Adult Bible Study & Discussion Group

Our Wired Word discussion group will be paused during Lent.  Please come and worship with us during our Tuesday evening Lenten services at 7:00 in the Sanctuary.

The Wired Word lessons will be posted here for you to enjoy and discuss among yourselves.

Astronauts Return to Earth After Nine Months in Space
The Wired Word for the Week of March 30, 2025

In the News

“We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short,” NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore said earlier this month when he, along with astronauts Nick Hague and Sunita “Suni” Williams, spoke from the International Space Station (ISS) in a news conference. “Stay long” was an understatement, since Wilmore and Williams have finally returned to Earth after more than 280 days in space. Their extended mission was the sixth longest in NASA’s history.

TWW began coverage of this story on July 7, 2024, in the lesson “Astronauts Waiting on Space Station for Spacecraft Repair.” At that point, Wilmore and Williams had expected to have an eight-day journey into space, on board the Boeing Starliner for its first crewed flight. But after experiencing helium leaks and thruster malfunctions, NASA decided to keep the astronauts safe on the ISS orbital laboratory.

On September 22, 2024, TWW followed up with a lesson titled “Marooned Astronaut is in Constant Contact With Church.” The astronauts were told that they would have to stay in space until February 2025, with a plan to ride home on the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon capsule.

Although the February deadline came and went, Wilmore and Williams returned safely to Earth on Tuesday, March 18, in the Crew-9 Dragon capsule, after their voyage ended in a water landing off the coast of Florida. The two astronauts traveled home with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the two Crew-9 astronauts who had flown the Dragon capsule to the ISS in September. Although the normal Dragon crew is four astronauts, their mission included only two so that seats would be left open for Williams and Wilmore. “Crew-9 back on Earth,” said NASA communications officer Sandra Jones after splashdown, according to USA Today.

Their ride home was made possible by the arrival of four astronauts selected for SpaceX Crew-10, which replaced Crew-9 at the ISS. Wilmore and Williams needed seats on a Space-X capsule, since NASA had decided to bring the Boeing Starliner home for repair without astronauts last September. At that time, the Starliner landed safely by parachute in the New Mexico desert.

Although Crew-10 was originally scheduled to fly in February, NASA changed the launch date twice. Initially, the launch was pushed to late March, in order to give SpaceX more time to prepare a new Dragon capsule. Then, the date was moved to mid-March, when NASA decided to use a “previously flown” Dragon.

Williams and Wilmore are experienced NASA astronauts who have now completed three trips involving orbit around the Earth. Although they had to fill a great deal of time on the ISS, they have downplayed the strain of the extended mission, insisting that their unexpected nine-month stay was simply part of the job of being an astronaut. They filled their time by serving Expedition 72, which NASA says was focused on exploring “a variety of space phenomena to benefit humans on and off the Earth including pharmaceutical manufacturing, advanced life support systems, genetic sequencing in microgravity, and more.” Among their other activities, Wilmore did one spacewalk in January, and Williams did two.

Williams and Wilmore have spoken about how they relished their extra time in space, never feeling that they were trapped on the ISS. When PBS asked them if they felt stuck or abandoned, Williams said that she would not characterize it in that way, “We’re part of a bigger process,” she said. “It’s about our obligation to our international partners and fulfilling the world-class science that we’re doing up here on the International Space Station.”

After admitting that he and Williams did not bring much in the way of clothing, Wilmore said, “The space station program plans for multiple contingencies. We stockpile food to last four months beyond what is expected, at a minimum. Some — most times, it’s longer than that, food and other amenities, wet wipes, everything that you need up here. It takes a lot for human spaceflight, for humans to live in space since the year 2000.” Wilmore and Williams are now able to reunite with their families and friends as they recover from the toll of the lengthy mission.

Before departing the ISS, the four astronauts flying on the Crew-9 capsule spent a few days helping the members of Crew-10 to familiarize themselves with the orbital lab and station operations. Crew-10 will soon be part of NASA’s Expedition 73 and will do scientific experiments on the ISS for about six months.

