Snow at Christmas
Have you ever wondered whether it actually ever snows at Christmas-time in the Holy Land?
You may remember the Christmas carol usually sung to a tune by Gustav Holst with the words written by Christina Rossetti in about 1872, entitled: "In the bleak mid-winter" :
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ..Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.
So the question is whether Rossetti was writing with "poetic licence" or did she know that it did snow at Christmas-time in the Holy Land?
The answer is a definite 'Yes'. It certainly does snow there and the following photographs taken on 12 and 13 December 2013 show it snowing in Bethlehem and Jerusalem:
A Palestinian
youth throws a snowball in front of the Dome of the Rock
at the Al-Aqsa mosque
compound in the old city of Jerusalem
on 12 December 2013
as a winter weather
front hit the region,
bringing early snow and a steep drop in temperatures.
The
first Knights Templar believed that the Dome of the Rock was the
original Temple of Solomon. Consequently when they made the site their
headquarters they came to be known as the Knights of the Temple - in
short the Knights Templar - hence our name today.
Jerusalem - Christmas 2013
Jerusalem - 13 December 2013
Jerusalem - 13 December 2013
Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity
12 December 2013
Jerusalem Cross
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EASTER SUNDAY
21 April 2019
ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN!
Χριστός ἀνέστη!
Khristós Anésti!
HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!!
Ἀληθῶς ανέστη!
Alithós Anésti!
Easter Fire - Church of the Holy Sepulcre, Jerusalem
Here is a summary of the Biblical account of the first Easter Sunday:
At daybreak on the first Easter Day, Mary Magdalene and another Mary, two of the women who had watched over the tomb, visited it again. Suddenly there was a violent earthquake and an angel, descending from heaven, rolled away the stone in front of the tomb, and sat upon it. He said to the women: ‘Do not be afraid. Jesus has been raised and is going before you to Galilee. Go quickly, and tell his disciples.’
As the women hurried away in awe and joy they were met by Jesus himself. They knelt before him; he told them to continue with their errand and to deliver the message the angel had given them. Meanwhile the guards at the tomb, who had been overcome with fear when the angel appeared, returned to the Jewish leaders and told them what had happened. The leaders bribed them to say that the disciples had come by night and stolen the body; and this story was circulated widely.
Later that day two downcast followers of Jesus were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. Jesus joined them on the road, but they did not recognise him. He asked the reason for their sadness, and they told him of all that had recently occurred in Jerusalem. In response he used the Scriptures to explain that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer before being glorified. When the travellers reached their home they invited him in; and, as he blessed and broke bread, they realised who he was. Then he disappeared, and they immediately set off back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples what they had seen and heard.
(see: Matthew 27.37 - 28.15; Luke 24.13 - 33)
God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him,
should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
[John 3: 16]
For the full account in the Holy Bible of the resurrection of Jesus
please read the Gospel according to St John, Chapter 20.
Jesus said:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die."[John 11:25-26]
A Prayer:
Lord, the resurrection of Jesus
gives us new life and renewed hope.
Help us to live as new people
in pursuit of the Christian ideal.
Grant us wisdom to know what we must do,
the will to want to do it,
the courage to undertake it,
the perseverance to continue to do it,
and the strength to complete it.
Amen.
Here is the account in the Holy Bible of the first Easter Day from the Gospel according to St John, Chapter 20, verses 1 - 18.
The Empty Tomb
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
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