Take your Bible to work

This Monday, thousands of Christians took their Bible to work. 'What's God got to do with Mondays - I thought Sunday was supposed to be his day!'

At Bible Society we know that every day is God's day and we want to help people catch the excitement of this fact.

Bible Society longs (and works) for the time when everyone has the chance to discover the inspiration, wisdom and sheer creativity of the Bible for themselves - to find out that it's surprisingly good.

We see that the Bible is about all life and is not simply a resource for personal piety, a prop in times of stress or a support for those who like religion [or religious behaviour]. It provides the framework for living the whole of life - it is public truth! It stands firmly for God's concern for the secular as well as the sacred.

God made the whole universe and is involved in its unfolding future - He worked for six times as long as he rested - so our work can be 'sacred space' - taking your Bible to work is a symbol of this and an invitation to everyone to explore this.

Jesus spent at least five times as long working as a carpenter as he did as a preacher and healer and his stories show just how well he was connected to ordinary life. He constantly sees through the everyday into the reality of life with God. The Bible can do that for us.

Most of the characters we meet in the Bible are work people or home builders, not specifically 'religious people'. They met God at work - so taking the Bible with you on Monday alerts everyone to the possibility that God can speak to you or be with you there. That makes Mondays much more exciting!

So, we encouraged Christians to take their Bible (or a part of it) with them to work not to show they are religious or good but to remind them to live well for God there and hopefully to kick-start conversations for us all as to how good it is. Actually, we hoped they would give their Bible away to some one who wants to get into it.

We want the Bible to be as much part of the workplace as the mug of coffee.

Engaging with it is not something that consenting adults should only do in secret! It's time the Bible was de-mystified. It's already everywhere in our speech, it is the basis of our laws, democracy and much of our culture but we just don't realise it.

The Bible most people have given up on was in old fashioned language and so seemed irrelevant - now there are brilliant ones that resonate with today's world. The Bible most people ignore is one they were bored with at school, rather than the fascinating and life enhancing set of books it really is.

And then, of course, it doesn't need to be a book. The God the Bible portrays didn't use writing much and books even less - he spoke out - so accessing your Bible by text message or I-pod can open up new possibilities too.

We hope that people taking their Bibles to work will not give colleagues a nasty shock but a pleasant surprise - because that's how God is.