You are invited to the Worship Service with Holy Communion on September 1st at 10 am. The bulletin for this Sunday is available for viewing HERE.
You can worship live on ZOOM by clicking the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9658816441 Meeting ID: 965 881 6441
You can also watch Sunday services at your convenience by going to our website “watsonville1stumc.org” and click YouTube or Facebook. Each Sunday worship will be uploaded on Sunday afternoon for your viewing.
Ordinary Time
with Holy Communion
Sunday, September 1, 2024, 10 am
Children’s Time “A View of the Earth from Outer Space” Pastor John
On Dec. 24, 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to witness the Earth rising above the Moon’s surface. Anders, photographing the Moon from the right-side window, caught sight of the view, and exclaimed: “Oh my God, look at that picture over there!”
Message “Overview Effect” Rev. John Song
One of the things you see in studies of astronauts and cosmonauts is, they do come back changed. It’s a little bit similar to the near-death experience that you went through. But in space flight, it’s called the “Overview Effect”, where a lot of astronauts will say, you’re looking at a thin blue arc of an atmosphere that protects all life as we know it. Thus, the “Overview Effect” is a shift in perspective often reported by astronauts after having seen the Earth from above for the first time.
Consequently, they come back with more universal values. They care more about humanity as a species, they’re more concerned about animals and protecting the environment, and less likely to be caught up in divisions that are plaguing our world. You could say, they are “woke” astronauts, in a good way.
We will examine the “Overview Effect” as a prophetic voice of our time as we face the existential crisis of our planet.
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (The Message)
12 “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”
“From space, I saw Earth not as a collection of nations,
but as a single entity with one destiny.”
~ Ron Garan, ISS astronaut
“When you look at the Earth from space, you realize
that our planet is a beautiful, interconnected system.
We are all in this together.”
~ Mae Jemison, Space Shuttle astronaut
“From space, you see the fragility of our planet and the urgent need to protect it.
We are all astronauts on this spaceship Earth.”
~ Jean-Francois Clervoy, ESA astronaut
“Let us be the ancestors our descendants will thank.”
~ Howie Morning Star
