On this Bible Sunday our thoughts turn to the meaning and purpose of the religious writings on which we base our Christian way of life.

We begin with a verse from that reading from the Book of Nehemiah:“…all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.” (Nehemiah 8.12).

The Bible writings take us back to a world vastly different from our own. They have their origin in the centuries between 600 or 500 BC to 100 or 200 AD. A period of say 800 years. The reading from Nehemiah takes us back to events some 2,500 years ago when the western world was dominated by the Persian Empire.

Following an enforced ethnic cleansing of their homeland, a policy pursued by a previous Empire now defeated, Jewish communities were returning to their historic biblical land and to a ruined Jerusalem. Under the leadership of Nehemiah and Ezra the mission was to re-establish their way of life, rebuild the Second Temple, restore the religious writings, fortify the city walls, and all against the background of opposition from the locals.

When we turn to other Old Testament writings, most of them (for instance: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos), were written against a background of political upheavals created by the rise and fall of successive Empire builders. These writings are a record of attempts to maintain the Jewish way of life in uncertain times. All the time living in the faith that God loved them.Times move on, and by the time the New Testament writings were being formed it was the Roman Empire providing the background political mood-music. In their writings the early Christians were reinterpreting the historic Jewish writings for a new age. Their mission was to establish an expression of faith relevant to the age, whilst grounded directly to the past; to make worship accessible without the need of animal sacrifice, exclusive social practices, and all the trappings of the Temple. To do this they had to rethink the historic religious writings now called the Old Testament, and fortify themselves amid opposition from leaders of the established Jewish religion and from Emperor worship practised by Roman citizens.

The modern world may be vastly different to the worlds of the Persian or Roman Empires, but the need for us in our time to respond spiritually to what the contemporary world is throwing at us is as important now as it ever was back in the day.

Reading the Bible for what it tells us about how people down the ages have found peace with God, even in the most difficult of circumstances, should give us an insight to the role each one of us needs to fulfil in our mission here at St Peter’s.

Reading St Matthew, we find that our role in Sheringham is to be a visible sign to the people around us that a faith in Jesus Christ is relevant, is accessible, and is necessary for a fulfilling way of life.

Reading St Paul, we find each of us is chosen to provide an example of Christian living that other people will find attractive:by the way we respect people,by the way we offer acceptance in love and concern for their welfare and, by the way that we live;so that “whatever (you) do, in word or deed, (you) do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

From Nehemiah, we find that the reading of the scriptures provides inspiration for positive responses to life’s challenges whatever the circumstances.

The Bible does take us back to a world vastly different from our own; but a world that in many ways remains much the same as it ever was.

Whatever world we are in, our role is to remain faithful to God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Revd Canon Malcolm France