Like the steps of a complex dance.
Space-X just made big news by launching NASA astronauts toward a rendezvous with the International Space Station. It’s the first, official time a commercial enterprise has ferried astronauts to the orbiting platform. It’s a big deal ... and a big change in how the USA goes to space.
But some things don’t change.
Every rocket launching for the International Space Station (ISS), whether it belongs to a country or to a company, must do one thing, and must do it exactly right: dock.
When a craft needs to dock with the ISS, there has always been a strict procedure to which it must adhere.
- Launch ... orbit for days
- Arrive at start position ... wait
- Get permission to advance
- Advance about 50 yards ... wait
- Use nose and tail rockets to alter pitch and yaw
- Wait for permission to advance
- Maneuver within about 33 feet of ISS
- Wait for permission to advance
- Proceed about 2 inches per second toward ISS
- Dock
- Wait 2 hours to match pressures
- Enter ISS
It was a long and complicated process, made even longer by the fact that fresh permissions must be obtained at multiple points before proceeding.
I think most of us believe getting to God works this way: full speed toward God; stop and wait; get more permissions; slow our approach; stop again; get even more permissions. And then, right when we think we have finally made it, jumped through all the hoops ... we, again, have to wait.
We think we’re like the rocket, doing all the work to connect with God. We see God like the ISS, floating majestically out in space, just awaiting our approach. At one time it certainly seemed like that. There were priests, sacrifices, and rituals through which people had to pass before they could connect to God.
But, the old way of docking with the International Space Station no longer applies. Instead of several days, advances in technology allowed SpaceX to take those astronauts from launchpad to docking in less that 30 hours.
And, God is not waiting for us to execute a painstaking series of maneuvers in order to approach him. He is searching for us, looking down the road, ready to run to us at first sighting. That is the spirit of this week's Ezekiel and Psalm 95 selections, as well as many other Bible passages.
So, start your approach ... God will take care of the docking.
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Very different versions of this reflection appeared in November 2014 and 2017.
PHOTO (and info on the NASA/SpaceX collaboration, Resilience):
The SpaceX ISS Docking:
More about how docking with the ISS works:
http://www.howitworksdaily.com/docking-with-the-iss/
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Join us Friday morning on Zoom for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00 and dance our way through the scriptures ahead of Sunday’s sermon.
Let me know if you want to attend. I’ll send you the Zoom link and tell our gatekeeper to let you in.
SCRIPTURES FOR THE COMING WEEK
Find them here: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=170
REIGN OF CHRIST Proper 29 (34)
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