Unknown

There are so many things about life that are unknown.  We try to create and maintain control but there is so much we cannot influence.  And faith really just adds to the unknown.  We feel called to follow Jesus and we say yes, or we try to, but we have NO idea what that will actually entail.  Following Jesus can feel like a road trip with no GPS and not even a paper map.  

We see this in the gospels as the disciples answer the call to follow Jesus having no idea where they will be going or what they will be doing.  And they certainly have no idea that Jesus will be killed on a cross.  Absolutely no clue.  They simply don’t know what to expect.  And they follow the best they can.  And they are often a bit at sea about what to do.  Not surprisingly.  

So how do they go forward in faith?  How do they follow Jesus into the unknown.  Well, they trust.  They hope.  They accept their lack of control and their lack of a full understanding of what they are part of.  [Side note:  I think it might be much easier for some of us to be part of a rules based religion. . .] 

And what happens?  What happens is amazing!  And beyond their wildest dreams!   And their efforts continue to bear fruit today through us.  We are in the church today, this life-giving community, because of those trusting disciples over 2,000 years ago.

One of the astronauts, Pietro, in Samantha Harvey’s novel, Orbital, is trying to come to terms with the unknown:  “It’s probably a childish thought, but he has an idea that if you could get far enough away from the earth you’d be able finally to understand it — to see it with your own eyes as an object, a small blue dot, a cosmic and mysterious thing.  Not to understand its mystery, but to understand that it is mysterious.  To see it as a mathematical swarm.  To see the solidity fall away from it.”  [p. 77]

This is part of our spiritual journey.  To accept, even embrace the mystery, not only of faith but of life itself.  We don’t get all of the answers.  We follow Jesus in faith.  Trusting that Love will prevail.  Though we have no idea how that will unfold.  It is mysterious.  

Prayer:  We like to have the answers.  We like predictability.  And yet faith is mysterious.  Help us to trust in Divine Love and to marvel at what ensues.  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.