On August 20, 1977, there was launched an 1819 pound space craft, Voyager 2, at Cape Canaveral. At 61,148 miles per hour it was directed toward the planet Neptune. In 1989 it arrived, only twenty-one miles from its destination. From 2.8 billion miles from earth it sent back pictures of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Since it completed its mission, it was turned toward outer space, where it will float through the Milky Way forever and ever.

In a world of endings, we long for something or someone that will go on forever and ever. Probably because of this craving, the church added to the Lord’s Prayer the closing words, “Forever and ever.” Not only was it “forever” but “forever and ever” eternal, everlasting, unending. When we sing the Gloria Patri, we express the same longing when we …