The Illuminated Scripture

Donald Jackson is a calligrapher and holds the title of Senior Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Crown Office at the House of Lords. He's just completed a handcopied version of the Bible.

If you're a musician and you want to use your talent for the Lord, you can perform in church or compose sacred music. If you're a show-off by nature, clown ministry awaits you. If your gift is hospitality, there's always a need for someone to oversee your church's coffee fellowship, and host funeral dinners.

But what if your talent is calligraphy? You might wish to "calligrify" for the Lord, but what openings are there in the church for that skill today (beyond turning out really nice VBS graduation certificates)? The invention of the printing press more than 500 years ago pretty well put scriptoriums out of business.

There are openings in the secular world. Donald Jackson, one of the world's foremost calligraphers, holds the post of Senior Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Crown Office at the House of Lords. But he had a yen to use his gift in God's service as well. Back in 1970, he told Barbara Walters that he had a dream to handwrite the entire Bible. It wasn't until the late...