A friend of mine gave me a book about the early American space flights beginning with Alan Shepherd in the Mercury 7 through the first moon landing on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong along with Buzz Aldrin brought their capsule “the Eagle” to settle on the surface of this strange alien piece of rock that circles our planet.
In between these two space adventures came many different
trial runs. It was Christmas Eve,
December 24, 1968, and the crew of Apollo 8, became the first humans to
travel to the Moon.
As they circled the moon on that Christmas Eve, the three
astronauts – Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman each read from the Book
of Genesis as the world watched their journey on a live television
broadcast. The transcript was this:
Bill Anders spoke first…
We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people
back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to
you.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the
darkness.
Next Jim Lovell took over…
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it
divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the
firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the
second day.
The third astronaut Frank Borman spoke last…
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters
called the seas: and God saw that it was good.
Borman concluded the reading with his words: “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close
with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of
you, all of you on the good Earth.”
It was 1968 and I was a 19-year-old freshman in college. That year had been tumultuous in
America. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther
King Jr. had been assassinated. The
Democratic National Convention had been attacked by rioters protesting the War
in Vietnam. Race riots broke out in many
large cities in America.
Nasa gave Frank Borman, the leader of Apollo 8 permission to
say something to the watching world, without qualifying what he would say. As they orbited the moon Commander Lovell
said, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring, and it makes you realize just
what you have back there on Earth”.[1]
Advent reminds us that our world and our lives are worthwhile. We have a God who “so loved the world that
he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him might have eternal
life”.
Advent reminds us that it is only in God that real peace can
be found. May He bless you with His
Peace that might fill in all of the troubled spaces within.
Peace
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