Those in the mental health profession say that the most important person in our lives is our mother. Whatever our mother was like, even if we never knew her, our mother is the most important person in our lives. Even by being absent, she has an influence upon us. And a mother that is present and loving and nurturing can make all the difference especially when there are other forces at work around us demeaning us or degrading us. The influence of a mother is extremely significant. Even if we hated our mother. She is still an influence on us. We have to decide whether it will be for good or ill.
I know that my mother did not grow up with many opportunities. She told us that she was determined that my brother and I would have all the things she never had – like outings to museums, attending concerts, taking music lessons, going on vacation, etc. And we did!
In the novel, Orbital, by Samantha Harvey, the biological mother of one of the astronauts, Chie from Japan, dies while they are on their space mission. It is very difficult for her. Now she has no mother on Earth to go back to. But this reinforces the realization that the Earth is our mother. Harvey tells us: “They look down and they understand why it’s called Mother Earth. They all feel it from time to time. They all make an association between the earth and a mother. . .
“But now, more so. Since Chie came to the galley on Friday evening where they were making dinner, her face colourless with shock, and said, My mother has died. . . .
“Since that news, they find themselves looking down at earth as they circle their way round it . . and there’s that word: mother mother mother mother. Chie’s only mother now is that rolling, glowing ball that throws itself involuntarily around the sun once a year. Chie has been made an orphan, her father dead a decade. That ball is the only thing she can point to now that has given her life. There’s no life without it. Without that planet there’s no life. Obvious.” [pp. 11-12]
I am wondering what our lives would be like, and what Earth would be like, if we took seriously the idea that Earth is our mother. What if our relationship with Earth were the most important relationship in our lives? Somehow, I have the feeling that this would bring us closer to the God/Divine Love/ Creator, and to each other.
Prayer: May we learn to revere the Earth for all the ways it sustains our lives providing us with food, shelter, companionship, and beauty. A gift beyond compare without which we are nothing. May we be grateful for all the mothering love that sustains our lives. 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 