‘Lunar Communion’ celebrates 50th anniversary of Apollo 11
WEBSTER — A Houston-area church still remembers the small act of faith Buzz Aldrin performed on the surface of the moon 50 years ago.
Every year, Webster Presbyterian Church marks the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landing as its “lunar Communion.”
As an elder of the church off East NASA Parkway, Aldrin discretely took a piece of bread, a small amount of wine, a tiny chalice and a Bible verse scribbled on a piece of paper to hold the Christian rite of Communion on the moon.
Moments after landing on the Sea of Tranquility, Aldrin radioed Houston to request a few moments of silence. Aldrin read a verse from the Gospel of John to himself, ate the wafer and drank the wine from the chalice. Fellow moon mission astronaut Neil Armstrong declined to participate but watched respectfully and silently.
“At the time, I could think of no better way to acknowledge the enormous achievement of Apollo 11 than by giving thanks to God,” Aldrin later wrote in his 2016 memoir, “No Dream Is Too High.”
Webster Presbyterian’s annual lunar Communion includes playing Aldrin’s audio from the moon landing and a reading of Psalms 8, in which King David praises the majesty of the heavens and the earth.
As part of the 50th anniversa
ry of the Apollo 11 mission, International Space Station astronaut Clay Anderson delivered a Sunday morning sermon titled “Do Your Part” — challenging more than 400 people in attendance to use their talents and skills to make the world a better place.
Born and raised in Nebraska, Anderson and his family attended Sunday services at the church where he sang in the choir. Serving in several missions, Anderson spent five months aboard the International Space Station. The retired astronaut told the Houston Chronicle that his time in outer space strengthened his faith as a Christian.
“Faith and science are not mutually exclusive — not to me anyway,” Anderson said. “When I saw the Earth from orbit, it did nothing but strengthen my faith in God. All I could think about was how this is not random. We are a single human species on our planet, the solar system, the known galaxy and the universe. We’re it. To me, that’s not random. As I saw the Earth and I observed the beauty of how everything fit together — the oceans and deserts and the rivers mountains — all of that fits so nicely together. There’s a higher power out there that’s orchestrating everything.”
Church family
As the closest Protestant church to the Johnson Space Center, engineers, contractors, astronauts and their families have made Webster Presbyterian their spiritual home for decades. The
church has shared in the triumphs and tragedies of the space missions over the years.
The moon mission’s success was attributed to NASA support staff and contractors — many of whom are now retired but still attend services at the church alongside current NASA engineers and contractors.
Sylvia Kinzler’s late husband, Jack, ran NASA’s metal and machine shops for decades. He made the pole and arm used to plant the American flag on the surface of the moon. For the 50th anniversary of lunar Communion, several generations of the Kinzler family spread over at least three rows.
“I’m just thrilled to see so many people here at our church,” Kinzler said. “It’s just fantastic. Compared to other years when we’ve celebrated, there’s so many more people here.”
‘To the moon’
As NASA prepares to return to the moon and put a man on Mars, associate pastor Helen DeLeon said the church will continue to attend to the spiritual needs here on Earth.
Working under the belief that science and faith belong together, DeLeon said the lunar Communion will continue as a tradition at the church as long as its doors remain open.
“Humankind has been searching for its meaning, for its place in the universe and for how it got here since we developed consciousness,” DeLeon said. “Taking the Communion service to the moon was an expression of that.”