AlamoPA Mailing List: Fw: The Moon and God - 50 years ago

[Sallie Carlson (wacsc11945]

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From: Lois Anderson <glois [at] verizon.net>

To: 'Sallie Carlson' <wacsc11945 [at] yahoo.com>; 'Susan Allison' <smallison53 [at] yahoo.com>; "smagee216 [at] aol.com" <smagee216 [at] aol.com>; 'Judy Lindstrom' <judithsli [at] yahoo.com>; 'Jenny Machado' <jennyandzon [at] yahoo.com>; 'Judy Pariseau' <camiolady [at] gmail.com>; 'Marilyn McDonald' <mcdonald.LMC [at] gmail.com>

Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2019, 3:19:52 PM CDT

Subject: FW: The Moon and God - 50 years ago

 

 

 

 

I don't recall this being in the news 50 years ago or now on the 50th anniversary

This Is A Wonderful True Story, So worth the read, and an example of
our Christian Heritage Worth Remembering And Sharing With The World.

THE MOON AND GOD

What was the first liquid and food consumed on the moon? I'm betting
that most are unaware of this story.

Almost 50 years ago (July 20, 1969), two human beings changed history
by walking on the surface of the moon.

But, what happened before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the
Lunar Module is perhaps even more amazing, if only because so few
people know about it. I'm talking about the fact that Buzz Aldrin took
communion on the surface of the moon. Some months after his return, he
wrote about it in Guideposts magazine.

The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his
Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life; and,
knowing that he would soon be doing something unprecedented in human
history, he felt that he should mark the occasion somehow. He asked
his minister to help him and so the minister consecrated a communion
wafer and a small vial of communion wine. Buzz Aldrin took them with
him out of the Earth's orbit and onto the surface of the moon. He and
Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when
Aldrin made the following public statement:

“This is the LM (Lunar Module) pilot. I'd like to take this
opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever
they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the
past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.” He then
ended radio communication, and there, on the silent surface of the
moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of
John, and he took communion.

Here is his account of what happened:
"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 ... Apart from me you can do
nothing.'

"I had intended to read my communion passage back to Earth, but at the
last minute [they] 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's reading from Genesis
while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly."

"I ate the tiny toast and swallowed the wine. 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 that the very first
liquid ever poured on the moon and the very first food eaten there
were the communion elements."

"And, of course, it's interesting to think that some of the first
words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the
Earth and the moon - and who, in the immortal words of Dante, is
Himself the "Love that moves the Sun and other stars."

How many of you knew this? Too bad this type of news doesn't travel as
fast as the bad does.

Share with others you know.

The nicest place to be is in someone's thoughts, the safest place to
be is in someone's prayers, and the very best place to be is in the
hands of God. Amen.

 

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