Sitting on Top of the World
Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian helicopter pilot had been lifted up by a helium balloon to over 128,000 ft above Mexico, sitting on top of the world.
From there he emerged from his capsule in a suit, similar to a space suit and fell back to earth at 833mph.
Wow!! You might say it was utter madness, a stunt for publicity, what a waste of money or many other things but actually… Wow!
Sitting on top of the world!
The beautiful blue planet of earth lay beneath him, at the edge of space.
There’s a very good song by Delta Goodrem called Sitting on top of the World, a real rousing song and full of ‘feel good’ factor. If you don’t mind all the glitz, you can view on Youtube!
But what could it have been like! Once having made the decision, there was no choice but to get down, if he had gone up and up into space all sorts of things would have happened,he would not have survived for long.
What did he think at that point? He said he felt small and very alone and just wanted to get down.
Feeling small, humbled…the enormity of space around him. Looking down on the world below… all very theological.
God looking down from the heavens…
In the video of Felix’s descent the only sound you can hear is of his breathing, no screams, no shouts of joy or fear just silence. When he landed on his feet he fell to his knees and gazed upwards, Mmmm.
A fuller sermon is under Trinity on Faithgoeswalkabout, interesting for reflection.
Rev’d Sue Martin