The Artemis II astronauts spoke. You should listen.
Between April 1 and 10, four astronauts circled the moon and went farther from Earth than any humans ever have. When they came home–less than 24 hours after splashdown–they talked about their experience. They didn’t gloat about breaking records. They didn’t nerd out about science. Instead, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen spoke humbly, with humor and with deep wisdom about gratitude, joy, awe and love.
In fewer than 12 minutes, in a video I hope you watch, they preached. I heard good news, anyway. Commander Wiseman talked about what a miraculous thing it is to be human and to be on Earth. Pilot Glover praised God. Mission specialist Koch shared a vision of what it means to be a crew. Mission specialist Hansen brought it home–about the “joy train” (you need to know about the joy train) and about what we might see if we look a little deeper. Throughout, having done something hard and seen something amazing, they showed their obvious affection for each other and offered their invitation to all the rest of us to revel with them in gratitude, joy, awe and love.
Through the Artemis II astronauts, still glowing from their mountain top experience, you can see God clearly. At the start of his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” In other words—in Richard Rohr’s words—creation is the first bible. Creation itself reveals who God is.
To know God, no one needs anything else but to live life in the world. You don’t have to go to church or to the moon to know God, otherwise people might have an excuse. But every Sunday worship and every new moon is an extra, heaping helping of beauty and grace, stripping away all of our excuses for living in such small-minded, stingy, cranky, unmoved, and uncaring ways.
So maybe it's no surprise that having gone as deep into creation as they did, these astronauts would come back and be unable to do anything but describe all God’s invisible qualities and name all God’s wonderful names—Generous, Joy-bringer, Awe-inspirer, Love.
You can watch here or below.
Thanks be to God.
Pastor Clark Olson-Smith