Earthrise

What are you doing, Earth, in heaven?
Tell me, what are you doing, Silent Earth?

--Giuseppe Ungaretri

I love this photo taken from the Apollo spacecraft. The world saw on their television screens in 1969 that the universe had flipped. Earth was heaven and heaven was Earth. Joseph Campbell discussed the implications for us in his essay, "The Moonwalk--The Outward Journey."

Of course, we knew this before 1969. We knew that Earth was not the center of the universe. Since Copernicus and Galileo, we knew that the universe of the ancients had vanished. But until we saw Earth rise from the perspective of our closest heavenly body, the moon, many of us could not feel the impact.

Where is heaven? Where is God? What is the meaning of it all? We are still reeling. We may for some time. Still, we dutifully recite the Apostle's Creed, a creed created when heaven and Earth were still in their "proper places."

A creed, that was created when heaven and Earth looked like this:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

How have you reconciled this?
Do you say the creed?
Have you given up on the creed?
Have you found a way to say it?
What do you mean when you say it?
If it has meaning for you, what is it?

Many Blessings,
john