June 14, 2019: Up, Up, and Away

We often reprint prior devotions that now reflect on the coming lectionary texts.  This is a reprint from a devotion originally published on January 13, 2013.
 
Prayer:  Say a prayer, thanking God for all those who have explored the heavens and the earth.
 
Reading:  Psalm 8: 3-5 (Click to read text)
 
Stop and GROW:  After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers.

QUESTION 1:  What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text?
QUESTION 2:  What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story?
QUESTION 3:  What stories or memories does this text stir in me? 
QUESTION 4:  What is God up to in this text? 
 
Reflection:  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel to space?  How does space remind you of the story of creation?  What do you find most mysterious about space?
 
I have always been fascinated with space travel.  When I was a child, the space shuttle program began; and I remember having a plastic model of the space shuttle and some space-themed LEGO bricks.  I built space ships and sent them off into the great beyond to new worlds and imagined places.
 
When I was in middle school, I was home sick one day, suffering from the flu.  My dad was making my sister and me (she was home sick, too), some soup as we watched “The Price is Right.”  In the middle of the showcase showdown, a news anchor interrupted the program to tell us the space shuttle Challenger exploded.  I stayed glued to my television the rest of the day, watching the coverage of this national tragedy. 
 
In high school, my senior English paper was on the Challenger disaster.  I researched the event, read magazine articles, books, and even the Rogers Commission Report on the accident.  I concluded, as did others, that the disaster could have been averted.  Years later, I watched news coverage again when the Columbia disintegrated on reentry back to earth.  “How could it happen again?” I asked myself.
 
In 2011, as the space shuttle program wrapped up its thirty-year mission, I watched replays of the final landing with a bit of sadness.  Despite the two major tragedies, this program exemplified America.  It showed our resolve to explore outer space and, in a way, become closer with our God.  To see God’s beautiful creation from space was a by-product of this program.  To be reminded, as we watched space pictures from each mission that God cares for us, and created us in God’s likeness is something I’ll miss.  
 
--Chad Hershberger