The Spaghetti
[The Son] was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. – Colossians 1:17 MSG
My brother dropped it in the family group chat like it was nothing. “Don’t forget to watch the Artemis II launch!” Of course he would; he’s an aerospace engineer.
He started listing what made it special: first Black captain, first woman on a lunar mission, first Canadian, farthest out humans have ventured. And then he added, almost as an afterthought: “I worked on this program at Johnson Space Center … for NASA.”
The chat erupted. My niece: “Casually dropping that in the group chat is wild!” My sister, already planning how she’d work this into water cooler talk at her office. My other brother, remembering he’d turned down a NASA offer for this exact project back in 2015 to go to medical school instead.
I showed up late to the chat, scrolling through pages of messages, and landed on my sister asking for details so she could “chef up a masterpiece of a tale.” I’d been expecting my brother to say he stocked the mints or fitted the toilet handle.
His response was technical, almost apologetic. “You might be disappointed as it won’t be as titillating.” But then he explained: ECLSS, Environmental Control and Life Support Systems. The oxygen systems, the potable water, the internal structures. The miles upon miles of tubes, ducts, harnesses. “Pretty much all the systems and spaghetti that keeps the crew alive.”
Millions watched the launch. The fire, the liftoff, the spectacle. But my brother worked on the systems nobody sees—the spaghetti that keeps people alive in the void.
All things hold together. Not because of what we watch, but because of what we can’t see.
Prayer
For the invisible work that sustains us, we give thanks. Amen.
About the AuthorPhiwa Langeni creatively invites others into transformational liminal spaces between what has been and what is yet to be. They currently serve as the Associate Conference Minister for Equipping Leaders in the Southern California Nevada Conference UCC.