Online Devotional – Lakewood United Church of Christ

Devotion Eighteen — Lists

Are you a list maker? I know I am. I make lists of things to get at the grocery store. I make lists of things to do at church. I make lists of things to take care of at home. I make lists of people I need to contact. I make lists of many things. And it usually is some kind of ‘to do’ list.

In the novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey, every so often there is a list made by one of the astronauts, Chie, from Japan. The first list comes after a beautiful paragraph about the astronauts bonding over their situation together: “Their loyal, monogamous circling which struck them last night as humbly beautiful. A sense of attention and servitude, a sort of worship. And though they looked out before going to bed. . . it wasn’t the moon that entered their dreams, but their own wild garden of space outside the spacecraft – the garden they’d all at some point walked in. And the ever-electric blue pull of the earth.” [p. 47].

You turn the page and there is a list:

Irritating Things

Tailgaters

Tired children

Wanting to go for a run

Lumpy pillows

Peeing in space when in a hurry

Stuck zips

Whispering people

The Kennedys

It’s somewhat random. And later on the page another list: Reassuring things. This list includes pumpkins. [pp.48-49] On page 86 there is a list of Surprising things including Green clouds and Children in bow ties. Later in the book there is a list of Maddening things. This list includes Church bells that ring every quarter-hour and Blocked noses. [p. 145] The final list in the book is Anticipated things including Need of a winter coat, Plums, Slamming a door in anger. And finally after this last list, an explanation of the lists. Apparently, the astronaut, Chie, from Japan, used to make lists as a child when she was anxious or disturbed. It was a way to help her express and control her feelings. And she kept it up when she faced challenging circumstances in her life. The lists are calming, insightful, and illuminating.

I am wondering about making some lists like these, especially in our trying times. We could even start with Chie’s subjects: Irritating things. Reassuring things. Surprising things. Maddening things. Anticipated things. You are encouraged to try make such a list this week. What do you learn about yourself and your feelings in the process?

Prayer: In this Lenten season, we seek to know ourselves more deeply so that we can be honest about who we are. And how we feel. And what we can do to be more loving like Jesus. Maybe making a list will help prevent us from “Slamming a door in anger.” Amen.

No devotion tomorrow, Sunday.

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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.

Lent devotion Seventeen — Powerless

We have watched, especially in recent days and months, many things go on that we feel are harmful – to us, to our children, to our state, to our country, to other countries, to other peoples, to the Earth. We see so much violence and death. Wars and rumors of wars. The situation in the Middle East was once a powder keg, and now it has gone from smoldering to flaming. Sometimes you just feel powerless in the face of it all.

The travelers in the space ship in the novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey orbit Earth 16 times a day. And in the course of of their observations, they watch an amassing typhoon. Meteorologists on Earth want the astronauts to verify projections and speed from their unique perspective in space. And indeed the astronauts watch the typhoon gathering in strength, size, and speed. They know that there are people and cities in its path. One astronaut has friends in the Philippines who will likely be wiped out by the storm. Harvey tells us of the perspective of the astronauts as they observe the gathering typhoon: “They have no power — they have only their cameras and a privileged anxious view of its building magnificence. They watch it come.” [p. 35]

Of course, in a space ship orbiting Earth, they can do nothing to influence the typhoon or its impact.

Let’s circle back to our situation here on Earth. We are not encapsulated in a spaceship far from Earth. We are here on Earth. And as long as we have breath in our bodies, and even after, we have power. We can have influence. We can make a difference. We can impact what goes on here on this precious plant.

The people of this country forced and end to the Vietnam War. Regular everyday people. Who used whatever power they could. In this day of social media and internet communication accessible to virtually everyone, we have even more power. What will we do with it?

That is a question for Lent. What to do with all of the power we have been given? Use it? For good? For others? For the world? For our own selfish purposes? For harming others? For nothing – let it go to waste? This is the question Jesus faced in the 40 days in the wilderness. What was he going to do with all of his power. It’s something to think about in this holy season of realigning ourselves with the purposes of Divine Love.

