Communion On The Moon

(I usually don't reprint previous postings here at the Greene Street Letters. But going back through the archives, I found this one. As I read it, I felt God nudging me to put it up this morning. Sometimes we just need to hear the whole story).


I found an interesting article in Dr. David Reagan's E-zine LAMPLIGHTER. It tells of an event that happened on the day Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon. Mankind's first steps on a body outside of our own earth took place on July 20, 1969.

As most of you know the two men who landed on the moon were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. What has not been known, until recently, were the events that took place after the landing and before the astronauts left the lunar lander to began their historic excursion.

Two and a half hours after landing, before exiting their module for their first moon walk, Buzz Aldrin radioed Mission Control and said, "This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and where ever 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."

Aldrin then proceeded to take communion personally and privately. In an article he wrote for Guideposts in the 70's, Aldrin described the communion service as follows:

In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which

contained the bread and the wine. I poured the win 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 ate the tiny Host 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: the very first

liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were

the communion elements."

The communion service was not announced at the time. In fact, it was kept secret by NASA until Aldrin revealed it in his book, Return to Earth, published in 1973. The reason for the secrecy is that at the time of the Apollo 11 mission, NASA was fighting a law suit brought by Madalyn Murray O'Hair who had objected to the Apollo 8 crew reading from the book of Genesis during a broadcast as the crew circled the moon.

Think of the accolades that Neil Armstrong received for being the first man on the moon, but think of the pleasure that God received, as Buzz Aldrin recognized his Lord and Savior there on the moon.

As Paul Harvey would say, "And now you know the rest of the story."

God on you.......

mb