One Small Blue Marble
Astronauts say seeing the
earth from space changed
them. Many read Scripture,
one even had communion
– turning to our Maker after
experiencing first-hand the majesty of space and
the beauty of our planet. Many spoke of being
overwhelmed by seeing all of life as we know it, all
we hold dear, in one small blue marble. We are all
together in this, and seeing that so clearly changes
us.
Life on that marble is incredibly inter-related. One
guy flew from Italy, and went back to his home
near Durban, feeling ill. Two years later, we have
now passed 3 million cases, and over 83 000 people
have died from a disease that passes from one to
another by our normal interactions. We are all
acutely aware of these – each of us can remember
quite clearly who we saw and spent time with in the
past week: those we need to inform if we too feel ill.
Sitting at home it is too easy to consider only ourselves
and our comfort, but these links between us
are far-reaching. The effects of the disease spread
beyond our health, to our livelihoods – so many
people are struggling – to our safety – although instigated,
the recent widespread spree of looting
comes from a base of hunger and want. And that
affects how far our money stretches as the world
reacts to what they see on their TV screens, and
disinvests. We are connected and those connections affect us all, profoundly.
We can no longer live our lives ignorant of the links
between our comforts and inhumane, exploitative
and unsustainable practices, and our plenty in the
midst of such lack. We are challenged, not to have
to change the whole world, because that is God’s
task, but to look just one or two links away from us
and see what we can do. What we do for our neighbours
makes a huge difference to all of us.
Blessings, Andrew.