Prayer: May we be aware of all of the power we have to influence everything from interpersonal relationships to international relationships. May we devote our power to peace. Amen.

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Devotion prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL

Lent devotion Sixteen — Safety Hazard

The novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey tells the story of 4 astronauts and 2 cosmonauts orbiting the earth 16 times a day at seventeen and a half thousand miles an hour in a spaceship made of 17 modules. [p. 3] It is a well designed life support system. They are confined and carefully monitored but it is perilous nonetheless. One little thing could go wrong and they could all die.

In contrast, Harvey reflects on the hazards of life on Earth. “Not the multiple perils of earthly freedom where you roam about quite unmonitored, quite unbounded, beset by ledges and heights and roads and guns and mosquitoes and contagion and crevasses and the hapless criss-cross of eight million species all vying to survive.” [p.30] Well, that being said, Earth doesn’t seem very safe either. It has its perils.

But as I think about the ‘perils of earthly freedom’ it may be that the biggest threat to humans is humans themselves. It seems far more likely that one would come to harm from another human than from a volcano erupting or a tidal wave or a bug bite. The biggest threat we may experience, the source of our greatest fears, may be things that are perpetrated by other humans; ones we may know and ones we don’t know. We are the greatest threat to our own safety.

Can that be said of any other species? They are their own greatest threat? It is something to think about as we seek to re-turn our lives to God in this Lenten season.

Prayer: May we come to see every other person as our sister, brother, or sibling, as Jesus did. May we seek to support and protect one another for the perpetuation of our species and the good of the planet. Let me do something for the good of another today. Amen.

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Devotion prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL

Lenten devotion Fiffteen — Symbols

Symbols are important and powerful. When we see a swastika we know what it means. There are associations with Hitler, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust. We know what a red circle with a slash through it means. Not allowed. We know the cross as a symbol of Christianity and the church.

Symbols are important. Look at how much attention corporations give to their logos. A logo not only identifies a company, it defines the company. Look at the hubbub recently over the new Cracker Barrel logo. They finally capitulated and kept the old logo.

Symbols have power and meaning. One of the most powerful symbols in today’s world is the flag. We witnessed the parade of flags at the Opening Ceremonies of the recent Winter Olympics. One after another. With proud athletes streaming under the waving flags. Each nation’s flag different and representing the people of the country and their culture and heritage. It was a beautiful display.

Flags help to gather us as group, as a people. A flag is a symbol of a common bond to a place. It doesn’t mean the place or the people are perfect but that they hold something in common that is important.

In a section of the novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey, there is speculation that the human experiment on Earth may be coming to an end: “Maybe we’re the new dinosaurs and need to watch out. But then maybe against all the odds we’ll migrate to Mars where we’ll start a colony of gentle preservers, people who’ll want to keep the red planet red, we’ll devise a planetary flag, because that’s a thing we lacked on earth and we’ve come to wonder if that’s why it all fell apart, and we’ll look back at the faint dot of blue that is our old convalescing earth and we’ll say, Do you remember? Have you heard the tales.” [p. 203]

The flag is a powerful symbol and we do not have a planetary flag. We do not have a flag that announces our common bond to this planet. We do not have a flag to gather us as a species. We do not have a flag to remind us that we hold something in common as inhabitants of this earth.

Could a flag make a difference or is it too late. . .

Prayer: In this season, may we rejoice in our oneness with all of humanity. In our religious tradition we celebrate a God that cares for all. A God whose mystery and imagination are displayed in the many different peoples of Earth as well as in nature. May we give thanks remembering all people are a manifestation of the Divine. Amen.

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Devotion prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL

Category: Online Devotional

Devotion Eighteen — Lists

Lent devotion Seventeen — Powerless

Lent devotion Sixteen — Safety Hazard

Lenten devotion Fiffteen — Symbols

Lent Devotion 25