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While orbiting Earth in a spaceship with 5 others, Chie, an astronaut from Japan, learns that her mother has died.  In the course of the novel, Orbital, Samantha Harvey recounts Chie’s experience of grief in the small spaceship, many miles and many months away from the rituals that surround such a painful passing.  Among the astronauts, Chie talks about her mother.  She cries and the tears have to be gathered for they float off in the zero gravity conditions and can cause technical problems.  With no loved one to hold, she holds herself.  But she cannot be part of the funeral or the rituals of remembering her mother’s life.  She thinks about which bone she would choose at the bone picking ceremony after the cremation.  

Chie is fulfilling her life long dream, her ambition, the culmination of her hard work and preparation, by being in space, and yet she wants to be on Earth.  With her mother.  Chie’s days in the spaceship are highly scheduled, every waking moment programmed, and yet grief creeps in.  Finds a way.  This is human.  To suffer loss.  Especially of someone as significant as a mother.  

In these somber days of Lent, dare we allow our grief to creep into our reality?  What grief are we holding?  The death of a loved one, still cherished and missed?  The death of Jesus which we will commemorate on Good Friday?  The death of values that were once held dear?  The ending of a relationship?  Do we hold grief over the pain experienced by our beloved planet, Earth?  

To allow our hearts to be heavy is to be fully human.

Prayer:  The days of our lives are filled with attachments partly made beautiful by their fragility and finitude.  May we create space for grief which lets in all the beauty of that which is no longer present to us.  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.

Palm Sunday – March 29.  The service begins outside with the Blessing of the Palms.  Please bring a palm and some to share if you can. 

Maundy Thursday – April 2.  This service commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples will be held at Pilgrim United Church of Christ (6315 Central Ave. St. Petersburg).  Pilgrim, Lakewood, Good Samaritan, and Church of the Isles United Churches of Christ will be joining together for a service of candlelight and communion.  The service begins at 6:00 p.m.  Please consider carpooling from Lakewood.  

Good Friday – April 3.  There will be a special commemoration of the crucifixion at noon.  This will take place outside by the labyrinth.  There will be readings and prayers and time for quiet reflection.  Those who choose to may walk the labyrinth.  Others may choose to take a walk around the church grounds.  There will also  be finger labyrinths available for those who prefer that.  The walking will be in memory of Jesus’ journey to the cross.  Please bring a chair if you can.

Easter Sunday – April 5.  The Festival Service begins at 10:30 a.m.  You are invited to bring a flowering plant to place at the altar during the processional as we celebrate the new life and hope symbolized by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The service will include communion.  All are welcome! 

If a sunrise service suits your needs, consider attending the service offered by Pass-A-Grille Beach Community United Church of Christ at 7:00 a.m. at Pass-A-Grille Way and 10th Ave.  Rev. Angela Wells-Bean will be preaching.

It seems that humans are wired to protect that which is fragile or hurt.  People rush to help a dog or cat hit by a car.  A bird falls from the nest and every effort is made to help it.  When it comes to a small child or a vulnerable animal, we just seem to have a built in response to protect and to help.  Well, most of us do. 

That’s when it is one on one.  When it comes to society protecting the vulnerable, it is much more of a mixed bag.  Providing health care for all should be a no brainer yet we still have not resolved that.  Doing all we can to help children thrive is also something that gets complicated.  And so does uplifting the quality of life for our elders.  The church hosts an adult daycare center and the funding was significantly cut in the last federal budget.  This money helped seniors who sit alone at home all day to have a place to go to be with other people and to do things that were of interest and enriching.  This has all kinds of positive health outcomes and is much less expensive than the Medicare funds needed for a health crisis.  Yet we can’t get it done.  So much for our inclination to help those who are vulnerable or injured.  

The view from space offers yet another perspective on protection and taking care of what is vulnerable.  In the novel Orbital, Samantha Harvey shares the feeling of the six astronauts in the spaceship orbiting Earth 16 times a day:  “Before long, for all of them, a desire takes hold.  It’s the desire – no, the need (fuelled by fervour) – to protect this huge yet tiny earth.  This thing of such miraculous and bizarre loveliness.  This thing that is, given the poor choice of alternatives, so unmistakably home.  An unbounded place, a suspended jewel so shockingly bright.  Can humans not find peace with one another?  With the earth?  It’s not a fond wish but a fretful demand.  Can we not stop tyrannizing and destroying and ransacking and squandering this one thing on which our lives depend?”   [p. 108]

There it is.  The issue.  Why are we so concerned about a hurt pet, but so oblivious to the sufferings of Earth?  

Prayer:  May we learn to cherish the planet that keeps us alive and brings us beauty and joy.  Earth is protecting us in so many ways.  Give us the need to protect the precious Earth.  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.

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.