Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Gen. 15:1-12; 17-18; Ps.27; Phil. 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35

Genesis 15:5 “God brought Abram outside and said: ‘Look toward the heavens and count the stars… so shall your descendants be.’” 

            In the Pentateuch volume of the Saint John's Bible, the illumination for this story of Abram spreads across two pages. Across the field of gold stars a menorah , the ceremonial candlestick used in Jewish rites, is overlain, stretching across the heavens like a family tree. Upon those branches, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are inscribed in gold. The menorah has a prominent place at another illumination in the Saint John's Bible: at the beginning of Matthew's Gospel: the genealogy, the family tree of Christ from chapter one, and at the base of the menorah/tree: Sarah and Abraham.

O God, our shelter, you keep your promises beyond what we can even imagine. May we live each day in the joy of your faithfulness. Amen

• Go to the Hubble websitehttp://www.hubblesite.org/gallery. Look at the creation of stars.