51. Rock Goes the Gospel - David Bowie "Space Oddity"

Major Tom is an astronaut in David Bowie's song "Space Oddity", He also appears in"Ashes to Ashes", and "Hallo Spaceboy" Bowie's own setting for Major Tom evolved throughout his career. 1969's "Space Oddity" depicts an astronaut who casually slips the bonds of the world to journey beyond the stars. Released in 1969 and co-incides with the Nasa mission to the moon but had nothing to do with the NASA mission to the moon. Any reference was coincidental.

In the 1980 song "Ashes to Ashes," Bowie reinterprets Major Tom as an oblique autobiographical symbol for himself. Major Tom is described as a "junkie, strung out in heavens high, hitting an all-time low". This lyric was interpreted as a play on the title of Bowie's 1977 album Low, which charted his withdrawal following his drug abuse in the United States. Additionally, the choked and self-recriminating tone used in the lyrics "Time and again I tell myself I'll stay clean tonight." reinforce an autobiographical and retrospective interpretation. A short time later, there is another reversal of Major Tom's original withdrawal, turning 'outwards' or towards space.

Bowie wrote the song after seeing the 1968 Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Space Oddity" is a play on the phrase "Space Odyssey," and the title does not appear in the lyrics. The song tells the story of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut who cuts off communication with Earth and floats into space.

In a 2003 interview with Performing Songwriter magazine, Bowie explained: "In England, it was always presumed that it was written about the space landing, because it kind of came to prominence around the same time. But it actually wasn't. It was written because of going to see the film 2001, which I found amazing. I was out of my gourd anyway, I was very stoned when I went to see it, several times, and it was really a revelation to me. It got the song flowing. It was picked up by the British television, and used as the background music for the landing itself. I'm sure they really weren't listening to the lyric at all (laughs). It wasn't a pleasant thing to juxtapose against a moon landing. Of course, I was overjoyed that they did. Obviously, some BBC official said, 'Oh, right then, that space song, Major Tom, blah blah blah, that'll be great.' 'Um, but he gets stranded in space, sir.' Nobody had the heart to tell the producer that."

The song has many levels and many meanings but at it's core it's about an adventure into the unknown. It's about risk taking and stepping into the great beyond. A moment of a lifetime and a moment that will change your life forever. In the lyrics Major Tom simply floats off into space and presumably is not heard of again.

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, 

Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Lift off

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you...

Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Paul the travelling apostle was to become a traveller and explorer. He was an adventurer just like Major Tom and went on several long journeys not as far as a journey into space but was called of Christ to take the "mission of Jesus" to people of other cultures, places and times zones. These journeys are therefore called his ‘missionary’ journeys. Paul covered 10,000 miles on his journeys around the mediterranean. Journeys which were full of adventure, danger and risk. He would encounter many problems and issues during this period of his life.

In Lystra, Paul healed a man who had been lame from birth. When the crowd saw this, they thought that Paul and Barnabas were the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes. They wanted to sacrifice to them, but Paul and Barnabas explained that they were followers of Jesus and that the power of Jesus had healed the man. Then some Jews came from other places in which Paul had preached. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, leaving him for dead. Paul and Barnabas travelled on. They would not give up. This journey lasted about two years and covered about 1,500 miles. 

Paul was called to present day Europe when God told him to go to Macedonia. At Philippi, Lydia and the jailer and his family became Christians. In Athens, Paul was amazed to see altars to so many gods. He began to preach, saying, ‘I can tell that you people of Athens are very religious. I even saw an altar inscribed ‘To an unknown god.’ I am here today to tell you about this unknown god.’ He then taught about Jesus, and some people became believers. In Corinth, he stayed with a fellow tentmaker, Aquila, a Jew who, along with his wife Priscilla, had been forced to leave Rome. Here, God encouraged Paul to keep on preaching, even though he faced opposition. This journey lasted about three years and covered about 3,500 miles.

In Ephesus, God performed many miracles through Paul and many people became followers of Jesus. The silversmiths and others who made a living because of the Roman goddess Diana’s shrine in the city caused a riot against Paul and his co-workers, but the city clerk managed to quieten them down. Paul went on to Troas. There, he spoke late into the night in an upstairs room. A young boy, sitting listening in the window, was drowsy and fell out, onto the street. The fall killed him, but the Lord restored him to life through Paul.

When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, a plot against him led to his trial and, ultimately, to his final journey to Rome.  Paul's motivation was Jesus Christ and Him alone He sums up his life in his letter to the church in Philippi. He sums up the chief motivation for setting out on a dangerous mission to the whole world. He gives himself to the mission and just like Major Tom cannot return from it to normal life.

Jesus followers everywhere are encouraged to take mission seriously. To take up the challenge to visit other cultures and find creative ways to speak, live, and testify of Jesus. All the disciples of Jesus in the early church were schooled in the "Great Commission" To take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. To coin a phrase from another space related TV programme. 

Space: The final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise
Its 5 year mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life and new civilizations
To boldly go where no man has gone before

We just like Paul and the early followers are called to live out the gospel of Jesus. To accept the adventures, the dangers and the risks of going on mission. To explore new cultures, to listen to new stories, to witness strange ways of behaviour, to seek out the lost, the last, the least to boldly Go............ Like Major Tom. We are to give ourselves to serve Jesus in the world around us with out a thought for our own safety, without a thought for our own lives. Like Paul, or Captain Kirk to set out on a life transforming mission for us and for the people we meet.  ENGAGE.................