More on this story can be found at these links:

Starliner Astronauts Are Back: Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams Land With Crew-9 in Florida. USA Today
Expedition 72. NASA Website
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on Their Longer Than Expected Stay in Space. PBS News

Applying the News Story

Reflect on a time when your expectations were not met, your progress was delayed, or your plans were changed against your will. Discuss the value of patience while awaiting God’s outcomes, faithful ways to manage expectations, and how our Christian faith can help us when we feel trapped.

The Big Questions

1. When have you embarked on a trip or an assignment that you thought would be short, but turned out to be long? How did you handle the change — mentally, emotionally and spiritually?
2. In what situations has your patience been tested? When has your progress been delayed, and how did you respond? When, if ever, have God’s outcomes become clear to you after a time of waiting?
3. When astronaut Suni Williams was asked if she felt stuck on the ISS, she said, “We’re part of a bigger process.” As a Christian, what is the “bigger process” that you are a part of, and how does this awareness help you to deal with delays or frustrations?
4. How does the church teach you faithful ways to manage expectations and deal with setbacks? What more could it do to help you?
5. What aspects of your Christian faith help you when you are feeling trapped? When does your faith help you to feel at peace with your situation, and when does it give you courage and guidance to change your circumstances?

Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:

Numbers 14:1-2
Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!” (For context, read Numbers 14:1-16.)

Because it is filled with many numbers and census lists, the fourth book of the Bible is called “Numbers.” But the Hebrew tradition calls the book Bamidbar, which is translated into English as “in the wilderness.” The people of Israel remain in the wilderness for the length of this book, moving from Mount Sinai toward the Promised Land.

As the people of Israel traveled through the wilderness, they complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!” They expected a quick and comfortable trip to the Promised Land, and they began to complain when their expectations were not met. Although they had been enslaved in Egypt, they were so miserable in the wilderness that they said to one another, “Let us choose a captain and go back to Egypt” (v. 4).

God became frustrated with the people and said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them” (vv. 11-12). But Moses interceded and spared the people from this punishment.

“I wonder,” says TWW Team Member Mary Sells, “beyond having patience awaiting God’s good outcome, what is the way through longings in our own lives? Where does God show up in our emotions and responses when what we want seems impossible?”

Questions: When do you find yourself complaining, and how do you deal with your feelings of frustration? How has God been present in your time of waiting, and when have you experienced a good outcome after you have faced a delay? What did you learn from the experience?

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. (For context, read Proverbs 3:1-6.)

The question of how to live a good life is at the heart of the Book of Proverbs, a collection of pithy sayings about wisdom, knowledge, justice, righteousness and wealth. The proverbs are ascribed to King Solomon, who has traditionally been linked with wisdom.

The third chapter begins with Solomon saying, “My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments” (v. 1). He promises “length of days” and “abundant welfare” — long life and success — to the child who is willing to follow his instructions (v. 2).

A critical teaching is to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart,” to be willing to rely on God completely. The alternative is to “rely on your own insight,” which is never as clear or illuminating as the insight of God. “In all your ways acknowledge [God], and he will make straight your paths” (v. 6). Through all of the challenges of life, Solomon encourages us to put our trust in God instead of in ourselves.

Questions: In what difficult situation did you put your trust in the Lord, and what was the result? When have you relied on your own insight, and what happened? How has your church community kept you focused on God’s guidance for life? Be specific.

John 11:1-6
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus[b] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (For context, read John 11:1-44.)

Lazarus of Bethany is mentioned only in the gospel of John, although his sisters Mary and Martha are found in Luke 10:38-42. Sickness was an everyday reality in the first century, and the words “ill” and “illness” are used five times in the first six verses of chapter 11.

John tells us that Jesus loves Lazarus, and we know from elsewhere in the gospel that Jesus is a powerful and effective healer. But Jesus delays his trip to see Lazarus, saying that his illness “is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” During this delay, Lazarus dies. Later, Martha says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). This belief is repeated by Mary in verse 32.

