off, Aldrin was looking for a way to honor God’s presence in the mission. So he took with him a piece of communion bread, some wine, and a tiny cup. They were sealed in plastic packets and stowed in his personal preference kit (each astronaut was allowed to take a few personal items with him.)

July 20, 1969 was a Sunday. After the Eagle touched down, Aldrin took the “supper” out of the flight packets and put it on a small table in front of the abort guidance-system computer. Then he called Houston and asked for a few moments of silence.

I would have SO loved to be there to watch the wine curl gracefully up the side of the cup when he poured it in the moon’s gravity of 1/6 earth’s gravity.  To have communed with Jesus on the MOON!  And to have had the supper with the astronauts as Aldrin read, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.

I can only imagine the peace they must have felt there on the moon that day – just because, well, IT’S THE MOON! But when I think of what the Supper means (“This is my body; this is my blood”) I realize that, as violently as He was sacrificed for us, from this act came peace with God; a new covenant, making all things new.  And what must it have been like there, in that peaceful “new” place no man had walked before?

The communion unifies us; it makes us one people at His table. When we “devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer,“ (Acts 2:42) his unity wipes out differences of Nation, race, class, and any other cultural or social barriers.  How wonderful that must have been, celebrated on the Moon.

Father of the Universe, You are so great. You made it all. You are in still in charge, which is such a comfort, because we have made such a mess of “our part.” May we never take for granted or cease to wonder at Your creation.

God, I am so thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus.  And for the opportunity to celebrate each week His death and resurrection and the expectation of His return. May I never wish for more – as if sharing the supper with my Brothers & Sisters could ever be better, even on the moon. In His name, amen.

Lynn Anne Hughes

Stephenville, Texas