The surprising things that you find in the bible!
There are some things that immediately connect us to the ancient biblical story – flocks of sheep, mountain top encounters, angel song. However, if I mentioned “snow, frost and icicles” you are more likely to think of “Frosty the Snowman” than any of the books found in the bible. I had no idea that such winter images were found in books that were written in much warmer parts of the world than Canada. It was more from curiosity that I engaged in a “google” search, to see if snow was mentioned anywhere in the bible – I never expected anything to come up! This is what I found - -- -
Sirach 43 selected verses
The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven, a glittering array in the heights of God. God scatters the snow – the eye is dazzled by the beauty of its whiteness and the mind is amazed as it falls. God pours frost over the earth like salt and icicles form like pointed thorns. We could say more but could never say enough: let the final word be “God is all”.
Perhaps you have never come across the book of “Sirach” in your bible at home. Most bibles are divided into the “Old Testament” [ Hebrew scriptures] and the “New Testament” [Christian scriptures]. In between those two sections you might find the books of the Apocrypha which includes 15 books, all but one of which are Jewish in origin and connect to the books of the Old Testament. These books are in a separate section in the Protestant Bible, or sometimes omitted entirely. The Roman Catholic Bible includes 12 of these books as part of the canon.
Interestingly the term "apocrypha" comes from the Greek word meaning "hidden". Winter images in the biblical text are certainly well hidden but why was I looking in the first place? Well, I was creating an experiential worship for the “Eat, Pray, Skate” event, which is being held on Sunday Jan 29th at 6.30pm at Kew Gardens skating rink. I hope that you will come and join us and explore how the divine spark is embedded in all creation; including winter darkness, ice and snow. There will be lots of movement, so that we can keep warm!
Blessings, Karen
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