God Connects Us to Jesus and His Disciples

READING | John 15:5 | Lunar Communion
[Jesus said] ⁵"I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit, for you can do nothing without me."

REFLECTION | God Connects Us to Jesus and His Disciples

I was in first grade when the Space Shuttle Columbia launched for the first time.  The astronauts were soaring into outer space and leaving planet Earth far behind. 

Well, not too far behind.  The first mission of the Columbia—and all of the following shuttle missions—took the astronauts into a low Earth orbit.  A low Earth orbit is about 2000 kilometers (1200 miles) above earth, the distance from New York City to Key West, Florida.

The astronauts who went to the Moon did leave the Earth far behind.  The distance from the Earth to the moon is—on average—384,400 km (238,900 miles).  On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins were launched into space aboard the Apollo 11.  Days later, on July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin landed the Eagle lunar module on the surface of the Moon. 

Aldrin writes of the moments after the lunar module touched down in his book, Magnificent Desolation:

I decided that this would be an excellent time for a ceremony I had planned as an expression of gratitude and hope.  Weeks before, as the Apollo mission drew near, I had originally asked Dean Woodruff, pastor at Webster Presbyterian Church, where my family and I attended services when I was home in Houston, to help me come up with something I could do on the moon, some appropriate symbolic act regarding the universality of seeking.  I had thought in terms of doing something overtly patriotic, but everything we came up with sounded trite and jingoistic.  I settled on a well-known expression of spirituality: celebrating the first Christian Communion on the moon, much as Christopher Columbus and other explorers had done when they first landed in their 'new world.'[I]

Before Aldrin departed on his Apollo mission, Rev. Woodruff broke the corner off a loaf of bread.  He gave Aldrin a piece to take with him to the moon and saved the remainder for the congregation.[ii]  On Sunday morning, July 20, Rev. Woodruff explained to the worshippers at Webster Presbyterian that they would be receiving communion using the remainder of the loaf, and that Aldrin would partake of his piece of the loaf later that afternoon.[iii] 

Aldrin continues his recollection of the first lunar communion: 

During those first hours on the moon, before the planned eating and rest periods, I reached into my personal preference kit and pulled out the communion elements along with a three-by-five card on which I had written the words of Jesus: '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.'  I poured a thimbleful of wine from a sealed plastic container into a small chalice, and waited for the wine to settle down as it swirled in the one-sixth Earth gravity of the moon... I silently read the Bible passage as I partook of the wafer [sic] and the wine, and offered a private prayer for the task at hand and the opportunity I had been given." [iv] 

One of the Bible passages Aldrin read was John 15:5, in which Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit, for you can do nothing without me."  Through communion, Aldrin experienced a connection with Jesus and Jesus' followers back on earth.  By eating from the same loaf of bread as his congregation in Texas, Aldrin remained connected to the disciples at Webster Presbyterian, even though he was separated from them by 238,900 miles.  Through communion, Buzz Aldrin was connected with the whole Christian Church--living and dead; on earth and in heaven, and in the heavens. 

"I sensed especially strongly my unity with our church back home, and with the Church everywhere," Aldrin reflected.[v] 

______________

ⁱ Aldrin, Buzz with Ken Abraham.  Magificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon, Three Rivers Publishers, 1999? pp.25-26.

ⁱⁱ Aldrin, Buzz.  Guideposts article, 1970. 
ⁱⁱⁱ "Communion Celebrated on the Moon," The [Sarasota] Herald-Tribune.  18 August 1969, p. A5.
^iv Magificent Desolation, pp.26-27.  Though Aldrin mentions a communion "wafer" here, earlier accounts of the events suggest bread was used. 
^v Aldrin, Buzz.  Guideposts article, 1970. 

RECIPE | Rustic Italian Bread

After I learned of the story of the first lunar communion, and as I formulated the format of this blog, I wondered if there was a recipe for the bread baked for the moon landing. I contacted the staff of Webster Presbyterian.  Pastor Helen DeLeon was gracious to provide this reply in an e-mail: "We would have used either a French or Italian bread, though no one thought to record that detail... One of the reasons no one thought to bake a special loaf of bread for this service may well have been that the times were very hectic.  NASA people were working 60 hours a week, and their wives were covering all aspects of life on the home front.  Some of the decision about the service were taken over by NASA, thus beyond the control of our congregation and were made at the last minute. 

So, since there is no "official" recipe, here is a link to a simple recipe for a loaf of Italian bread, from "For the Feast," a blog by Carrie Pacini: http://forthefeast.com/2011/09/rustic-italian-bread/