A celestial Communion — a lunar Eucharist
flockwoodA little-known fact about the first moon landing. Astronaut Buzz Aldwin celebrated the Lord’s Supper on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, drinking wine from a small silver chalice.
The act of worship was not revealed until after the flight. Sitting in the lunar module, Aldwin, a Presbyterian, read a verse from the New Testament before partaking.
Which verse? John 15:5. In the verse, Jesus says:
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”
To read Aldwin’s full account, click here.
h/t: StandFirminFaith.com for spotting this gem.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Can you imagine the journey this would have been for a religious man?
March 5th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
One thing is clear that this spiritual event, 1st lunar Eucharist was kept under “bed” and let not be exposed to public, because of fear of being sued by godless people who pull, like gravitational force that prevent space ship from going out of earth. The important issue here is freedom of expression of individual and collective feelings of people over fear of crossing the boundary of Church and State for benefit of mass. Like ether in universe which makes telecommunication possible within and out of the world, Christ’s spirits makes possible to unite human souls under one God. Thanks God for Aldwin’s courage for defying media critics and fear of being sued to spread the spiritual light on lunar soil and safe return. As per NASA account, Apollo 13 avoided a split second landing crash on moon surface. LM (Lunar Module) consumed accelerated fuel beyond NASA engineers’ expectation because of 1/6th earth’s gravitation and that would leave LM’s gas tank empty almost 50 feet above lunar surface for crashed landing had it not land a second earlier. Miracle does happen when you have faith.
March 5th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Julian,
I guess it didn’t occur to you that there might exist other reasons why NASA might choose not to publicize this event prior to takeoff. Let me offer you one. Sending men to the moon is very difficult. Publicizing the fact that one of the astronauts was planning on freely exercising his religion during the mission could be somewhat distracting. It would definitely have found its way into the newspapers, especially here in the Bible Belt. No one wants a difficult (and expensive) moon mission to be ruined by petty distractions. Therefore, they kept it quiet beforehand, so that people could focus on the what really mattered in that moment, getting those astronauts there and back safely.
As a godless person myself, I take issue with your claim that we, the secular crowd, stand ready at all hours, waiting for religious people to exercise their religion, so we can take them to court and sue the pants off them. We don’t. To me, prayer is nothing more than talking to oneself, and I don’t care what you tell yourself. Your inner monologue is of no concern to me, and so long as you are not forcing others to participate or using public resources for your rituals and ceremonies, I and many others like me could not care less. We respect the First Amendment; I can’t say the same for all Christians.
Now I too would like to recognize Aldwin’s courage, but not for saying a prayer. The man went to the friggin’ moon! If that doesn’t take real cojones, I don’t know what does!
March 5th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Aagh! People! It’s “Aldrin”, not “Aldwin”, and the mission was Apollo 11, not Apollo 13.
There has been a lot of loose talk by evangelicals who love to boohoo about victimization but I have not seen anything of substance to indicate that Aldrin was treated unfairly during his astronaut days because of his faith. I do know this, however. Space missions are carefully planned and scripted, and that was especially true for the first lunar mission. There were so many uncertainties and no room for any unnecessary risks or distractions. You cannot begin to understand how seemingly minor factors can cause major failures. Sitting in an aluminum can in a vacuum a couple hundred thousand miles from Earth, that’s no place for your crew to go rogue. If the folks in charge of the mission knew that the pilot had smuggled aboard some substances without any inspection or approval, and that he intended to complicate a busy and hazardous mission with some personal activities, they might well have disciplined him severely for reasons that have nothing to do with religious tolerance.
For those who see a secular conspiracy in the space program and government and elsewhere, please note this counterexample. On Christmas Eve 1968, while being the first humans to travel outside of the Earth’s orbit, the Apollo 8 crew read the creation story from Genesis to a worldwide audience. That was OK; there was no risk or other impacts to the mission since the astronauts were already scheduled for a television broadcast. I thought it was a beautiful moment, a wonderful coda to an incredibly historic year.
March 6th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
All that is true, Jose, but I suspect what Julian is referring to is the lawsuit brought by Madalyn Murray O’Hair over the Apollo 8 incident. Even though the lawsuit was quickly dismissed (a point usually ignored by evangelicals who wish to demonize the court system) I suspect that NASA didn’t want a repeat incident. I agree with your analysis of the reasons NASA might reasonably want to know what substances were brought on board. People don’t seem to understand that the astronauts are merely the front men for a huge multi-billion dollar project that thousands of people had worked on for years. Until you have actually managed something, it’s hard to understand how management works, and it does often require the detailed control of the conduct of employees.
