As we leap headlong into the Year of the Ox, I’ve been thinking about the difference a few decades can make in the development of a culture. In the December 2008 issue of Christianity Today, the editor notes the subtle post-Olympic shifts in China’s attitudes toward the West. Specifically, after all the attention went bye-bye, the Chinese government decided that sacred music should totally disappear.

Despite signs of Christianity spreading across China, or perhaps because of it, things have begun to change. As Catherine Sampson wrote in The Guardian, “Quietly and without publicity, the Chinese authorities have let it be known that Western religious music should no longer be performed in concert halls. It’s an unexpected decision, and one for which there is no obvious explanation or trigger.” Sampson reports that even some religious-sounding non-sacred works, like Carl Orff’s bombastic Carmina Burana — the underscore for every horror flick since The Omen — have also been squelched.

Now set the Wayback Machine for forty years ago, Christmas Eve, 1968.

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, had just entered lunar orbit. The astronauts, Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell (the guy Tom Hanks played in the film Apollo 13), and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit. They started the broadcast by showing pictures of the Earth and Moon as seen from their unique vantage point. Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." Anders said, “For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you.”

Then the astronauts did something that would be next-to-unthinkable in the politically-correct world of 2008: the crew took turns reading from the book of Genesis.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Lovell and Borman continued the Genesis passage all the way through “and God saw that it was good,” then Borman added, “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth.”

In 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, Linus perfectly answered Charlie Brown's question about the meaning of Christmas by quoting a large passage from the Gospel of Luke. I doubt if South Park is likely to follow suit. Linus’ speech is probably the clearest presentation of the Gospel that prime-time TV has ever seen, and it remains so over forty years later.

China put on a big show, and then quietly returned the witness of Christ to the back shelf like a cook putting away the good dishes after a fancy meal. And it only took a few months. No need to worry; the Word will be heard anyway.

But what’s happened to us in forty years? When is the last time you heard scripture quoted, and God thanked, on a major network (not counting televised preachers or award-winning hip-hop artists)? Have you ever wondered why we don't miss it more than we do?

—Loyd Boldman