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The
Event
Just
over forty years ago, two human beings accomplished
what many deemed impossible: they stepped onto the
surface of the moon!
But something else occurred on that day just
before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the Lunar
Module that did not make the newscasts at that time.
It was an event that Aldrin wrote about in Guideposts
magazine some months after his return.
In
October 2005, writer Eric Metaxas had the privilege of
meeting Aldrin and asked him about this event.
Aldrin confirmed the story and Metaxas wrote
about it.
Aldrin
and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a
few minutes when Aldrin made the following public
statement: "This
is the LM pilot. 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 ended radio
communication and there, on the silent surface of the
moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from
the Gospel of John, and he took communion. Here
is his account of what happened:
"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... For apart from Me,
you can do nothing’
[John 15:1, 5].”
After
he ate the bread and drank the wine, Aldrin reported, “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.” *
Before
man first walked on the MOON, he first remembered what
Christ had done for him on the CROSS by taking
communion!
The
Scriptures teach that the early Christians partook of
communion –
the Lord’s Supper –on the first day of every week
(Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 11:23-29).
This Supper was instituted by Jesus as a
memorial to what He would do for mankind on the cross
(Matthew 26:26-29): He died for the sins of the world
(1 John 2:2).
Sin
separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and can
ultimately lead to our eternal demise (Romans
6:23).
But
God loved us so much that He gave His one and only
Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins (John
3:16). Those who believe
and place their trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn
from their sins in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are
baptized
(immersed) into Christ (Acts 2:38) have their sins
washed away and forgiven by God (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Eph
1:7).
As
history continues to be written, may each of us
recognize the greatest event of all: God came to
earth in the person of Jesus and died on the cross
that we might live with Him eternally.
Won’t
YOU allow HIS-story to
change your life today through your trusting
obedience?
David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church
of Christ at Creekwood
1901
Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
* From “Communion on the Moon: July 20, 1969” by Eric Metaxas at www.cbn.com
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