Star Trek Day

The words of inspiration come from the reformer John Wesley:

In one view, it is purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God. It is the giving God all our heart; it is one desire and design ruling all our tempers... In yet another, it is the loving God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves.

Perhaps like many older adults, I am an OG Star Trek fan. I remember watching the original series as a kid when it first debuted on prime-time television. Then I watched the re-runs over and over again until I had every plot, every line, and every character memorized.

Later in life, as Star Trek movies came out, I was first in line at the box office. When Star Trek: The Next Generation came out, followed by Deep Space Nine and Voyager, I hosted watch parties. Fifty years later, I am still amazed and thrilled by the new iterations and timelines of new stories and adventures.

All of these series and movies have successfully continued the legacy that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry started decades ago. Imagining a world of human progress, scientific exploration and radical diversity, Roddenberry called us to visualize with him a universe of peaceful coexistence, gender and sexual equality, and moral improvement. Current episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continue to address our common problems today in such a way that we can see ourselves in the narrative and possibly see a way forward.

My Wesleyan friends often say that John Wesley’s writings, centuries before Roddenberry, set the hearts of the followers of Christ toward the intention of perfection and progress. The creators of Star Trek, both past and present, does much the same.

The future depicted in Star Trek is best known by the ideas of inclusivity, embracing diversity, and promoting the overall benefits of a diverse society. Star Trek is more renowned for embodying the principles that Christianity should ideally represent in our 21st century context.

John Wesley (and not Wesley Crusher) wrote that “We believe this experience does not deliver us from the infirmities, ignorance, and mistakes common to man, nor from the possibilities of further sin.” Even while we dedicate our lives by giving ourselves to God with all our hearts, we equally and fervently are called to love our neighbors as well.

Today, I celebrate Star Trek Day with this thought: If we are to embody that vision of John Wesley, as told by Gene Roddenberry and so many others, we must continue and always strive for inclusion, coexistence, equality, curiosity, and morality. We must “boldly go” where Christ is calling us.

Let us pray. A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition

I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.