God did not create us as loners. Ask anyone going through homesickness, bereavement or lover’s grief. The Bible records a moving incident in the mission of the apostle Paul as he says a final farewell to the leaders of the church in Ephesus...

In 1999, film director Baz Lurhmann topped the charts with 'Everybody’s free to wear sunscreen': a spoken word performance, setting Mary Schmich’s article to music. The article, a mock graduation speech, is addressed to the ...

This psalm is well known, largely for its link with the story of David and Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11–12) and more recently for the gentle online parodies around hand–washing guidelines for coronavirus.

Peter compares what the lives of believers ought to be with what he sees around him of the lives of 'pagans' – those who aren't Jews, but who worship the old gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome or the Eastern divinities.

John continues to unpack the implications of believing in Jesus. Here, he focuses on what this means for our behaviour towards other people. How we treat others is the test of whether we are really who we say we are: 'This is how we can be sure ...

Deuteronomy is framed as Moses' final warnings and commandments to the people before his death. Here, towards its beginning, there are the words that lie at the heart of the Jewish faith, recited every day by observant Jews as the Shema, beginni...

In Psalm 15, the focus moves away from endurance in the face of attack to an emphasis on God's blessings. 'Lord, who may enter your Temple? Who may worship on Zion, your sacred hill?' the psalmist asks (verse 1).

Psalms 20 and 21 are prayers for the king, written at a time when an absolute ruler was a far more significant figure than a modern prime minister or president. There certainly laws and customs he would have been wise to abide by – as King Ahab fou...

The book of Ecclesiastes seems to concentrate on how to get by in the world without too much trouble – though when we dig below the surface, we find there's more to it than that.

One of the characteristics of the book of Psalms is a deep honesty about human experience. There's grief, anger and pain in the Psalms, but also joy and hope.

This section of chapter 11 is another set of proverbs, focused on living well while we have the chance. Verse 1 is translated 'cast your bread upon the waters' in older translations; the GNB interprets this rightly as 'invest your mone...

These verses are advice to remember God while we're young – or at least, before we are so old and frail that we don't enjoy life and are no longer active. They also contain some of the most beautiful poetry in the Old Testament, with love...

At the beginning of this chapter, Paul goes back into Israelite history to make a point about responsibility. As the people wandered in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, they repeatedly sinned against God, and suffered accordingly. So, says Paul, C...

The crossing of the Red Sea is an event of tremendous drama. Older generations might remember Charlton Heston in the famous scene in The Ten Commandments (1956), in which the water literally forms walls in the sea on either side of the fleeing Israe...

The healing of the man at the pool of Bethzatha, or Bethesda, makes a very rich story. The pool is known as a place of miracles – it was believed that an angel disturbed the waters from time to time, and that the first person in the water after tha...

John Newton's great hymn Amazing Grace quotes from the story of the healing of the man born blind: 'I once was lost, but now am found/ Was blind, but now I see.' He uses it as a picture of grace.

Mary's action in anointing Jesus would have been very shocking given the customs and outlook of the time. It still shocks us today; it's an uncomfortably intimate picture of devotion. It's also a very beautiful image, in which Mary ado...

Paul frames his concluding thoughts with the phrases, ‘the peace of God’ (verse 7) and ‘the God of peace’ (verse 9). Despite his predicament, he is full of joy (verse 4), because the still, small voice of God is assuring him of his presence a...

In chapter 2 of Colossians, Paul continues to unpack the implications of the divinity of Christ. One of his themes here is freedom. When we become followers of Christ – a decision sealed in baptism ­– we enter in to a spiritual union with him t...

How do you feel when people refuse to listen to and believe you, no matter the arguments or evidence supplied in your defence? In today’s chapter, Job – feeling misjudged and patronised – lets his frustration show and delivers a withering asses...