Sunday Superposition #33

Sentinels of grace; cosmic scoops; the last laugh

Sunday Superposition is a premium perk for paid subscribers, a monthly collection of spiritual themes and links to stuff I find interesting.

Sentinels of Grace

This is an entry from the astronomy-themed devotional I’m writing.

When Galileo turned his spyglass toward the heavens, he became the first to glimpse the splendor of Jupiter and Saturn. For millennia before, humanity had gazed at these bright wanderers—points of light drifting against the fixed stars—and deemed them special, naming them after their gods in a symbolic gesture to the divine. The ancients could only wonder at their nature. Had they seen what we see, we can only imagine how their awe would have deepened.

Today, we know these magnificent worlds as created things, not deities—objects to understand, not revere. For the scientist, they fit into a rational order; for the Christian, they do the same, while also pointing to the One who crafted them. But why did God shape Jupiter and Saturn into such feasts for the eyes? Why fashion them at all?