To Boldly Stay

Space is a grave.

That's what William Shatner thought when he saw it for real, not on a set in a mustard colored uniform.

Like a lot of us, he's fascinated by space, and so jumped at the chance to visit it with Blue Origin, Amazon's space exploration program. He expected to be enthralled. Instead, when he looked out the window -- at the infinite darkness -- he said he was filled with the deepest sense of grief he's ever experienced. No awe, only death.

The billionaires responded differently. They were quite pleased with it all and celebrated every second, bouncing around the cabin and talking about dreams coming true. But Shatner--the man most popularly associated with going boldly into space--referred to space exploration as a "funeral."

Maybe Shatner's just weird. That's plausible. He's had a strange career. But something rings true in his account.

Space is a big topic for kids growing up in Florida. I remember everyone at church discussing the angels that Russian cosmonauts supposedly saw while floating in orbit. May favorite jacket was from the Kennedy Space Center. It was shiny like foil and covered in patches. I witnessed firsthand the explosion of the Challenger shuttle.

In kindergarten I played Pluto in a play about the planets [sic]. I still remember one of my lines. "My name is Pluto. I am dark, dark as the darkest night. Darker than a thousand graveyards." Yes, it really was something like that, and yes I know how that sounds.

... sounds a lot like Shatner, come to think of it.

The Webb telescope images are amazing. The new photos of Neptune blew me away. But what does space mean? A second chance for some. For the powerful, a resource to be mined. Most of us think of it as place of awe and wonder. But I'm second guessing that.

Peter the apostle writes that the most interesting thing in the universe is the story of God becoming human and raising us into God's life -- a story so interesting, "even the angels long to look" (1 Ptr 1:12). The angels aren't in orbit. They're here, observing with wonder God's ways with humanity. Space has its marvels, but our story with God holds the deepest wonder.

Pastor Eddy