to be taught, if fortunate
From the summer devotional at University Church in Yale, July 22, 2022.
As recorded on the Voyager Golden Record, 1977:
“As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organization of the 147 member states who represent almost all of the human inhabitants of the planet earth. I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of the immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step.”
— Former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim
I have been on a bit of a science fiction reading kick these days, particularly from someone who’s become one of my favorite authors, Becky Chambers. One of her novellas ended with this quote, and served as the book’s title, “We step out…seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate.” As part of the Voyager Golden Record in 1977, this message made its way into the cosmos aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts. Last week, when NASA released its first images from the Webb telescope, I shared the same sense of sheer wonder and awe that many scientists and others around the world felt. I couldn’t help but ask myself if the stars would receive the message Earth sent out so long ago.
Would we be called upon? Would we be so fortunate?
I think this message calls us to embrace a new understanding of humanity’s place in the universe. It’s hard not to feel a sense of smallness. However, I do not want to conflate smallness with insignificance.
To teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate.
As these words rolled through the images of starstuff and gas clouds, it became clear to me that our story, the story of humanity, is wrapped up in the larger story of the universe, of creation. And perhaps, there is much that we can not only offer, but so much that we can learn.
…with humility and hope that we take this step.
To move through creation with humility and hope is a challenging practice to live by. It is to both affirm our worth and realize that we have so much yet to learn, so many questions and answers that remain far from our reach. But these cosmic revelations raise a call for how we can practice that in our own communities today.
What would it mean for us to operate from a posture of humility, one that recognizes knowledge and fullness is not a one-way endeavor? What possibilities would arise if we understood that the very things that make us human are repositories of cosmic histories and ancestral wisdom? How would our communities be transformed if we embrace the fact that we could transform one another?
God of the cosmos, of stars, gas clouds, planets, and all of human and nonhuman kind,
Though we are wrapped in the large cosmos of Your creation,
We are also holy, holy because You desired us.
As we continue to bear witness to all the growing edges of Your creation,
Teach us, remind us, Instill in us, the practice of humility and hope -
So that we may better serve all parts of the cosmos,
So that we may be so fortunate to serve those who call upon us.