Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a “Trekkie.” My childhood heroes were Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the crew of the Starship Enterprise – NCC 1701. The bold explorations of the crew of the Enterprise thrilled my young mind. I have suggested to my wife that the theme from Star Trek (Where No Man has Gone Before, Alexander Courage) should be played at my funeral as the pallbearers are carrying me out.
I love the Trek movies, yes even Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). That movie was released when I was a student at East Coast Bible College in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the college standards, I would have been expelled from school for attending a movie theater. But I couldn’t resist. So, on the weekend of the release I traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee to visit my mother and go see the movie. When Mr. Spock died in The Wrath of Khan (1982), I wept as Captain Kirk gave the eulogy and Scotty played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.
Among my favorite Trek movies is The Undiscovered Country (1991). Due to a crisis on the Klingon home world, Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise are ordered to escort the Klingon High Chancellor to a peace conference. But there are forces in the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire that fear a future without intergalactic cold war. Of course, the socio-political background for the story was the fall of the Soviet Empire. No one knew what the future would bring; hence, the undiscovered country.
Actually, the phrase “the undiscovered country” is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (if you’ve seen the movie you know that Shakespeare inspired much of the dialogue).
But that the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose born. No traveler returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all… (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1).
Dread of the undiscovered country makes cowards of us all. As the world of Christendom falls before the empire of post-modern uncertainty, many Christians are filled with dread. No longer confident in the message of the Gospel, or the power of the Holy Spirit, we find ourselves timid in the face of conflict. We fear the death of our Christian culture, of our sacred heritage. But we should never forget that we believe in the resurrection! Death gives way to new life.
For a thousand years the church read the Holy Bible exclusively in Latin. It was considered blasphemous to read any other version. Martin Luther and William Tyndale were considered dangerous subversives because they dared to translate the Scriptures into the common languages of the people. Today almost no one reads the Bible in Latin. Instead of being confined to one ancient language, portions of the Bible are now read in 2798 languages! What once seemed blasphemous was in fact a move of the Holy Spirit to bring the inspired Scripture to all nations of the world.
When Jesus issued the Great Commission he knew that the mission of the church would transcend many generations! He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Christians are called to make disciples of all nations, and all generations. Each generation has its own culture and challenges.
We don’t have to face “the undiscovered country” with dread and cowardice. When Israel crossed the Red Sea, they had no idea what was before them, beyond the cloud of glory. But they had a promise! The church has a promise: “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:11-12). God has predestined that we shall inherit a New Creation. Christianity is a global movement because the Christians are missionaries. The Spirit compels us to GO. So let’s go into the next generation. Dance and sing as you go. Boldly go where no one has gone before!
By the way, I have been enjoying the various new productions of the Star Trek Universe, especially the new Christopher Pike series – Strange New Worlds!
