Pastor's Reflection 2026-06-25
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.” Ecclesiastes 4:9–10
Spoiler alert – if you haven’t seen the movie Project Hail Mary - do not read this.
I am pretty obsessed with a recent sci-fi film called Project Hail Mary. So much so that I have some of the key songs from the movie on my Spotify playlist. My iPhone screen saver right now is a scene from the movie. And, of course, I’ve seen the movie numerous times.
In the movie, the sun is dimming because a microscopic organism called Astrophage has started to consume its energy. The Earth has perhaps a generation before the cold sets in and life on earth collapses. In a last-ditch desperate act humanity sends three people across the galaxy to find a solution. Over the course of the trip only one person survives, a scientist named Ryland Grace. He wakes up from an induced coma with no memory, heading for a distant star called Tau Ceti. His two crewmates have died. He becomes the last hope for earth. He is utterly alone, until, he wasn’t.
There, in the vast darkness of space, Ryland Grace encounters another spacecraft. Inside is an alien, a creature from a spider-like species that evolved around a different sun, sent on the very same mission by his own civilization. His star is dying too. His “people” face extinction too. He has traveled just as far and his crew also died on the way to Tau Ceti. He alone and carrying the same weight on his shoulders. Ryland names this alien Rocky because he looks like a rock.
What follows is a beautiful display of friendship and collaboration. Rocky and Ryland share no common language. They share no common biology. Rocky breathes ammonia. Ryland breathes oxygen. They cannot even exist in the same room without protective barriers between them. And yet they build a shared language from scratch. They share their hopes, their fears, their challenges, their grief. They discover that they are more alike than different; two curious minds sent on a common mission.
To me this sounds like the best version of Wesley Church. We gather each week, people of different languages, different backgrounds, different fears, different challenges, different pasts. At Wesley we are called to build a shared language. We are called to work across every difference toward a mission larger than any one of us. Rocky and Ryland did not choose each other and yet they formed a relationship. And through their bond, they were both transformed.
Ryland Grace was sent on Project Hail Mary to save Earth. He actually did not volunteer for the job, nor did he sign up to save Rocky’s world too. He didn’t even know Rocky’s world existed. But by the end, Ryland and Rocky worked not just for their own species but for each other. The mission expanded out of an act of genuine friendship.
This is what happens when we show up for one another. Some of us arrive at Wesley thinking we are here for our own healing, our own questions, our own grief. And then someone sits down next to us, and we find out that they are walking through a challenge that we had previously gone through; and our mission suddenly expands.
This is what the writer of Ecclesiastes means when he writes that we are members of one another not just metaphorically, but practically. When one part suffers, all suffer. When one part flourishes, we all flourish. Ryland and Rocky were each sent on what seemed like solo missions. The moment they found each other, the mission became something neither of them could have accomplished alone.
As we continue our summer season, I want to invite you into two practices drawn from this movie. #1. Look for your Rocky. Who has God placed in your orbit who is unlikely, unfamiliar, perhaps even hard to communicate with? Don’t ignore them. Build the common language. You might be transformed in the process.
#2. Let your mission be expanded. Perhaps you came to Wesley Church with your own needs, your own prayers, your own questions. That is good, even great! But let’s also stay open to the moment when our story intersects with someone else’s, and the mission becomes something larger than you ever intended.
Ryland Grace went on a mission to save Earth and in the process he also saved himself. He made an unlikely friend in Rocky who spoke another language. He expanded his mission. Grace, (I love his name), found what he was looking for. And I believe, will you too.
With love and hope for the journey,
Pastor John
I am pretty obsessed with a recent sci-fi film called Project Hail Mary. So much so that I have some of the key songs from the movie on my Spotify playlist. My iPhone screen saver right now is a scene from the movie. And, of course, I’ve seen the movie numerous times.
In the movie, the sun is dimming because a microscopic organism called Astrophage has started to consume its energy. The Earth has perhaps a generation before the cold sets in and life on earth collapses. In a last-ditch desperate act humanity sends three people across the galaxy to find a solution. Over the course of the trip only one person survives, a scientist named Ryland Grace. He wakes up from an induced coma with no memory, heading for a distant star called Tau Ceti. His two crewmates have died. He becomes the last hope for earth. He is utterly alone, until, he wasn’t.
There, in the vast darkness of space, Ryland Grace encounters another spacecraft. Inside is an alien, a creature from a spider-like species that evolved around a different sun, sent on the very same mission by his own civilization. His star is dying too. His “people” face extinction too. He has traveled just as far and his crew also died on the way to Tau Ceti. He alone and carrying the same weight on his shoulders. Ryland names this alien Rocky because he looks like a rock.
What follows is a beautiful display of friendship and collaboration. Rocky and Ryland share no common language. They share no common biology. Rocky breathes ammonia. Ryland breathes oxygen. They cannot even exist in the same room without protective barriers between them. And yet they build a shared language from scratch. They share their hopes, their fears, their challenges, their grief. They discover that they are more alike than different; two curious minds sent on a common mission.
To me this sounds like the best version of Wesley Church. We gather each week, people of different languages, different backgrounds, different fears, different challenges, different pasts. At Wesley we are called to build a shared language. We are called to work across every difference toward a mission larger than any one of us. Rocky and Ryland did not choose each other and yet they formed a relationship. And through their bond, they were both transformed.
Ryland Grace was sent on Project Hail Mary to save Earth. He actually did not volunteer for the job, nor did he sign up to save Rocky’s world too. He didn’t even know Rocky’s world existed. But by the end, Ryland and Rocky worked not just for their own species but for each other. The mission expanded out of an act of genuine friendship.
This is what happens when we show up for one another. Some of us arrive at Wesley thinking we are here for our own healing, our own questions, our own grief. And then someone sits down next to us, and we find out that they are walking through a challenge that we had previously gone through; and our mission suddenly expands.
This is what the writer of Ecclesiastes means when he writes that we are members of one another not just metaphorically, but practically. When one part suffers, all suffer. When one part flourishes, we all flourish. Ryland and Rocky were each sent on what seemed like solo missions. The moment they found each other, the mission became something neither of them could have accomplished alone.
As we continue our summer season, I want to invite you into two practices drawn from this movie. #1. Look for your Rocky. Who has God placed in your orbit who is unlikely, unfamiliar, perhaps even hard to communicate with? Don’t ignore them. Build the common language. You might be transformed in the process.
#2. Let your mission be expanded. Perhaps you came to Wesley Church with your own needs, your own prayers, your own questions. That is good, even great! But let’s also stay open to the moment when our story intersects with someone else’s, and the mission becomes something larger than you ever intended.
Ryland Grace went on a mission to save Earth and in the process he also saved himself. He made an unlikely friend in Rocky who spoke another language. He expanded his mission. Grace, (I love his name), found what he was looking for. And I believe, will you too.
With love and hope for the journey,
Pastor John
Posted in Newsletter 2026-06-25