Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon.
Date:
7/27/09
"Remembering Christ" on the Moon
by Pam Woodson
One week ago today, we celebrated
the 40th anniversary of man's first walk on the moon. We remembered that first step and the infamous words from Neil Armstrong, "One
small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind." He and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to set foot on the moon's surface, during
the Apollo 11 space mission. Millions were glued to their television sets to watch them exit the Lunar Module and make history. Many
Americans around at the time remember it well. But something most people don't know, much less
remember, is that a man took Communion on the moon.
Aldrin, an elder at his Presbyterian Church
in Texas, had brought with him a tiny communion kit consecrated and given to him by his pastor, which had a silver chalice
and wine vial about the size of the tip of his finger. The astronauts had only been on the lunar surface a few minutes when Aldrin
radioed: "Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to
invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and
to give thanks in his own individual way."
Aldrin wrote later in GUIDEPOSTS magazine in 1970, "In the radio
blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church
had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read
the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.' I had intended to read my
communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled
in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while
orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly...Eagle's metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the Tranquility.
I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for
me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements."
This event remained virtually unknown for two decades. The memoirs of Buzz Aldrin and the Tom Hanks' Emmy-winning HBO mini-series
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON made people aware of this specific act of Christian worship 235,000 miles from the earth.
The small chalice Aldrin used for the wine went back to Webster Church. Each year on the Sunday closest to July 20, the congregation
celebrates Lunar Communion.
As far as I recall, last week was the first I ever heard about what
Buzz Aldrin did on that day in 1969. Communion on the moon -- I absolutely have not been able to get that out of my mind since I read
of it. Communion is a special time to me. It is a time to set all else aside in my thinking and focus on Christ, remembering
what He did for us on the cross. It's a time designated by Jesus Himself as one of remembrance. "The Lord Jesus in the night
in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this
in REMEMBRANCE of Me.' In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood;
do this, as often as you drink it, in REMEMBRANCE of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim
the Lord's death until He comes" (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
The first walk on the moon was preceded by the
first supper on the moon, one to celebrate The Lord's Supper and "remember" Jesus Christ. To think that someone respected
the Lord enough to take Communion on the moon and ensure that Christ would be remembered there is astounding
to me. With all of the awesome new sights and wonderment the moon had to offer these visiting strangers, someone actually pushed aside
the mesmerizing views and experiences he could have stored up as extra memories to share with the entire world, and chose to remember
the God who had created it all. How commendable! He remembered Christ...yet, 1 Corinthians 11 says it was not just a remembrance; it
was a proclamation. There on the moon's surface, a man was proclaiming through actions the Lord's death, proclaiming that
Jesus had come to die for us, proclaiming that "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). This same message is the Christian's proclamation thoughout the earth today.
It comes first above all else we have to share. Ironically, some of the first words spoken on the moon were those of Jesus Christ
from the Gospel of John -- perhaps indicative, if even accidentally, that it was "first things first" that day in order of importance. Similarily, we are
encouraged in the Bible to exalt the Word of God, to put it first place in our personal lives and speak it unashamedly.
Now for a fun question: Would I like to have walked on the moon? Sure, who wouldn't, considering it as a no-risk-involved
daydream of pure imagination? Bouncing around in a spacesuit on a lunar surface would be a blast. Or would I like to
have had Communion on the moon? Yes, absolutely, just as much...and it's a decision drawn from the reality of enjoying Communion for
years and from a heartfelt faith in God. Would I desire to have done both? On the one hand -- "obviously"; on the other
hand -- "no comment; it leaves me speechless," for how can experiences like that handed over on a silver platter
in a 24-hour period possibly be fathomed to the fullest? Only one person knows for sure what that feels like.
I respect Buzz Aldrin for bringing the Lord onto the scene during a monumental moment in history at a place so far
away from our home. The Creator of this world being honored in space, being honored elsewhere in the vast universe
He Himself made, is something I think He well deserved. I choose to think that Buzz Aldrin represented ALL of us with like
hearts as his towards God -- believers in the Lord in this present time and those of us who in hot July 1969
stood down here below, peering up into the night sky to catch per chance a never-before-seen speck on the moon's light, which
surely would be Apollo 11 sitting on its surface. With a lone astronaut to represent us, it feels as though we too got to
reverence God on the moon. I consider Buzz Aldrin's important act that day as "one small sip for a man; one giant
leap of faith for mankind."