Reading through the Book of Numbers

This fourth book of the Torah is mixed material. It begins with a detailed census of the people who found themselves at the foot of Mount Sinai, being entered into a serious covenant with the God of their forefathers. This was done in the second year after the escape from Egypt, and counts a surprisingContinue reading “Reading through the Book of Numbers”

Engraved upon our hearts (Pentecost Sunday)

We suitably terminate our seven weeks of Easter with today’s festival of Pentecost. This is not necessarily a Christian system; it is a Jewish one. Long before our Lord walked this earth as a man, the Hebrew nation celebrated their liberation from slavery in Egypt with the festivals of Passover and of unleavened bread. ImmediatelyContinue reading “Engraved upon our hearts (Pentecost Sunday)”

The Transfiguration of the Lord

This weekend by a coincidence, the feast day of the Transfiguration falls on the Sunday and, being a feast, ranks with the Sunday and is able to ride over the Sunday, filling our churches with white, a colour that is vividly described in the gospels by the men who heard first-hand descriptions (from the ApostlesContinue reading “The Transfiguration of the Lord”