On Christmas Eve 1968, astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman recited Genesis 1: 1-10 verbatim, using the King James Version text.[1] They were orbiting the moon at the time. I wasn’t alive to see this… But Kate and I were moved to tears when we heard the recording at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago over spring break. We called and spoke with my in-laws not long after. They sure remembered that moment and how meaningful it was.

Since then, Kate and I have been watching everything we can about The Space Race. The newly restored footage of Apollo 11 is amazing. Ryan Gosling playing Neil Armstrong in First Man is riveting. All the inventions that came from this time of innovation and exploration are still with us. Cordless vacuums. Freeze-dried food. Satellite TV. Tang. Astronaut Ice Cream. Vulcanized rubber tires. Artificial limbs.[2] All these and more were invented during this time.

It was also the new age of Science Fiction. Humanity’s imagination was thriving in this time as we imagined terraforming Mars and living on the moon. Our TVs told us to “Meet George Jetson” and I still want to live in Orbit City. Foremost among this science fiction explosion was Star Trek.

Star Trek showed a new humanism. A positive view of humanity and the future. A surprisingly multi-cultural show, at least at that time. Written when the nation was experiencing racial unrest. It provided hope for so many that we could move past our prejudice and work together to forge a better future.

JFK cast the vision when he gave his “moonshot” speech at Rice University. “We choose to go to the moon,” the president said. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”[3]

That speech still gives me goosebumps. From this point in history, we herald this point in time. For its daring. For its vision. For the benefits we still enjoy to this day. How we are still reaching out and exploring space and learning more about our world and how it came to be. How it was created. How things evolved. Yet, in its day and age, the Space Race was protested.

Not everybody thought we should be going to the moon. What a waste. We’re spending all this money on rockets when we have starving people in our streets. People couldn’t see the point of the space race. It’s hard to believe from this point in history, but it was true at the time.

Edwin Freidman in his book, Failure of Nerve talks about a society in regression. He uses medieval Europe as an example. The society was stuck and had no imagination. They were hemmed in by the Moors and the Huns and outside fear. They were scared by the rampant plague. They led Inquisitions. Polarization in politics, rigidity of belief in religion all culminated in a society with a clouded vision, and an inability to innovate.[4] It took breaking the barrier of imagination and instead of trying to reach India through land, brave explorers decided to sail the other way. To cross the Atlantic. No one thought to go that way since the Vikings, and even that had been forgotten.

We were not meant to be chained. God means for God’s children to be free. We were meant to be adventurers. We saw that in the age of expansion in the Renaissance. We see it in the Space Race in the 1960s.

We see this spirit of adventuring in so many aspects of life. Even in how children were parented back then. Kids went out in the morning and came back when the street lights came on. I experienced this as a child growing up in the 80s and 90s. Do parents do that now?

Safety has become the order of the day. We see what can go wrong, and we’re afraid. And fear keeps us from dreaming and innovating. I fear our society is starting to regress. We see fear dominate the cultural narrative. We see groups marginalized and blamed for moral regression; the evil immigrants and illegals, the gays, the rival political party. We don’t seem to be dreaming much. We’re starting to gridlock. It seems like we’re living in a Psalm 12 time.

A time where no one is faithful. Loyalty has vanished and so has truth. Everyone lies to their neighbors and harbor ulterior motives. They seem like such dower and imagine less readings. Yet they also say “I will now arise, says the Lord.” It says God will keep the needy safe and protect us from the wicked. Maybe we’re in a refining time where we need to examine our values and dream new dreams. To boldly go where no one has gone before.

This act is what Walter Brueggemann speaks about in his book, The Prophetic Imagination. Empire gives you an either/or option: our way or the highway. You either conform or you die. You can try to do it your way, you’re free to do that, but you’ll fail because it’s a scary dangerous world and you’re only safe if you conform.

It’s the prophets who step up and counter that narrative. They say to the powers that be: we were here before you and we’ll be around after. We’ve watched the Assyrians, the Babylonian, the Greek and Roman empires fall. Don’t give us your false ‘either/or.’ We can imagine worlds where the lion lays down with the lamb. We imagine Warp Speed and Klingons. We are the most creative species that have ever existed. We put men on the moon, and people are in orbit right now. We are often lulled to a false complacency, but when we remember our call… We are called to be co-creators with God.

God calls, creation responds. “Let there be light!” God says.

“How about these stars?” responds creation.

“Oh, that’s good,” says God.

“Let there be living things!” says God.

“How about these fish? We’re thinking of calling these ‘horses.’” Says creation.

“Oh, I like that. That’s good.” Says God.

And I know y’all have heard me give this riff before, but I’m going to keep going until we live it. “What do you think about these weird apes? We’re calling them humans.” Says creation.

“Oh…. THAT. That is very good.”

The rabbis call humanity the “crown jewel of creation.” The divine image bearers. We are made with the image of God. We are inspirited by God’s creative and Holy Spirit.

Edwin Friedman ends his book with this great midrash on creation. Inspired by the Christmas Eve Genesis reading I mentioned earlier and the 50^th Anniversary of the moon landing this Saturday… I leave you with this story.

On the third day of Creation, just before all forms of life were about to multiply, the Holy One said to his creatures:

“I see that what some of you treasure is survival, while what others yearn for most is adventure. So I will give each of you a choice. If what you want most is stability, then I will give you the power to regenerate any part you lose, but you must stay rooted where you grow. If, on the other hand, you prefer mobility, you also may have your wish, but you will be more at risk. For then I will not give you the ability to regain your previous form.”

Those that chose stability we call trees. And those that chose opportunity became animals.[5]

May you dream dreams. May you see visions. May you speak with prophetic fire. May you innovate and explore and tell the tales of your adventures. May you call your moon shot, to speak a dream that others might protest or scoff at and call you crazy, it can never be done. It can be a grand, huge dream! Like how you’re going to be a state senator in ten years or less. Or it can be small things like going somewhere new. Meeting someone new and hanging out with them. Doing something you didn’t expect to do. Or even deciding that today, you will be content. Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for god has already approved what you do. And may grace and peace be with you. Amen.

Works Cited

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8_Genesis_reading

[2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/hidden-figures/technology-from-the-space-race/

[3] https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm

[4] Failure of Nerve, page 58.

[5] Failure of Nerve, page 266