What Can We Learn From The Moon?

 I just recently finished watching an episode from the series called From the Earth to the Moon. In the episode, the astronauts are preparing for the Apollo 15 mission. As I often do when watching a show or movie, I look for the lesson that can be applied to ministry. Of course, I do wish that I could turn off my mind and enjoy what I am watching, but that is not the way I work, nor is it the way ministry works. Ministry is always happening wherever we find ourselves. So, what are the lessons that we can learn from the lunar mission? 

Knowledge is great, but experience is king.

At the beginning of the episode, the astronauts find themselves in a classroom tasked with learning about geology. One of their primary mission objectives is to collect information about the moon and its genesis. They were going to accomplish their goal by collecting samples of moon rocks. It is clear from the beginning they are not excited about what the professor is teaching; no learning is occurring. As someone that has been taught in the classroom by a professor and currently working on their masters, classrooms can be tedious. Sitting in a chair and listening to someone speak for an extended amount lends itself to distraction. The mood of the show and the learning in the astronauts dramatically change when they get a new professor. He decides that understanding rocks cannot happen in a classroom, that they need to get out and explore. Using all their senses, the men are thrust into the environment to begin understanding how to look, identify, and collect scientific information that will be crucial to the mission. Through the hands-on interaction with nature, it catapults them into their understanding of the lessons being taught. 

Maybe it is just me, but I learn better when I am able to get into the project, use my hands, and really get to experience what I am trying to learn. I am going to suspect that I am not alone in my thinking; just like me, you enjoy learning through experience. God has given us these opposable thumbs for a reason so that we can use them to understand our environments.

This is by no means an indictment on classroom learning. I think there is a time and place for gaining knowledge through the use of the classroom. I think if we get stuck in the pattern of only trying to learn in the classroom, we shortchange ourselves in our opportunities to learn as much as we can; that is why experience is king.