The Heavens Declare...

 

 The heavens are telling the glory of God;

   and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
  Day to day pours forth speech,
   and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
   their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
   and their words to the end of the world.

                                                    Psalm 19: 1-4

Guy Consalmagno is an enthusiastic professional astronomer, a Jesuit priest who happily mixes religion and science, After his ordination 30 years ago he was assigned as an astronomer to the Vatican Conservatory at Castel Gandolfo, a cool gig and a reminder that the Roman Catholic church is not anti-science despite the lingering Galileo thing.

I follow Consalmagno on Twitter and he's an interesting guy (no pun originally intended!) Yesterday he shared this photo from a few years ago with the message "tomorrow we celebrate the Epiphany (in the US at least) so here's a celebration of the Magi in our creche in Castel Gandolfo..."  

This is a playful reminder that some of the first people to bear witness to Jesus as the Christ were astronomers/astrologers (there wasn't much of a distinction between the two in ancient times.) Lots of congregations will be acknowledging Epiphany today, even though the Feast of Epiphany is on January 6th. While God knows we have plenty of challenges around us on Planet Earth, including the Climate Emergency. Still, it's important to look upward and outward as Groundlings and to do so with both curiosity and awe. The heavens do declare the glory of God.