by the Rev. Leslie Scoopmire
Readings:
In late December of 1968, the three crewmembers of Apollo 8—Bill Anders, Frank Borman, and James Lovell-- became the first humans to leave the gravitational pull of the Earth and orbit another celestial body—the Moon. They reached the moon right around Christmas Eve, and made a television broadcast to the world which was the most watched TV broadcast ever at that time. One of them, Bill Anders, took the famous photograph of the Earth rising above the lunar surface that is known to this day as “Earthrise.”(1)
The sight of the Earth from a quarter million miles away, hanging in space, brought forth from these men feeling of awe and reverence. One of them, Frank Borman, even write this prayer after his experience:Give us, O God, the vision which can see the love in the world, in spite of our failure. Give us the faith to trust Thy goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts, and show us what each one of us can do to set forward the spirit of universal peace.
All three of these men were also shaped by their experience as Scouts.(2) Frank Borman’s prayer has even been read at Blue and Gold ceremonies.(3)
Today, as our readings speak of the way living a life of obligation, service, integrity, and honor lead one to be happy, we honor the principles of Scouting. We also, as members of St. Martin’s, affirm our own commitment to a life of service, obligation, duty, and reverence as followers of Jesus.
As all of the scouts in attendance today know, the Scout Law has 12 points.
A Scout is:
TRUSTWORTHY. Telling the truth and keep promises. People know that they can depend on you.
LOYAL. Demonstrating your care for your family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and country.
HELPFUL. Volunteering to help others without expecting a reward.
FRIENDLY. Being a friend to everyone, even people who are very different from you.
COURTEOUS. Being polite to everyone and always using good manners.
KIND. Treating others as you want to be treated. Never harm or kill any living thing without good reason.
OBEDIENT. Following the rules of your family, school, and pack. Obey the laws of your community and country.
CHEERFUL. Looking for the bright side of life. Cheerfully doing tasks that come your way. Trying to help others be happy.
THRIFTY. Working to pay your own way. Trying not to be wasteful. Using time, food, supplies, and natural resources wisely.
BRAVE. Facing difficult situations even when you feel afraid. Doing what you think is right despite what others might be doing or saying.
CLEAN. Keeping your body and mind fit. Helping keep your home and community clean.
REVERENT. Being reverent. Being faithful in your religious duties. Respecting the beliefs of others. (4)
In each of these 12 points, there is embedded a crucial truth: Living honorably starts with not just a recognition but an awareness of what impact our words and actions have upon others. Each one of these 12 points is embedded in the concept of relationships that are uplifting, honorable, compassionate, and service-oriented. They are written in positive terms because a Scout is committed to a life that is positive and uplifting.
Being a Scout is not about selfishness or being self-serving. At its core, the Scouting movement seeks to mold young people so that they live a life centered on how they can help, not on what they can get; on how they can build, not how they can destroy; on how they can derive meaning and fulfillment in life not from what they take but on what they can give.
Dedicating one’s life to principles of honor, duty, service, and devotion to others is not just the Scout way. It is also the way of living faithfully before God, as our readings today remind us. Living with integrity and honor is the way of not just being blessed, but being a blessing for others.
The word for today, in case you missed it, is “Blessed,” or “Happy.” We heard one or the other of these words, which is actually the same word in Hebrew, six times in our readings today. But being blessed isn’t measured by what you have or how much people fawn over you—Jesus is clear about that. Being blessed and happy means centering your life outwardly, toward God and neighbor, rather than living a life centered on the self.
Being blessed, being truly happy, is not about how the world views us—about how much we have or how much deference the world offers us. Being truly blessed and happy is only a result of living faithfully and honorably, so that we could stand before God humbly, without arrogance, or self-righteousness. It means living by principles that are life-affirming, not destructive, arrogant, or harmful to others.
For instance, one of the earliest dictates of Scouting, from Lord Baden-Powell himself, was this exhortation: “Leave the world a little better than you found it.”(5) Scouts go out into nature in order to not just leave no trace, but to learn to revere and grow in wonder about our natural world and the millions of beings who inhabit the world around us. In this way, our encounter with others DOES leave a trace—it leaves an indelible mark on ourselves, molding us and shaping us to be people who stand for others, who pledge themselves to a life of active service as the highest goal of a life well-lived.
Living a life of commitment to something higher than ourselves means that we could stand before others with our life an open book, and to have that sum total of our lives result in what we leave behind being better and more available to all than it was when we first encountered it. Being blessed, being truly happy, is about commitment to something greater than ourselves, however we name that, whether we call that God, Allah, Adonai, HaShem, Brahman, Waheguru, Creator, or some other name.
Is this way of life easy? is not really the question. A meaningful life is a mindful life. A meaningful life is one that responds to all creation and all beings with reverence. When we commit ourselves to living a life committed to a code of conduct and covenant with each other and with God.
The question is this: Is this way of life one that gives our life meaning, direction, purpose, a sense of honor? Is it one that satisfies not just our temporary hungers, but our deepest longing for belonging, for fellowship? Committing ourselves to the ethic of service inherent in both the Scout Oath and the Beatitudes means living guided by honor, duty, and empathy. It is the path to happiness and being rich in spirit and integrity.
All four of the readings we hear today point out those who know that their life is centered in an outward direction, in living through dedication to service, not in selfishness or empty displays for attention are those who feel the most satisfaction and sense of purpose and meaning in their lives.
And for Christians, for those who have committed to following the way of Jesus, the definition of happiness, of being blessed, is acknowledging God’s role as the sovereign of our lives, and choosing to live for God. To know that God is trustworthy, and then acting to entrust our lives to God. They remind us that a worthy life is one that is reverent, trustworthy, honest, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, clean, and above all brave. Brave enough to commit ourselves to others, and to a life of compassion, care, and interdependence.
We are here all of us, whether Scouts or not, because we have committed to choosing a life of faithfulness and service over a life of cynicism and scorn. The life of faith is what makes us “happy” or ‘blessed.” It is also at the core of the Scout Way.
May we all seek to live a life shaped by our commitment to others, to standing up for the oppressed or marginalized, to leaving the world a better place than when we found it.
Amen.
Citations:
1) See “Apollo 8: Christmas at the Moon,” from nasa.gov, at https://www.nasa.gov/missions/apollo/apollo-8-christmas-at-the-moon/
2) Bill Anders was a Life Scout as noted in his obituary here : https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jun/09/william-anders-obituary;
Frank Borman is mentioned as a Tenderfoot Scout here https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2021/09/01/merit-badge-history-in-1965-nasa-astronauts-helped-launch-space-exploration-into-orbit/ and in Scouting Magazine, October 1964: https://seniorscoutinghistory.org/archive/Scouting/Scouting-64Oct.pdf;
Jim Lovell is an Eagle Scout and member of the Order of the Arrow, as noted here: https://oa-scouting.org/history/jim-lovell
4) See “What Are the Scout Oath and the Scout Law?” at Scouting America: https://www.scouting.org/about/faq/question10/
5) From Lord Robert Baden-Powell’s Last Message, at https://scouts.com.au/about/what-is-scouting/history/bps-last-message/