After Jim Lovell, a longtime resident of Lake Forest, died last week at age 97, the obituaries that followed focused largely on his bravery in going to space, the harrowing Apollo 13 mission that was immortalized in the eponymous film in which Tom Hanks played him, and his place in a long-ago era in which the moon was the new frontier.
But his contributions came to Chicago Sun-Times readers in other ways when he agreed to an interview for our old podcast called “Face to Faith” in 2017, in which he spoke about his own spirituality and the impact his trips to space, and his longevity in living, had on his belief system.
Click below for unedited audio of 2017 interview
Out of the dozens of people we featured for that project, Lovell stood out — his beliefs were so thought-provoking and earnest, his brand of Christianity so intriguing.
While the accompanying story remains online, the audio disappeared over the years from the web. After Lovell’s recent death, we were able to find the unedited sound and post it, as we have gotten several emails from readers searching for the original unsuccessfully.
Among the highlights, Lovell, who had been raised Presbyterian and continued to attend services through the denomination at the time of our interview, recalled that while orbiting the moon decades ago, he looked out through the window of his spacecraft and saw Earth, which appeared so small that he could obscure the view with his thumb. “I thought how insignificant we really all are and yet how fortunate we all are that we have a place to live.
“I began to think that, you know, in reality, we often say that I hope to go to heaven when we die. In reality, we go to heaven when we’re born. We arrive on a [planet] with the proper mass that has the gravity that can contain water and an atmosphere, the very essentials for life.
“And if you want to really pursue that to the extreme, St. Peter was that doctor you saw when you first opened your eyes.
“That’s my sort of philosophy right now, that enjoy life. … Take a moment and look at what you have, look at Lake Michigan. … Feel the breeze on your cheek, and know that God has really given us ability to be here.
“God has given us a stage … upon which to perform, and how the play turns out is really up to us.”
Lovell didn’t seem to believe in the afterlife, at least at the time of the 2017 interview, saying, “in reality, I think our life and our heaven is the time that we’re here on Earth. Of course, there’s a lot of sadness, but the happiness is now.”
Whatever the reality, those were profound words he shared with us.