LIFE ON ANOTHER PLANET

This December 7 marks sixty-nine years since the Pearl Harbor invasion, and I was tempted to write once again about the sacrifices of those brave men and women attacked on a Sunday morning. But something caught my attention this past week - a story about the discovery that an additional element, arsenic, that can be part of the formula for human life. This bit of info produced many media stories, including several which speculated about the potential of life on other planets.

I happen to believe there has been life on other planets, and so do you. Forty-one years ago, on Sunday July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon at 3:17 EST. The moon is a satellite of earth, and is large enough to be considered a minor planet in our solar system. That day and for the next three and a half years, a total of twelve astronauts walked on the moon. During those years we can say without doubt there was intelligent life in another location of our solar system.

The Apollo Eleven moon landing has been celebrated and examined in great detail. But one aspect usually overlooked is that Buzz Aldrin had Holy Communion when he was on the moon. Aldrin's church had given him a small packet containing consecrated bread and wine, and during the radio blackout when the Eagle was out of contact with earth, he ate and drank the elements of Holy Communion 235,000 miles away from the nearest church. After he did, Aldrin read John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me and I in Him will bring forth much fruit."

NASA kept this act secret for two decades because it was already embroiled in a legal battle with the athiest Madelyn Murray O’Hare over the Apollo Eight crew's reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. Aldrin said he prayed aloud after communion that day, giving thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the moon's Sea of Tranquility. It is interesting and heartening to realize that the first food and drink consumed on the moon were the elements of the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

Aldrin's memoirs were the center of Tom Hanks' 1998 HBO mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon," and in it the audience was made aware of this act of Christian worship. This year I am assisting Trinity congregation here, in Casa Grande, AZ, with midweek Advent services under the theme, "The Prophets Speak." It's a Trinity custom to celebrate Holy Communion during these services. This Wednesday I intend to remember those astronauts and the intelligence, humility and faith they showed that day on another planet in our universe God created.

"He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge." (Psalm 91:4)