Esther - a book in the Bible that does not mention God anywhere, yet is a book in which God’s presence can be seen and detected at so many points. It is the amazing story of a woman who saves her people from destruction. It tells how Esther, chosen by beauty contest to be the new queen of Persia ‘for such a time as this’, and her cousin Mordechai, who has brought her up since the death of her parents, become involved in palace politics. It tells of a woman who calls her community to fasting and prayer. It tells of the intervention of God in the many happenings of life, for example Mordechai ‘happening’ to overhear a plot agains the King’s life and being credited with reporting this. It tells of the King ‘happening’ to hear this same story recollected at a pivotal point, resulting in the saving of Mordechai’s life. It tells of God at work in the mess and complexity of life in a non-Jewish world where people were not following his law and commandments, and of his saving of his people from annihilation.