I recently read Norman Mailer’s book “Of a Fire on the Moon,” an account of the Apollo 11 landing that was published not long after the flight. He does a great job laying out Jose’s point that these astronauts were out there, in space, in a vehicle whose sides were not much thicker than tin cans, and were landing on the moon in a vehicle that was so lightly constructed that it could never be used on earth because of earth’s greater gravity than the moon. He talks about all the little details that the astronauts had to go through every day to keep the spacecraft from freezing or getting too hot, and keeping its various antennae positioned so that they could send and receive transmissions. It was indeed a monumental undertaking. It is easy to see why NASA was so cautious about what it allowed on board the ship.
Jose, one final chuckle. In looking up the dismissal of O’Hair’s lawsuit, I saw that the Solicitor-General of the US at the time, who argued the government’s point in the US Supreme Court was old Erwin Griswold, who had been the longtime dean of Harvard Law School, and who had pledged to take the land on which the Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church stands for the law school “or die trying.” Well, he’s dead and the church is still there . . .
And that’s rather the message from this whole incident, too. Evangelicals, as Jose says, are about as big a bunch of whiners as the Mormons (okay, maybe he didn’t say that, but I’m projecting). But what really happened is that, as far as I know, whenever the astronauts wanted to observe a religious observance in space, they did, and while there was one frivolous lawsuit that was quickly dismissed, 99.9% of the country didn’t care, the churches stayed open, and the sky didn’t fall. And that’s about the same result as in the other incidents in which they complain of government interference with religion.
March 6th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
“..that we, the secular crowd, stand ready at all hours, waiting for religious people to exercise their religion, so we can take them to court and sue the pants off them”.
Cheese, everybody have to agree that we are human first and foremost, have emotion, feeling, and believe system that drive us working. For example your godless believe drives your daily life well, where as that senseless believe system drives me nut, but while talking to formless God always gives me positive attitude to stay focus in any circumstances, and brings most of the time good luck in “my world”. NASA astronauts’ team is not different than us at least in human perspective. They have their own believe system, as Aldrin had faith in Christ and Christ helped him bear much fruit by landing the Eagle just one second before crash landing as stated in John 15:5. This reading and Holy ritual was not waste of public money and time, but save his life and public money and honor to the world. Aldrin had been inspired by this reading and ritual that helped him stay focus in his job and brought the space ship back to earth safely as we all know and proud of. So why those who do not believe Christ stay cool and share the fruits of honor in successful landing and be friend to those who believe Christ, instead of prosecuting Christian. As the name speaks “1st amendment”, that law rightfully protects first and foremost to be considered individual freedom over crossing the boundary of Church and State, which is secondary to be considered.
Secular believe can not forcefully put a lid on majority believe to expose that brings fruits for everybody, unless majority believe exploits minority believe. For example in Muslim majority country, a non-Muslim can convert to Islam, but a Muslim can not convert to minority religion. Both cases are undemocratic and injustice.
Jose
Thanks for correction, may be 13 is my lucky number, though Apollo 13 termed as “successful failure”, and it slipped through my mind instead of 11. I am afraid that you are wrong in believing NASA Apollo 11 management team was not aware of his bringing sacraments as his personal effects which are allowed for each astronaut. With his doctor’s consent and control way of not being contaminated by germ, communion services was solemnized prior to his departure to Cape Kennedy with his close friends and family only instead of large gathering. More over after landing on the moon, Aldrin radioed earth: “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 received Communion on the surface of the Moon, but kept it secret because of a lawsuit brought by atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair over the reading of Genesis on Apollo 8.
The way it was conducted was above any question whatsoever, whether technical or public believe. I believe even Cheese would find at least in this case talk to his own spirit and give thanks for job well done. Don’t you Cheese?
March 7th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Julian,
The story as I read it never explicitly states why he kept it a secret, or even how long it was kept secret. It may have become public knowledge as soon as the mission was over. I don’t know. If you can find where Aldrin (to whom I offer my humblest apologize for misspelling his name) stated that he covered it up to avoid a lawsuit, I’ll happily change my opinion, but until let’s avoid putting words into other people’s mouths. And, for the record, no, this case does not speak to my spirit, and if I were to give thanks, I would reserve it for the many people who made the mission’s success possible, not imaginary deities and fictional characters.
March 8th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
“..and if I were to give thanks, I would reserve it for the many people who made the mission’s success possible, “
Cheese that’s the spirit Aldrin wished by his radio message to people of the world and asked them to give thanks the way, any one wants, as he gave his thanks through Holy Communion to Almighty God. This is the spirit I like to live in where no one would drag some one in court and take the pants off, because of his/her expressing faith either in school, workplace or even in outer space. True freedom for everybody would be revealed, and we would enjoy full length of our life. If any one does not like, s/he is free not to participate, but let the other’s freedom of expression be prevailed.
March 8th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
I’ve sued lots of people, Julian, but never taken anyone’s pants off in court. Given some of the people I’ve sued, that was a good thing . . .
March 8th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
I was thrown by that pants thing (maybe Julian watches too much David Letterman), but my serious point is that anyone can sue anyone over anything. We used to say that all it takes to have a lawsuit is a so and so (add your own expletive) and a hundred dollar bill (for the filing fee; inflation has increased that, but not by much).
However, the court system does deal expeditiously with frivolous lawsuits, just as it did in the O’Hair case. The issue is not whether someone wants to sue, but whether the law will sustain that law suit: In O’Hair’s case, it didn’t, and wouldn’t today, either. Litigation is not going to prevent you from worshiping, Julian: Go worry about something else.
March 8th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
The wonderful website snopes.com does a remarkably good job in separating fact from fiction. They are fair, honest, and their research is documented. Their report on the Adrin lunar communion came out just yesterday. It’s worthwhile reading for anyone still interested in the story:
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/communion.asp
I was especially surprised by this excerpt from Aldrin’s book “Magnificent Desolation”, published last year. Aldrin writes:
“Perhaps, if I had to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion. Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the moon in the name of all mankind be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists.”
Amen.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Julian,
Riddle me this, batman. Why is it that whenever something you perceive as good happens, such as Aldrin overcoming the odds and surviving his moon mission, you immediately jump to the conclusion that it could not have happened had it not been for the intervention of a divine being? “Christ helped him bear much fruit by landing the Eagle just one second before crash landing.” Whereas, when something you perceive as bad happens, such as the Challenger explosion, you do not jump immediately to the opposite conclusion, that God is to blame, you instead immediately dismiss any and all of God’s culpability in the negative outcome and blame man or a demonic being? Tell me, why is this? Why does God get credit for all good things, but zero blame for any of the bad?
My own answer: you jump to these conclusions, because you pull your truth out of your…
March 8th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
“Why does God get credit for all good things, but zero blame for any of the bad? “
Cheese, to write long story short in reply to your question I would only say as per biblical teaching God of Love do no harm to his creation, only His counter power devil does. Rather God helps us through Holy Spirit to stay focus on any circumstances according to our ability if we ask for His help. There is no exception for prayer, even Christ prayed to His Father all time to gain strength before His trial that caused Him to death at cross. This crooked plan Christ anticipated long before any human wisdom can perceived. Devil’s power who acts independently succeeded in crucifying Him because our crooked human nature but on the other hand God’s power raised Christ with body after 3 days and defeated devil and its sting of spiritual death for ever, opening new door for all human souls who wants to follow God’s path. It is like opening another door when one door is closed, in case of loosing a job. Therefore God do no harm to human, if we stay firm with Him, He opens up another one for our survival.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Julian,
You are lying, and I, for one, am utterly sick of your intellectual dishonesty. Your views are based on biblical teaching? That’s rich. Your first sentence (“God of Love do[es] no harm to his creation”) is so easy to disprove that I don’t even have to crack the Bible to do so. God doesn’t harm his creations? You’ve clearly never read that story about a flood that kills all human beings save one family. God, not Satan, is the leading cause of death in the Bible. The only difference between God and Satan is that Satan was cast into hell for his pride; God wasn’t. Satan tempts individuals; God destroys entire populations, including the innocent. The flood and the tenth plague alone, if they really occurred, killed thousands of innocent people. God has no qualms whatsoever about destroying his creations, and had you actually taken the time to check your “facts” against what the Bible actually says before you opened your mouth, you might have caught this one and several others.
This is my problem with you, Julian. You don’t think before you speak, you don’t question your beliefs, and you reconstruct history (“lie”) to make your points. Buzz Aldrin has a close call with death, survives, and the first thing out of your mouth is: “God saved the day!” You have no evidence that God was even involved. The Bible says nothing about moon missions, but even if he were somehow involved in this incident, he certainly sat on his hands when Challenger exploded, but your first inclination is to inject Jesus Christ, your favorite superhero, into the story and recast him as the hero of the day and the mission’s success as a victory for your deity. Am I asking too much by saying: stick to the facts! Your fictions are lies! And if you are going to continue to reference “biblical teaching,” as if it really validates your point-of-view, please include citations.