Aliens From Another World

TITLE: ALIENS FROM ANOTHER WORLD

SCRIPTURE: PSALM 69:8 / EPHESIANS 2:12 / I PETER 1:1-2

When I was growing up in the 70's, it seemed like the most popular tv shows and movies involved aliens and UFO’S -- I grew up watching Star Trek - Lost In Space -- and it was as if most shows on TV, from time to time, had an episode about aliens coming to earth -- one of the most popular tv shows in the late 1970's was a SITCOM

• "MORK AND MINDY" -- the show where ROBIN WILLIAMS played an alien who came to earth in a giant egg from the planet ORK and lived with MINDY MCCONNELL, who was played by PAM DAWBER

• And, of course, there was PROJECT BLUE BOOK, which was supposed to be true stories of UFOs from the files of the United States Air Force

• Let’s not forget about the movie STAR WARS that first came out in 1977 which grossed $1.6M opening weekend and $307.3M Domestic Showing

People were fascinated with the idea of aliens existing in the universe and paying visits to earth -- as a kid, I spent a lot of summer nights staring up at the sky and looking for UFOs with my cousins or with neighborhood friends -- all of us had stories about friends of a friend who had seen a UFO in the woods, and we spent hours scanning the skies looking for a UFO our self. The cover of every TABLOID during that time period had a cover a UFO citing somewhere in America.

Our country, during those decades, was caught up in a UFO-CRAZE -- everyone was looking for UFOs and stories of extraterrestrials dotted our newspapers and our nightly news -- the question on everyone's lips during that decade was, "Are We Alone?" -- I believe it was the year 1982, I was a young man of 21 years of age, serving in my first duty assignment at Ft. Hood, TX., when the movie E.T made its debut. Anyone remember that movie? It was an American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie was released on June 11, 1982, by Universal Pictures.

• E.T. was an immediate Blockbuster

• 11.9M Opening Weekend -- $435M Domestic Sales

• It surpassed Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all time

• A record it held for eleven years

The 70’s and 80’s were very interesting times indeed, as a society we were caught up in the idea of Aliens from another planet. I also remember watching the re-runs from that show that ran from 1963-1966 called “My Favorite Martian.”

• Who could forget those StarTrek years -- CAPTAIN JAMES KIRK of the USS STARSHIP ENTERPRISE who spent his whole career fighting Aliens….well…in actuality he was not always fighting them, and I had better leave that right there

How many of you have ever lived or visited outside of North America? I have been blessed to have lived in PANAMA for three years – FRANCE for three years - GERMANY for three years – BELGIUM for almost four years. I can recall those uncomfortable times in a foreign country when I could not understand the language and could not effectively communicate, it oftentimes made me feel like an Alien. Oftentimes, I felt uncomfortable and not able to understand the language being spoken to me nor could they understand the language I was communicating. I am sure our Vietnam Veterans can relate to this as well.

Throughout all my travels and though we all may travel far and wide, there is truly nothing like returning home after a trip. Having a place where we always belong is a great blessing indeed, and this remains true whether we live in a castle or just a humble bungalow.

• JOHN HOWARD PAYNE captured well the love people have for their homes in the song “HOME, SWEET HOME” from his OPERETTA CLARI, MAID OF MILAN: “BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!”

Some of our experiences we have had in foreign countries we can relate to a key word here in our text –the word “strangers,” which is sometimes translated as “aliens” or “sojourners” or even “foreigners.” It describes those who come from another country but now live in this country. They are “Resident Aliens” or “expatriates” or you might even call them “missionaries.” Peter means that Christians are strangers residing on the earth, yet our home is in Heaven. He is suggesting to us as Believers, as Christians, that this world should seem foreign to us.

• You will never know what that is like until you visit a foreign country and there see people who - don’t LOOK LIKE YOU - TALK LIKE YOU - THINK LIKE YOU - OR LIVE LIKE YOU