Liam Murray
The Blog

Monday, July 20, 2009

Communion on the moon....

12:39 PM | Comments (1)

Lots of stuff around about the moon landings obviously but an interesting story I'd never heard before via Eric Metaxas - apparently Buzz Aldrin took communion & communion wine on the surface of the moon and had intended to broadcast a short religious passage back to earth.
"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 reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly. …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."
(Psst - don't tell Tom Freeman, he gets touchy about religion....)

1 Comments:

At July 20, 2009 5:15 PM , Blogger Tom Freeman said...

I almost got outraged that he was drinking alcohol while operating heavy machinery, but then I realised - like he says - that under the moon's gravity, it wouldn't have been nearly as heavy. ;-)

 

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