Space Exploration Reflects a Spiritual Need, Says US Author and Pastor Levi Lusko
By: Laura Bennett
Space has been a billionaire’s playground of late as guys like Elon Musk and Richard Branson contemplate what life beyond our planet might look like, and how humanity could one day conquer “the final frontier”.
It’s probably an overreach to think space could ever be “conquered” but one thing’s for sure mankind will never cease to be curious about the world among the stars.
Author and pastor Levi Lusko has written about many subjects over the years, from the grief of losing a child, to modern dating culture and mental discipline, but in his new book, The Last Supper on the Moon, Levi looks at humanity’s obsession with the celestial and how it relates to the exploration of our inner worlds.
Speaking on the UNDISTRACTED podcast, Levi said, “It’s human nature to lift our eyes and see the cosmos, to see the grandness of this big world God made for us”.
“Psalm 19 says [creation] testifies to God’s goodness every day – day unto day uttering its speech whether we hear it or not,” he said.
In our modern lives we can get so consumed with looking down at our work, our phones or our calendar commitments, and forget that looking up and out is a very spiritual act.
“When I stop being king for a minute and I just sit on my balcony at night and look at the stars, it blows me away and I’m forced to reckon with [the question of] ‘What is my place in the universe?’,” Levi said.
“I think that’s the connection between outer space and inner space.
“If we are willing to ask such a question, God is willing to tell us the answer: we matter a lot less than we think we do, but when we accept that, we can actually matter a lot more.”
“We matter a lot less than we think we do, but when we accept that, we can actually matter a lot more,” – pastor Levi Lusko
The humbling revelation of our position within the universe causes us to ask, “’God why do you love me? Why did you send Jesus into this world?’”, Levi said.
“When I start to consider my value doesn’t come from what I’m able to do but [from] who loves me – the same God that made [the universe] cares for me – now I’m given an indirect value that’s not based on me, but that’s placed on me.”
As a self-confessed space nerd, Levi has always had an interest in space, but was stewing on this idea for a book ever since he learned a new fact about the first moon landing: astronaut Buzz Aldrin took communion up there.
“He had brought along bread and wine, and in that one-sixth gravity environment in the Lunar lander, read from John’s gospel a little verse he had written down on a notecard, as well as Psalm 8,” Levi said.
“Then he ate the bread and drank the wine as a way of commemorating this historic occasion.
“I like any historical, nerdy trivia, but as a pastor and as a Christian, that just blew my socks off.”
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Photo by Altınay Dinç on Unsplash.
About the Author: Laura is a media professional, broadcaster and writer from Sydney, Australia.
