8 January

Today's the day when in 1642 the Italian astronomer Galileo died. He has been called the "father of modern astronomy" due to his revolutionary discoveries. He made major improvements to the telescope for observing the skies and he discovered the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, and the regions on the sun’s surface we know as sunspots.

His real headline-grabber came when he published scientific confirmation that the earth is orbiting the sun – and not vice versa. The idea that the earth was at the centre of the universe had been precious to many Christian thinkers and unfortunately as a result of his publications he was found guilty of heresy and sentenced to life imprisonment. Due to his age and poor health he was allowed to serve out his sentence under house arrest, where presumably he could still get out his telescope and do a little star-gazing.

Have you looked up at the night sky recently? It’s a constant reminder of the vastness of creation; it seems to say: ‘remember how big God is and how small you are.’ Even modern science can explain only a tiny fraction of what’s going on up there. Psalm 19 reminds us to see God’s splendour in it all:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.