The story of Ruth begins in an act of desperation. Elimilek has taken his wife and family away from Israel to the foreign land of Moab, where they inevitably fall into the worship and practices of that nation. Sadly, their act of unfaithfulness ends in pain and death. Naomi and Ruth are left with no husbands, no family, and no hope. Yet despite this, Naomi returns to the land of her family and her God – believing for better days. And Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law profoundly chooses to be faithful, not only to her mother-in-law but also to her God.

Lauren Lucas explores marriage in a Christian context, and how we can prepare for a good marriage by practising Faithfulness.

In Ephesians 5, Paul outlines God’s plan for a Christian marriage in a culture that was living according to a different blueprint. In ancient Greco-Roman culture, wives were the property of husbands. Love was considered irrelevant as marriage was to produce children, not friendship. Wives were practical, not precious and in a sex-saturated society, fidelity from husbands was rare. Paul gives followers of Jesus a different plan to follow for a loving and lasting marriage and blueprint for all people to live by: “be devoted to one another out of reverence for Christ”.

Guest speaker Stacey Tarrant explores singleness in the Christian context.

Singleness is a natural part of life. While we often think of ‘singles’ as those who are younger and not yet married, we forget that singleness exists in many forms; widows, single dad’s, people who have been divorced. Singleness is not something that just exists until you get a partner. So often the unfortunate narrative is that singleness is a season to get out of quickly so that we can be fulfilled in a relationship and marriage...as if singleness is a lesser state of being.

Rather, singleness is a gift from God in the same way that marriage is a gift from God. Paul was able to articulate that singleness has both blessings and complexities and that being single can help us to see what God is doing in us and what God can do through us.

Ben Dainton explores dating in a Christian context.

Dating isn’t something that the Bible has a clear framework for. You can’t find a chapter in the Bible with Jesus’ teaching on it, but you can find guiding principles about our relationships, how we are to navigate them, and also who to choose to do life with. Dating is a period of time where two people are committed to discerning whether a lifelong commitment is something they can make to each other.

Therefore dating needs to have a purpose. Dating needs to be done with a focus on imitation of Christ not just attraction another. Attraction happens naturally but a lasting relationship is built on the character of the couple.

On Young Communicators Sunday, Rachel Rasi explores what it means for Jesus to welcome us home when we are isolated and alone.