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Showing posts from February, 2009

Transfiguration 09

There are debates over many of the sites of Biblical importance within the Holy Land, and one site that is hotly debated is the Mount of Transfiguration. Today Mount Tabor is the place most closely associated with the Transfiguration. It is there that a Church has been built, along with a monastery on top of the mountain. However it appears the more likely site was actually Mount Hermon – this was on the northern border of the Promised Land in Biblical times. This mountain is situated relatively close to where, shortly before, Jesus had declared that he had to go to Jerusalem and would, when he was there, be put to death. It seems that for the first few centuries after Jesus lived on earth Mount Hermon was the assumed place of the Transfiguration, but after that time pilgrimage to the Holy Land became increasingly popular. Mount Hermon was not easy to get to. It was well away from the popular sites of Nazareth and Galilee, and so Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem in AD348 decided that the Tran

Wisdom

The word wisdom is one that always fascinates me. What is wisdom to one person is so often not wisdom to another. Today in the reading from the Book of Proverbs we hear about wisdom – the reading (Proverbs 8:1,22-31) begins ‘Does not wisdom call and does not understanding raise her voice.’ True wisdom is perhaps one of the greatest gifts of God and yet most of us struggle to even know what true wisdom is ! There’s a story about an angel appearing at a faculty meeting in a University one day. The angel said to the dean that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behaviour, the Lord would reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Without hesitating, the dean selected infinite wisdom. "Done!" said the angel, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turned towards the dean, who sat surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispered, "Say something." The dean looked at them and said