“I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.”

On July 20, 1969, moments after the lunar module, The Eagle, alighted upon the Sea of Tranquility, a solitary Presbyterian church elder celebrated the Lord’s Supper in reverent silence—on the Moon.

Commander Buzz Aldrin had stashed a communion wafer, a capsule of wine, and a tiny silver chalice onboard the Columbia, and smuggled it into space with him. Before his historic walkabout, Aldrin requested a brief radio silence. He described the following moment in the 1970 issue of Guideposts magazine:

“I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.”

His actions were at first kept secret because NASA was embroiled in a lawsuit with an atheist who was suing them for broadcasting a public reading of the Bible by the crew of Apollo 8 (evidence that missing the point is not limited to the religious).

When I read of Aldrin’s roguish Eucharistic exploits, I found myself thinking, that it’s a pretty neat thing, except for this—it’s not communion.

There are two common errors that we can succumb to when considering how to celebrate the Lord’s Supper…

1. Too Few Communicants

“Individual communion” is an oxymoron that is alien to the New Testament.

By definition, holy communion is the sharing of the elements in a common proclamation, in a corporate fellowship of believers in good standing. Without the sharing in the community, it’s just a guy reverently munching a snack. I’ll grant that the Sea of Tranquility is a grand spot for a picnic and a prime opportunity for praising God. But it cannot be communion without a community.

This is an error that partially eclipses the meaning of the Lord’s Table: too few communicants.

What is the correct number? In the Jewish tradition it takes eight men to start a synagogue. Christians aren’t quite as demanding: as long as there’s more than one.

In the context of church discipline, which requires witnesses, Jesus stipulated in Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” In other words, you can’t go around labeling professing believers as unbelievers like a Lone Ranger on a self-imposed mission of spiritual vigilantism.

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