iGod

40 years ago three men land on the moon - and read from the book of Genesis

I can remember being woken up by my father and brought downstairs to watch the moment when three US astronauts landed on the moon for the very first time. The year was 1969. I was just five years old. It was a very vivid memory.

I heard last week that Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buz Aldrin did something rather remarkable before stepping out of Apollo 11. The three of them read from the Book of Genesis, then apparently Neil Armstrong took Communion.

For reasons at the time, due to an atheist complaining about reading from a Bible in space, this latter fact had been concealed. I wonder what fresh meaning that simple meal of the bread and the wine had for Armstrong.

The Guardian on Saturday published its original front page. On it was an article quoting the Pope's reaction: "In an ecstasy of this prophetic day - a real triumph for man-made means for the dominion of the universe - we must not forget man's need and duty to dominate himself."

At the time there were three major conflicts raging back down on planet earth: Vietnam, Nigeria and the Middle East - with a fourth just erupted between El Salvador and Honduras.

The Pope concluded: "It is absolutely necessary that the heart of man should become freer, better, more religious as the power of his machines, his weapons, his instruments become greater and more dangerous."

To Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin's minds the world must have just looked plain innocent.

it makes me reflect on how Genesis chapter 1 must have read to them thousands of miles away from the earth; and how Jesus' death and resurrection was seen. One can only imagine. From their perspective, I am sure It would have looked perfect and untainted, and inconceivable that a tiny planet like theirs could hurt itself so much.

Neil Armstrong commented later, "It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small."

In John 3:30 when John the Baptist testifies about Jesus, he says forthrightly: "He must become greater; I must become less." When we have the kind of perspective of John the Bapist or Neil Armstrong there is hope for humanity. While we still want to be great we know the human race has its work cut out.

ASD

Zoweee!....iGod is 3 years old!

 I ask you to permit me a little self indulgence, as I never felt I would be doing iGod for three years. If being honest I thought I would have run out of things to say by now or simply lost interest.

Of all the posts over the last 36 months the two that still get frequents hits are neo-atheism and Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall and his mission to save battery hens. I am not really sure that they are that notable for what they say, but nevertheless still get surprisingly high click rates.

However that is all in the past. It is what is happening now that matters most. Today is the start to another week and another post.

Yet I do find myself trying to remember why I started this blogging lark. I think part of it was to see how my precious faith works out in a secular pluralist world. Another part of was simply about doing an online spiritual journal that might help some of us in our own journies of faith. I like to think it was not thinly veiled vanity. I am not sure how well I have suceeded, but I have been stimulated and had fun trying to contribute to stuff that happens in life.

My aim for iGod has always been to keep comment fairly light to be accessible to all, regardless of where people are at faithwise. It still remains "a place to reflect, contemplate, be informed and share life stuff." In the last 17 it has made its home on the Stour Valley Vineyard Church website, where I pastor a Vineyard church plant with my wife, so obviously I have a local and global context in mind nowadays.

The positive side of this is that I have to be accountable for my words, something that some of us considered while attending EA's Bloggers forum last year, which produced the fruit of the 10 Blogging Commandments.

Anyway, it's time to blow out the candles. Snuff said! (he he!)  Oh, c'mon, it is my birthday!

Let's keep the conversation going.

ASD