I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine going round and round the earth in a small spaceship with the same small group of people for days on end. Nowhere to ‘hide.’ Nowhere to get ‘away.’ I don’t have a tendency toward claustrophobia, but still, I can’t imagine it.
But in the book, Orbital, by Samantha Harvey, the crew talks about how being confined together in those close quarters ‘works’ on them. We’re told: “They have talked before about a feeling they often have, a feeling of merging. That they are not quite distinct from one another, nor from the spaceship. . .
Then they agree that it’s idiotic, this metaphor. Nonsensical. But unshakeable all the same. There’s something about hurtling in low earth orbit that makes them think this way, as a unit, where the unit itself, their sprawling ship, becomes alive and part of them.” [pp.28-29]
The group feels that they have become one with each other and with the spaceship that supports them. A unit. One whole. Functioning completely interdependently. An organic union. The spaceship needs them to function. They need the ship to contain them in an atmosphere that allows their survival in space. And they need each other to keep everything going – physically and emotionally. So they feel they have become a unit that is mutually sustaining.
This image of a unit, spaceship and crew, is a good image for the relationship between human beings and Earth. The Earth is the environment that provides for us and keeps us alive. We need the Earth to survive. And we need to take care of the Earth so it can support our species. We cannot exist without Earth. And we cannot exist without each other. We need each other for physical as well as emotional support. We are needed to work together not just to support each other but to take care of the Earth so it can continue to take care of us. Of course we keep in mind that the Earth can thrive without humanity and did so for eons before our evolution. And may do so again in the future.
While Lent may be a time to spend time alone in quiet reflection, we are reminded that we are entwined with one another and the planet as a unit. What is good for Earth is good for us. What is good for someone else, to help them survive and thrive, is good for us. What is good for us is truly good if it is also good for others and the Earth.
Our faith moves us to decenter ourselves. To see the complex unit of which we are apart. And to invest ourselves in the wellbeing of the whole enterprise not just our individual interests.
Prayer: In Genesis we are told of the creation of an interdependent web meant to support all forms of life. God creates a unit – a cosmos, a planet, a people – mutually sustaining so that all of it may thrive. May we see how blessed we are to part of such an amazing reality. Amen.
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Devotion prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL
The devotions this Lenten season will be based on the novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Orbital won the Booker Prize in 2024. It is a beautifully written story about the experience of a group of people orbiting the Earth in a spaceship. They see 16 sunrises and sunsets in a 24 hour period. The book is a reflection on the experience of living together and appreciating planet Earth in a new way.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 