Contemporary Reading

(Each voice had a star to place on a central area after their words)

Voice 1:
The verb ‘to count’ in this story does, indeed, mean to “count.” But the root of the word is richer. In its various forms and contexts it can mean, not only “to count,” but also “to recount,” or “to narrate,” “to take account of,” or “to make accounting of,” “to interpret,” “to explain.” Our contemporary reading uses these interpretations of the word to expand and broaden how we might understand the story.


Voice 2:
Abraham,
look to the heavens
and take account of the stars.
They tell a story
of the abundance and wonder of love.
There, in the heavens,
for all to see,
an extravagant love,
that you cannot quantify
and interpret in units.
You can try,
but you’ll run out of numbers
so great is the abundance,
so just stand there,
and wonder,
at love.


Voice 3:
Abraham,
look to the heavens
and narrate the stars.
They tell their own story,
they form the handwriting
on the surface of the sky.
“The heaven’s declare the glory of God,”
says the psalmist:
the stars themselves
proclaim the story
of God’s glory,
so join the dots,
shape the letters,
and read what the stars say:
glory,
wonder,
and love.


Voice 4:
Abraham,
look to the heavens,
and recount the stars,
thus shall your offspring be:
more than a number.
Your offspring
will be starlight
in a dark world;
in the shadows
your children will burn brightly
as promise-light,
as love-light,
transforming human destiny
through the light they are,
and by which humanity shall be guided
in truth,
in hope,
in love.


Voice 5:
Abraham,
look to the heavens
and the number of stars:
and know the heavens are not dark.
You can see heaven’s skin is not a deep shadow
but bright with light.
So do not think what is before you is all shadows,
do not think the future is dark,
The future is full of light.
This is the splendour of the promise:
when things look dark,
when the shadows grow over the earth
they will interpret the light,
they will be the light,
the hope,
the wonder,
of love.