I presume that most of us were unaware of this story. I didn't 't know this, but it's awesome!
43 years ago...guess what happened... many have not heard of this before . . .
Communion on the Moon: July 20, 1969 (This is an article by Eric Metaxas )
And a few years ago I had the privilege of meeting him myself. I asked him about it and he confirmed the story to me, and I wrote about in my book , Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask).
The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life, and knowing that he would soon be doing something unprecedented in human history, he felt he should mark the occasion somehow, and he asked his minister to help him. And so the minister consecrated a communion wafer and a small vial of communion wine.
And Buzz Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth 's orbit and on to the surface of the moon. He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement:
And Buzz Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth 's orbit and on to the surface of the moon. He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement:
'I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit
Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit
..Apart from me you can do nothing.'
"I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly."
"I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. 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."
And of course, it's interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ , who made the Earth and the moon - and Who, in the immortal words of Dante, is Himself the "Love that moves the Sun and other stars."
How many of you knew this? As I said in the beginning here, I had never heard this, and so I wanted to share it with you.
Corinne Mustafa
Confirmed by Snopes...
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/ communion.asp
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