Wonder
NASA astrononaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of ne of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the moon. Image Credit: NASA.
“In all of this emptiness… you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist (in) together... we got to get through this together” -Victor Glover, Orion/Integrity pilot
Millions have followed the journey of Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Jeremy Hansen, and Victor Glover of the Artemis II mission as the Orion spacecraft slingshots around the moon and begins to make its journey back to earth. In the midst of a rather… murky… season, it has been an unexpected source of awe and wonder. I have not followed the livestream closely (they launched right in the middle of Holy Week!!) but have nonetheless been captured by its welcome infusion of wonder into our world.
I say this during another week in which nervous system regulation has become an Olympic sport. In the same weekend that we celebrated the joyous resurrection hope of Christ and held our breath as astronauts orbited the moon, we also read horrific threats from our president that escalated from Easter morning into warnings that the United States would annihilate the entirety of Iran. Christ the Lord is risen today, many thought, but would the world live to practice resurrection hope tomorrow?
The president’s threats did not come to fruition. For those not in the center of threat, it began to feel like just another Tuesday in an increasingly disturbed year.
However, the words still sting. As the Methodist Federation for Social Action wrote, as a Christian people we grieve “as violent rhetoric escalates, and the lives of innocent people hang in the balance. We reject language and threats that dehumanize entire populations and put countless lives at risk.”
“Do not let us grow numb to words that normalize destruction,” MFSA wrote in a prayer.
As I sat at my desk at the church, wondering how on earth the leaders of our country continue to speak with such remarkable recklessness, I remembered the wonder of the leaders aboard Integrity now floating far outside earth’s orbit.
Mission specialist Christina Koch emphasized, “…I found myself noticing not only the beauty of Earth, but how much blackness there was around it and how it just made it even more special. It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive. We evolved on the same planet, and we have some shared things about how we love and live that are just universal. And the specialness and preciousness of that really is emphasized when you notice how much else there is around it.”
And as the hymn echoes,
“For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love with from our birth, over and around us lies; Lord of all to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.”
When sowed and nourished, wonder blooms into gratitude. Gratitude grows into empathy with leaves of solidarity, forming a canopy of peace.
Today, I invite us to hold on to that wonder- to sow it and nourish it so that it might bloom into an overwhelming gratitude: for God, for one another, for the earth that we share. I pray that the leaders of every country, especially ours, would grasp that wonder as well.
Because we cannot declare war against another if we are in wonder about the beauty of the land that they and their ancestors have cared for, generation after generation.
We cannot aim weapons at others if we are in wonder about their people and passions, if we are too busy wondering what great joy they might experience tomorrow.
We cannot call for the genocide of an entire people if we are in wonder of the precious love that is shared between them, love that begets further love.
We cannot let ourselves become tools of the empire or silent to the death-dealing powers of this day or numb to words that normalize destruction, if we remember the Psalmist’s promise that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
We cannot let any of all Creation languish under our care if we remember that the works of God’s hands are full of wonder.
Wonder blooming into gratitude, growing into empathy with leaves of solidarity, forming a canopy of peace.
As Integrity pilot Victor Glover remarked, we have the privilege of living in this remarkable oasis together. May it capture us with a wonder that pulls us toward God’s peaceable kingdom, where resurrection hope is made real in every moment.
“For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild. Lord of all to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.”
With wonder,
Pastor Karyn
P.S. After worship on Sunday, the Peace Project Sunday School Class will sponsor a Peace Response to the war in Iran. Join them in Collins Hall to find a prayer station, table with sign-making materials, a wisdom wall and response bard, and materials to write letters to the President, your Senators, and your Representative. You will also have an opportunity to sign up for the First Church Advocacy email system.