From the Earth to the Moon and Spiritual Formation

 

            This week for an assignment, we were charged to watch part ten “Galileo Was Right” of the HBO series “From the Earth to the Moon” which can be purchased from YouTube as well as on HBOMax.  Within the episode, the astronauts are charged with learning geology as a part of their training for the Apollo 15 mission.  The astronauts had a singular focus on what their mission was to be.  The lead astronauts first believed their mission was simply to fly to the moon grab some random rocks and return home where the “real geologists” would then test their theories. 

The thought process was that anything would work, and the actual flight was far more important.  If the rocks returned were not satisfactory, there would be other missions to find more adequate samples.  Unfortunately, the NASA Apollo program was beginning to traction in congress budgetary concerns would limit future missions to the moon.  The astronauts were one of the final trips to try to collect the samples.  Unfortunately, the astronauts were not serious about the classroom geology lessons.  Something else needed to pique their interest in geology.  Enter a new professor who takes them on field trips to the geologically diverse terrains of the Southwestern United States.  There they learned the practicality of their geological training as well as the importance to make use of every opportunity to learn more about the Moon’s geology.

So what does this all have to do with spiritual formation (apart from the geological pun “formation”).  The astronauts were singularly focused on what they thought was their part of the mission get there, collect rocks, and bring them home.  Ministers can get a singular focus in ministry as well.  We can get so caught up in the sermon preparation that other important aspects of how we serve our churches can get lost in the shuffle.  Some ministers focus on preaching but then neglect visitation.  Some may focus on preaching the latest hot topic and neglect the application for their local church.  Others still may find they spend so much time with others that they do not have a sermon prepared for the Sunday service until the night before. 

Ministry is more than preaching.  It is about spiritual formation, the act of guiding others into a deeper spiritual relationship with God and with others.  If a minister wants to see their congregation grow spiritually there needs to be more to his mission than preaching.  Just as NASA needed to learn a different way to teach the astronauts then simple classroom lectures, we need to be prepared to look beyond our preaching to assist the congregation in spiritual growth.  We ought to share ways in which the church in centuries past helped form each other.  We should not forsake the positives of spiritual retreats, prayer only services, times of simple fellowship like potlucks or movie nights, or Sundays filled with only worship.  It is in these different avenues in which some are being spiritually filled who would not be by sermons.

If you want to see how effective a step out of the norm can be, look at this: