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By Melissa Lauber

When was the last time you sat in church and had your senses sent reeling with beauty? When lately have you gasped at the sheer wonder of the Word of God? When has the sublime touched your soul in ways that allowed you to see God alive and echoing across a page, a sermon, a liturgy or a canvas?

Too often in an age of bottom lines and treadmill lives, beauty is lost. Churches used to be patrons of great art - inspiring and challenging people to see the holy in their midst. God was glorified in the best that people could create.

But there is cause for hope today. Currently, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, the Word of God is brought to life in illuminated manuscripts that can only be described with adjectives we seldom use today: exquisite, sublime, ravishing and precious. Each of these superlatives is well deserved and both of these exhibits are worth a visit.

At the Walters, a selection of pages from the St. John's Bible are on display through May 24. This hand-written, illuminated Bible is a contemporary interpretation using medieval materials and techniques. Each of the 1,150 pages is a masterpiece of modern calligraphy. But the real wonder comes in the 160 illuminations that allow God to echo across the vellum parchment, transcending the words and creating the book as an object of veneration.

At the National Gallery of Art, through Aug. 2, the exhibit "Heaven on Earth" offers a first in-depth look at 56 rare medieval manuscript illuminations, which date from the 12th to the 16th century.

Prior to the invention of the printed press in the 15th century, texts were inscribed by hand on parchment made from the skin of sheep or calves. Artists adorned the most luxurious books with painted decorations, known as "illuminations," because the frequent use of gold leaf makes the pages glow.

Photos and prints of these pages do not do them justice. The gold, which in many instances represents the presence of God, brings them to life in a manner that can only be truly appreciated in person. Like religion, viewing and relating to these two exhibits is best done in the first-person, opening the mind and soul to discovering something fresh about ourselves and our Creator.

The art on these pages glorifies God and allows us to carry a small piece of that glory into the world.

Author Annie Dillard said we are each called to "witness creation and abet it." That should be a radical act. The church and its people should dare to demand beauty and wonder and outstanding art. If we settle for the mundane, the beige, the reasonable and practical, our souls die a little bit, and where's the glory in that?

For more information on these exhibits visit: www.nga.gov ; www.thewalters.org and www.saintjohnsbible.org .