John Goldingay

Call No One Happy Until They are Dead Genesis 46:1-34 Introducing Genesis 44 I referred to one incident in the life of a man and a woman; then, introducing Genesis 45, I referred to an aspect of my wife’s and my life. In different ways, both stories show how at the time something…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Nationalization

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Nationalization Genesis 47:1-26 In the recession of 2008 and its aftermath, a new n-word was uttered in hushed tones in the United States. To many people, “nationalization” was as frightening a notion as government-organized health insurance. But the question had to be asked: Was…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - The Younger Again Ahead of the Elder

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Younger Again Ahead of the Elder Genesis 47:27-48:22 I have known more than one grandfather who made a nuisance of himself by whipping out a folder of photographs of his grandchildren at the slightest provocation, to inflict them on other people. I understand the intensity of…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Deathbed Promises and Predictions

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Deathbed Promises and Predictions Genesis 49:1-28 When you know you are going to die soon, it may concentrate the mind. You may see things more clearly. The poet Jason Shinder found his voice as a poet through the cancer that brought his death in middle age. His friends saw him a…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Am I in the Place of God?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Am I in the Place of God Genesis 49:29-50:26 A year or two ago, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, was attacked one night near the cathedral. According to reports that surfaced somewhat later, he was punched, knocked to the ground, and kicked. B…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - GLOSSARY

by SPCK - John Goldingay

GLOSSARY aide A supernatural agent through whom God may appear and work in the world. Standard English translations refer to them as “angels,” but this designation is inclined to suggest ethereal figures with wings, wearing diaphanous white dresses. Aides are humanlike figures; h…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - When You Need an Expert

by SPCK - John Goldingay

When You Need an Expert Genesis 40:9-41:24 Three months ago, I had a routine medical procedure (I will spare you the clinical details). A few weeks before it was due, I happened to read a report of research on this particular procedure that suggested it might not be as useful as …

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - God was with Joseph

by SPCK - John Goldingay

God Was with Jesus Genesis 39:1-40:8 I previously referred to a man who used to come to talk with me when he had an affair and was inclined to blame the women for throwing themselves at him. But I have known women who were tempted to do that. Sometimes their men were totally preo…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Another Deceiver Deceived

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Another Deceiver Deceived Genesis 38:1-30 It can seem as if every month some new sexual scandal is reported involving a prominent politician or pastor. It is common for the men (it’s nearly always men, but the more equal the playing field becomes, the more it may become women) in…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - The Dreamer

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Dreamer Genesis 37:5-36 I have known one or two people who had dreams or visions or words from God (indeed, I have had one or two myself). Sometimes these have been rather general and uncheckable, though edifying and at worst harmless. Sometimes they have been vindicated by e…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Excluded but Not Forgotten

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Excluded but Not Forgotten Genesis 36:1- 37:4 Some years ago I decided to try to discover what I could about the Goldingays of the past. It’s probably easier for most British people to investigate their ancestors than for most people in the United States, whose families came from…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do People Change?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Do People Change? Genesis 35:1-29 We used to meet each week for dinner with a group of friends, including a pastor or two, a therapist or two, and a missiologist or two, and one of the topics we used to come back to was transformation. Mission is concerned with it; ministry is co…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Should Our Sister Be Treated Like a Whore?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Should Our Sister Be Treated Like a Whore? Genesis 33:18-34:31 There were a couple in the seminary who got into a tangle in their relationship. The man had lost his wife in an accident. He seemed to be doing all the right things in the way he coped: grieving but keeping her memor…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - God Struggles

by SPCK - John Goldingay

God Struggles Genesis 32:24b-33:17 Every Sunday on the way to church we drive past a particular bus shelter with a huge advertising placard, and for some while this placard proclaimed, “You can never have enough money.” I can’t remember what it was advertising (which shows that a…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Fear

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Fear Genesis 31:55- 32:24a There is something to be said for fear. On one seminary study tour to Israel and Palestine, we were on our way back from Beersheba to Jerusalem. The Israeli authorities were advising groups to follow a route that stayed in Israeli territory rather than …

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - The Pain of a Family Divided by Miles

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Pain of a Family Divided by Miles Genesis 31:30-54 When my wife and I started dating and then wanted to get engaged, her parents were totally against it. They had some plausible reasons. I was a long-haired lout (it was the 1960s), and they weren’t sure I was the kind of man …

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - The Divisiveness of Stuff

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Divisiveness of Stuff Genesis 31:1-29 Money divides people from one another. A news item this week related how a twenty-five-year feud had been simmering in a particular family. When the father died, with the mother’s collusion his son concealed his father’s ownership of a nu…

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Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - The Competition to Be the Shrewdest Sheep Farmer

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Competition to Be the Shrewdest Sheep Farmer Genesis 30:22-43 After church this morning, one of our senior laypeople asked me about Hagar. Someone had implied in a comment to her that Hagar was a prostitute and/or a concubine. In effect I explained that Hagar’s status was mor…

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