“GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU…ALL OF YOU ON THE GOOD EARTH

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and
empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over
the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good,
and he separated the light from the darkness.5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he
called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7
So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And
it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the
second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground
appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called
“seas.” And God saw that it was good.
On December 21st, 1968,the crew of Apollo 8, while in orbit around the moon, sent a message
to those of us back on earth. In a year that saw the assassinations of both Robert Kennedy
and Martin Luther King, Intel Corporation was born, and The Beatles release their famous
White Album. Protests against the war in Viet Nam were rampant. North Viet Nam launched
the Tet Offensive, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil rights Act into law and
inhabitants of earth were able to see their beautiful blue planet from space for the first time.
It was a year seemingly driven by anger, frustration, heartbreak and loss. Yet in the midst
of all that, the world stopped for a moment and considered our place in the universe and our
ability to rise to a level of excellence previously unimaginable. It has been 50 years. It is right
and good that we reflect back on that time and again, consider our place in the universe and
our responsibility to this incredible planet and its inhabitants.