John Goldingay

On Learning from Your Story Psalm 105 It’s coming up to Thanksgiving/Advent Sunday, and I’m asking the members of our church to think about the following four questions: 1. “What are you particularly thankful for this year?” 2. “In your Christian faith, what are you finding nouri…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God of Light and God of Darkness

by SPCK - John Goldingay

God of Light and God of Darkness Psalm 104 When my older son got into his midteens, he declared that he was no longer coming to church with his mother and me. Fortunately this was not because he had decided that all church was stupid but that our demure Anglican church wasn’t kee…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Persuade Your Heart

by SPCK - John Goldingay

How to Persuade Your Heart Psalm 103 Some years ago I went through one of those periods when God didn’t seem to be real. I don’t mean I was going through some intellectual questioning, though I have done that at other times, but rather that I didn’t feel that God was there. I wou…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - I Have Hope for Zion, but Is There Hope for Me?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

I Have Hope for Zion, but Is There Hope for Me? Psalm 102 Every morning when we wake up, my wife prays our morning prayers, and almost invariably she thanks God for another wonderful day. An hour later, I sit at my desk thinking about that day’s passage for The Old Testament for …

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Leadership Challenge

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Leadership Challenge Psalm 101 The news yesterday reported that a recent poll indicates that people’s distrust of government in the United States is at its highest level ever, and that people have a deep sense of economic anxiety and doubt about the future. The apparent air o…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Sacred Space, Sacred Acts, and Sacred Sound

by SPCK - John Goldingay

On Sacred Space, Sacred Acts, and Sacred Sound Psalm 99-100 Yesterday I received what initially seemed a puzzling invitation to a weekly, early-morning prayer meeting, described as “sacred space for a variety of prayer traditions.” It seemed puzzling because I always thought of s…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Real King of Kings

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Real King of Kings Psalm 97-98 According to news reports, Muammar el-Qaddafi, who had ruled Libya for over forty years, once declared, “I am an international leader, the dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of Muslims, and my international status …

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Yes, Yahweh Has Begun to Reign

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Yes, Yahweh Has Begun to Reign Psalm 96 Today’s news includes a report about forces in Yemen firing on people protesting the government and killing some of them. In Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan soldiers have faced sharply increased attacks by insurgents from their base in Pakista…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Will You Just Shut Up and Listen?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Will You Just Shut Up and Listen? Psalm 95 One of the most formative experiences of my life was being a chorister in the choir at the cathedral in my home city in England. I learned to sing and to read and write music, and I wouldn’t have become a music freak except for that expe…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The God of Redress

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The God of Redress Psalm 94 As I write, hundreds of people are encamped in a park near Wall Street, their base for protesting the fact that the 1 percent of the U.S. population, of whom Wall Street is a symbol, have a greater net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent, with many…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Is the Earth Vulnerable?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Is the Earth Vulnerable? Psalm 93 I just saw a fabulous picture of the earth taken from above the North Pole. I know in theory that Canada, Greenland, Russia, Norway, and Alaska almost meet in the Arctic, but I am so used to the regular Mercator Projection world map that I don’t …

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - What Sabbath Worship Looks Like?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

What Sabbath Worship Looks Like? Psalm 92 If I am preaching on Sunday, instead of giving a ten- to fifteen-minute sermon after the Scripture readings (Episcopalians are not used to long sermons), I have gotten into the habit of talking for a few minutes after each of the three re…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Shadow of the Almighty

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Shadow of the Almighty Psalm 91 I have a vivid memory from when I was a teenager of watching a filmstrip (a prehistoric antecedent of DVDs) that told the story of five young men from the United States who went to a rainforest in Ecuador to seek to bring the gospel of Christ to th…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God’s Time and Our Time

by SPCK - John Goldingay

God’s Time and Our Time Psalm 90 My first mother-in-law used to say that time went faster the older you got, and I used to tell myself that really she was simply afraid of the approach of death. As I have gotten older, I have realized that she was right, and I see that my realiza…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Amen Anyway

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Amen Anyway Psalm 89:52 There is a play by Elie Wiesel called The Trial of God, set in a concentration camp and based on something the author witnessed at the end of the trial, God is found guilty of crimes against creation and humankind. After a period of silence, a Talmudic sch…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Facing the Other Set of Facts

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Is Anything Stable? Psalm 89: 1-37 My wife once lived in a house on the side of a canyon in California that seemed capable of tumbling into the ocean if there was an earthquake, and after one worrying quake not far away she took to checking the weekly earthquake reports. Apparent…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Is Anything Stable?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Is Anything Stable? Psalm 89: 1-37 My wife once lived in a house on the side of a canyon in California that seemed capable of tumbling into the ocean if there was an earthquake, and after one worrying quake not far away she took to checking the weekly earthquake reports. Apparent…

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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Cry from the Grave

by SPCK - John Goldingay

A Cry from the Grave Psalm 88 Last night we watched a movie called Incendies about a family caught in an intracommunity conflict in Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s. It was a fictional movie, but much of the story could be replicated in factual accounts of what happened to people d…

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