In Home Worship – Sunday, December 7, 2025 – Second Sunday of Advent

Earthrise, Apollo 8 (Christmas Eve, 1968)—Humanity’s first glimpse of its own world from the moon.

Advent 2: Earthrise

Remember the year 1968? It was a year of images. Most of them were devastating; one was hopeful and iconic. Images of war, civil unrest, and political violence divided America. On their TV screens, the American people saw the Vietnam war with an immediacy like never before in history, they saw young people rioting, and civil rights leaders and politicians being gunned down.

But 1968 ended on a hopeful note. The space race captivated huge parts of humanity. On Christmas Eve, a quarter of the world’s population, more than one billion people, tuned into the Christmas broadcast that Apollo 8 sent from the orbit of the moon. The biggest audience in world history was listening as the crew of Apollo 8 read the beginning of the book of Genesis. They also snapped a picture that became a modern icon under the name “Earthrise.”

I hope to see you on Sunday.

– Pr. Olaf