At the end of the story, Jesus says to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (v. 40). Then he calls for Lazarus to come out of the tomb, and he does so. The raising of Lazarus reveals God’s glory and anticipates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Questions: When, if ever, have you seen God’s plan revealed through a situation in which your expectations were not met, your progress was delayed, or your plans were changed against your will? How did this experience impact your faith?

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. (For context, read 2 Peter 3:8-15.)

The first letter of Peter encouraged the Christians in Asia Minor to stay the course in the face of persecution. His second letter was written to members of the church who were being led astray by false teachers who denied that the world would be brought to its conclusion by divine judgment. Pointing out that the world and its flow of events seemed to be moving along quite nicely, these teachers sowed seeds of doubt about the coming judgment of God.

But Peter took a strong stand against these scoffers, reminding his fellow Christians “that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (v. 8). He wanted them to see that God’s time frame was not the same as a human time frame, and that God had an agenda at work: “the Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness,” he argued, “but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” From this perspective, a person could actually “regard the patience of our Lord as salvation” (v. 15).

Christians ought to continue in their faith and good works, said Peter, leading “lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (vv. 11-12). While they “are waiting for these things,” they should strive to be found by the Lord “at peace, without spot or blemish” (v. 14). Peter did not want Christians to abandon their faith and righteous living as they waited for the day when “the heavens will be set ablaze and destroyed and the elements will melt with fire” (v. 12).

Questions: When have you faced a trial by fire, and what was the outcome? What problems arise when we try to align God’s time frame with our own? How is God’s will revealed to you in times of personal difficulty, and in what ways has his patience been shown? How do you think God’s patience is a part of his plan of salvation, and why is it connected to repentance?

For Further Discussion

1. The New Yorker tells the story of astronaut Scott Kelly, who returned from space in 2016 after spending more time in space than almost any other person: 520 days. “On this trip, he had taken the longest spaceflight of any American: nearly a year on the International Space Station. He was, in a sense, as accustomed to space as anyone alive. And yet, he told me, ‘as I flew longer, the symptoms of returning to Earth were worse.’ After he got back to his home, in Houston, he felt nauseated and dizzy. His joints ached under the force of gravity, and the pressure of simply sitting in a chair felt uncomfortable. A ponderous fatigue set in.” When have you spent an extended period of time away from home? What was the effect on you? How did you keep yourself healthy: mentally, physically and spiritually?
2. The tendency of people to complain in almost any situation is captured in an old joke about senior citizens at a resort. One says, “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” The other says, “Yeah, and such small portions.” How do you respond when you hear people complaining about their situation? When you are tempted to complain, what do you do to find a sense of peace?
3. TWW Team Member Stan Purdum reflects, “I’m not claustrophobic in the usual sense of that word, but I can feel like a caged tiger in larger limited contexts. For example, several years ago, we vacationed for a week in Aruba, a small Caribbean island nation. We stayed in a resort with lots of eating options and plenty of entertainment, which I became bored with after a couple of days. But I was able to rent a bicycle and by the end of the week, I had explored every road on the island, and I was ready to go home. When we got to the airport to leave, we went through the check-in where they checked our passports, etc. But then it was announced that our outgoing flight was delayed for several hours, so I suggested we return to the other side of the check-in and find some activities to keep us busy, only to learn that once checked in, exiting was not permitted. I felt trapped.” When, if ever, have you “felt trapped”? How did you deal with it? What spiritual resources were helpful to you, if any?
4. The phrase “justice delayed is justice denied” signifies that prolonged legal proceedings render justice ineffective, as the delay itself can cause significant harm and erode public trust in the legal system. While this may be true in our nation’s legal system, is it necessarily true in God’s plan for our lives? When does a delay erode trust in God, and when does it strengthen faith? Discuss.

Responding to the News

As you face delays and difficulties this week, look for signs that God is at work in your life. Pray for patience while awaiting God’s outcomes, talk with friends and family about how to manage expectations, and turn to your Christian faith for strength and guidance in times of challenge.

Prayer

Almighty God, we thank you for bringing the astronauts home from their lengthy trip to space. Let us know that you are with us, as you were with them, whenever we are feeling frustrated or abandoned. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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