It turns out that the earth is rather smaller than previously estimated. I learned of the discrepancy just the other day.
Researcher Axel Nothnagel of the University of Bonn discovered the error, having recently completed a measure of the earth’s diameter with unprecedented precision. Dr. Nothnagel used a methodology called “very long baseline interferometry” – a complicated mechanism that involves stars and radio telescopes. The measurement showed that the planet is fully five millimeters smaller than previously estimated. You can read the astounding news for yourself at the University of Bonn.
Five millimeters is not a great distance, in many ways. Less than a quarter of an inch – the distance, approximately, between here →|and|← here. I have read somewhere that the earth itself is squeezed by its orbiting moon approximately 40 centimeters each day, first one way and then the other. Five millimeters is a small fraction of that daily variability. Five millimeters, in fact, is a smallish fraction of very many things.
Yet for people who care about measurements, five millimeters is enough to redraw the map, so to speak. It is enough to impact the orbit of satellites, for example. It is enough to influence the tracking of airplanes and ships – and even hikers who depend upon “GPS” locators.
From a missiological perspective, of course, we do not need “very long baseline interferometry” to notice a remarkable shrinkage in the dimensions of planet earth.
My little town is home to more Chinese scholars and students than anywhere outside of mainland China. It is home to a larger community of Somali immigrants than anywhere in the United States. More Hmong make their home in my town than anywhere else in the country. Not to mention some 200,000 African immigrants, 400 Afghans, 900 Burmese, more than 5,000 Iranians, some 6,500 Eritreans, etc. There are Sikh groups, Jain groups, Zoroastrians, and more. There are 62 Buddhist temples in my city, 21 Hindu temples and fellowships, and approximately 125,000 Muslims worshipping in nearly 80 mosques.
Five millimeters is pretty subtle. But there is nothing subtle about trends like these. The world is smaller than estimated previously – by a long shot.
If you are thinking to launch a satellite into geostationary orbit, sometime soon, you will certainly want to take into account Dr. Nothnagel’s new measurements. You wouldn’t want to be “off” in your calculations. But if you are thinking of something more earth-bound – like living your life for Christ in cities like Minneapolis or Saint Paul – you will want to take into account the radical shrinkage of the world of cultures, languages and religions. You will want to notice that your neighbors may be Muslim as well as Lutheran, and that you don’t need to travel to Pakistan to befriend Pakistanis. (More than 1,700 live in my home town.) You can be “off” in calculations like these, too.
Changes like these are enough to redraw the map. They are enough to impact the exercise of our faith and witness and worldview. Indeed, concerned believers could lose their way altogether, if they do not recognize changes such as these. The mission of God is sometimes found at our doorstep.
The world, you see, is smaller than you thought.