26 September 2025

Even people who do not have a Christian faith and those who do not believe in God admire the Bible as an extraordinary literary achievement and compendium of wisdom, gleaned over two millennia and established in our world as a best seller over the past two millennia.

When I was a child and many more children attended a Sunday School, the Biblical tales were told and retold to children so that they became ingrained within us. We remembered them in our minds and they began to shape the way we lived our lives.

And so when Daniel was punished for praying to God, we took the tale home with us, opened our bedroom window, looked East and began to pray as Daniel had done much to the consternation of the neighbours looking out of their windows behind our council house!

The importance of these Biblical stories cannot be underestimated. They inspired great art and without this knowledge much artistic endeavour is a complete mystery. They inspired musicians, story-tellers and political leaders. Witness the Biblical content of Martin Luther King’s speeches!

They provide for us vivid examples of family life and companions in the difficulties which we may experience in our lives. We walk with Moses through the wilderness. Joseph is our exemplar in reshaping a dysfunctional family. Ruth is the foreigner who creates such a beautiful home giving birth to King David and the living Christ.

The wisdom of Christ is unsurpassable. ‘Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die …. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you … But while  he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him ….’ Who would not benefit from such companionship, such wisdom?