Neh 9:16-25 When I taught Old Testament, my students often started out with grave reservations about this part of the Bible. God seemed harsh and unrelenting to them, even vindictive. Yet, by the end of their studies, their perspective often…

Neh 9:9-15 Once my husband and I were driven by our host to an event in a city that we did not know. Our driver was not entirely sure of his direction and his wife, mother-in-law, and Siri were all…

Neh 9:6-8 When trying to gauge what a church is like, worship songs are often as revealing as the sermon. Sadly, many contemporary Christian songs express how confused, wounded and lost we feel in the world and emphasise God coming…

Neh 9:1-5 When God called me to Himself, I had little understanding of sin. I was only fifteen at the time, from a Christian home, so I struggled to feel a sense of guilt over wrongs I had done or…

Neh 8:13-18 Who hasn’t experienced the joy when our circumstances or an event brought home to us the meaning of a passage in new ways? Suddenly we realised the significance of what we read so that a dry portion of…

Neh 8:9-12 A friend of mine hates birthdays. Every year reminds her of the passing of time, of the fact that she is still single at 45 when she longs to be married. Birthdays for her are a time to…

Neh 8:1-8 Once I visited a church, where instead of the Bible reading, a re-imagined story of the prodigal son (in this case a prodigal daughter in a modern context) was recounted. The preacher then talked about parenting and the…