August 9, 2010
Can we draw an analogy between Pioneer 10 and a Christian? The Rev Jim Scott did just that during his sermon on Sunday 8th August.
Pioneer 10 is a very small spacecraft with a design life of about 21 months which was launched on March 2nd 1972 on a mission to fly past Jupiter and to send back information about the composition of that very large planet. Pioneer 10 is indeed small. Its overall dimensions are skewed because of some units being on the end of booms extending out from the body of the spacecraft. There is a 2.7m diameter dish antenna and four booms, the longest of which extended some 6.6m. However, the body of the craft is a mere 36cm deep and 71cm long. Its voice comes, or we shouldsay came, from two tiny 8W transmitters and yet this weak voice sent its last message on the 27th of April 2002, albeit at a data rate of 16 bits per second. (Strictly speaking the spacecraft was last detected on 23rd January 2003 when it 7.6 billion miles away, but no data was received.) The voice was indeed weak but the message was extraordinarily strong.
The connection between Pioneer 10’s message and the message of Christianity might not yet but clear but stop and consider how this message was received. Pioneer’s weak signals were heard because of a network of massive antennas on earth designed to capture the faintest of signals. The largest of these antennas is 230 feet in diameter; the smaller ones are a mere 85’ or 111’ in diameter. These parabolic dish antennas act as millions of tiny individual antennas. Pioneer’s message was heard because there were millions of ears listening for it.
Not all Christians have the skills to be preachers and thereby to pass on the message of Christianity. Some of us don’t have the knowledge; some of us don’t have the words; and some of us are reluctant to stick our heads above the parapets. But we all carry the transmitters, weak though we may be. We can all send a strong message by living a life of example. Our individual voices may be weak but our message will be heard by the millions of people who are searching for something to believe in. There’s the connection.