I like to go to the performances of the Florida Orchestra. I also like to go to the opera. I love the art museum. What motivates people to invest their lives in such creativity and performance?
We are very fortunate in our community to have hundreds and hundreds of devoted doctors. People who have invested in extensive schooling and training so that they can help to heal others. It’s amazing!
There are teachers in our schools who spend night and day thinking of new ways to engage students and make learning interesting, valued. Each and every day they show up at school and help young people to understand the world around them. It’s beautiful!
And as a pastor, I think of the thousands of clergy who each and every week preach to their congregations and offer spiritual care and incite people to want to follow Jesus devoting themselves to the have nots and to creating a just society where everyone has access to what is needed to thrive and live in peace.
But space? Being an astronaut? I’m not so sure why anyone would want to do that, though it certainly is incredible!
In Samantha Harvey’s novel, Orbital, the crew on the international space ship includes one person from Italy. One from Japan. One from Great Britain. Two from Russia. And one from the US. The ship has been orbiting for years with the crew changing on a regular basis, coming from different nations, and the mission continuing. But the spaceship is getting old and new initiatives are afoot, so this orbiting of international travelers is coming to an end. One of the Russian cosmonauts, Roman, reflects on the this culmination: “He seems to know that something is ending, that all good things must go this way, towards fracture and fallout. So many astronauts and cosmonauts have passed through here, this orbiting laboratory, this science experiment in the carefully controlled nurturing of peace. It’s going to end. And it will end through the restless spirit of endeavour that made it possible in the first place. Striking out further and deeper. The moon, the moon. Mars, the moon. Further yet. A human being was not made to stand still.” [p. 202]
I am very interested in this concept of a “science experiment in the carefully controlled nurturing of peace.” It seems we could use many more experiments of this nature. In space. And certainly on Earth. Experiments seeking to nurture peace. Some of us will go to the No Kings demonstration today. Maybe that is what we are really doing. Being part of an experiment in the nurturing of peace. I hope so!
Prayer: There are so many ways for us to engage with life and with society. We are beings infused with creativity and dreams. In who we are and what we do, may we be part of nurturing peace for ourselves, for our neighbors, for our enemies, for the world, and for the cosmos. Amen
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.
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