In Samantha’ Harvey’s novel, Orbital, we are told about the heart of the Italian astronaut Pietro: “There in his chest is a heart that tilts and pitches. He can keep its beats slow and smooth, quell its habits of fear or panic or impulse, stop it yearning too much for home, curb its unhelpful states of abandon. Calm and steady, calm and steady. Metronome pacing out the breath. Yet still at times it tilts and pitches. It wants what it wants and hopes what it hopes and needs what it needs and loves what it loves. So strenuously unrobotic is the astronaut’s heart that is leaves the earth’s atmosphere and it presses out — gravity stops pressing in and the counterweight of the heart starts pressing out, as if suddenly aware it is part of an animal, alive and feeling. An animal that does not just bear witness, but loves what it witnesses.” [pp. 50-51]
This is Good Friday. The day we remember Jesus being killed on the cross, a painful, excruciating death. A humiliating death. What was the state of Jesus’ heart that day? Was it tilting and pitching? Or slow and smooth, with no sign of fear or panic? Was Jesus calm and steady? Can we imagine, even in the midst of humiliation and pain, the heart of Jesus expanding with love for the Earth, for life, for all the people here, for God?
Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing!
Prayer: On this of all days, may our hearts swell with love for Jesus and the world for which he died. 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 