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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
On Christmas Eve 1968, one out of every 4 people on Earth tuned in to hear a broadcast from the astronauts aboard NASA's first manned mission to the moon. As most families in America were sitting down to Christmas Eve dinner, the crew of Apollo 8 broadcasted live from the moon's orbit. These 3 men had just become the first humans to behold with their eyes all of planet Earth and to watch it rise from the dark side of the moon. As people across the world listened to the Christmas Eve broadcast from space, the astronauts each took turns reading the creation poem from the book of Genesis. Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders read the divine words of the account of creation, the origin of the very world that they were so privileged to behold from their shuttle window.
Speaker 1:Of course, not everyone was pleased with this brazen blending of science and faith. Countless angry letters, op eds, and even a lawsuit followed the broadcast. But for a brief moment, the world was transfixed as these 3 men in the orbit of the moon looked back at the vastness of the heavens and the earth and spoke the very words of God. Throughout the history of redemption, men and women have been used by God as prophets. Now these 3 men floating through space were astronauts and not prophets, but they did do the work of a prophet.
Speaker 1:They spoke the word of God to the people. Sometimes the prophets gave warnings of imminent judgment over rebellion and sin. Other times they spoke words of comfort and encouragement to take confidence in the sovereign rule of the Lord. In both times of bitter despair and times of great rejoicing, the prophets spoke the Word of God for the people of God, regardless of the consequences, which were many. While being a mouthpiece for the Lord was a holy privilege from God, it did not usually earn these individuals honor or high regard from society.
Speaker 1:Those prophets were dismissed and their messages disregarded. Many lost whatever social standing they did have, derided by the community as lunatics or zealots. And not one prophet lived long enough to see the true fulfillment of all the words that they were given to speak. The arc from divine promise to divine fulfillment is long and often too faint to recognize, longer than any human life and more vast than any human intellect. But through the grace, the kindness, and the power of the Lord, these promises have been preserved for the benefit of God's people in the written Word of God.
Speaker 1:Today we stand in the privileged place, able to trace the promises that God spoke through the prophets through that long arc of time and find their fulfillment in God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth. The writer to the Hebrews began his epistle by declaring, Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things. The beauty of Christmas is found through the advent journey where we trace God's promises all the way to their fulfillment in Christ. The ignored and derided prophets of old find their ultimate restitution and holy consolation as every promise of God finds its yes in Jesus the Christ.
Speaker 1:This Advent, join us as we seek to behold the beauty of the prophetic promises of God, finding their eternal fulfillment in Jesus. Each day we will hear from an Old Testament promise and a New Testament fulfillment, followed by a brief reflection and a time of guided prayer. The aim of our Advent journey is not only to ready our hearts for the coming celebration of Christmas, but even more, to ready our whole selves for the second advent of Christ when all the remaining promises of God are fully and finally fulfilled in Christ our King and his eternal kingdom. I'd like to invite you to embrace the patient rhythms of Advent, to take seriously the opportunity for reflection and confession, and to look upon the incarnation of Christ with new wonder and fresh expectant hope for his second advent. For Redeemer Community Church, I'm Jeff Heine.
Speaker 1:This is Sound in Season.
Speaker 2:We are now approaching, lunar sunrise. And, for all the people back on Earth, the brutal Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the base of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the base of the waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light.
Speaker 2:And God saw the light, that it was good, and divided the light from the darkness. And God called the late day. And the darkness he called night and the evening and the morning was a first day. And God said, let there be a trumpet in the midst of the waters, And let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament.
Speaker 2:And divided the waters which were under the firmament, the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the prophet in the evening in the morning was the second day. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was south. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called these seas, and God saw that it was good.
Speaker 2:And from the crew of Apollo eight, we closed with good night, good luck, A merry Christmas. And God bless all of you. All of you on the good