John Goldingay

How to Be the Bad Guy 2 Kings 21:1-26 I sometimes wish I knew what was going to happen in the future, though when I think about it, I am not so sure it’s a good idea. When my wife was diagnosed with her multiple sclerosis, if I had known how it would progress over four decades, I…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Gain and Lose God's Sympathy

by SPCK - John Goldingay

How to Gain and Lose God’s Sympathy 2 Kings 20:1-21 My wife Ann had multiple sclerosis for forty-two years until she died a year ago. We and other people prayed for her healing on lots of occasions in many ways, supported by a number of high-profile figures in the world of prayin…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - What to Do with Tricky Mail

by SPCK - John Goldingay

What to Do with Tricky Mail 2 Kings 19:1-37 I used to be the principal of a seminary in England; being a principal is a cross between being a president and a provost in the United States. From Monday to Friday my assistant would open the mail, but on Saturday I would do so and th…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Bird in a Cage

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Bird in a Cage 2 Kings 18:1-37 When my sons were babies, we would play trust exercises with them, though I’m not sure whether we or they realized this was what we were doing. They would leap from some height, such as a wall, knowing that father or mother would catch them. As …

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Fall of the Northern Kingdom

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Fall of the Northern Kingdom 2 Kings 17:1-41 I suspect that people think I am an upright kind of guy, and they are not exactly wrong, but I have stories in my past of which I am ashamed and about which they don’t know, and I am not about to tell you these either. They still c…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How To Render To Caesar

by SPCK - John Goldingay

How Not to Render to Caesar 2 Kings 15:1-16:20 A recent graduate of our seminary was telling me on Friday that the seminary faculty is divided between people who avoid saying things that students would disagree with and people who don’t mind saying such things. The logic (she thi…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The God Who Can't Resist the Temptation to Be Merciful

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The God Who Can’t Resist the Temptation to Be Merciful 2 Kings 13:1-14:29 Yesterday in church, the person who was doing the first Scripture reading, from the Prophets, said as she came up to the lectern, “I don’t really want to read this passage.” After she had read it, our recto…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Life's Just Not Fair

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Life’s Just Not Fair 2 Kings 12:1-21 The man who would have been my boss in my present job, David Hubbard, first interviewed me over lunch in a hotel in London in 1981. He was one of the most creative, innovative leaders in theological education in the United States and took the …

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Unusual Covenants

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Two Unusual Covenants 2 Kings 11:1-21 The idea of covenant has been very important in the history of the United States and in the development of American democracy as a way of understanding relationships in the human community. Etymologically, the word covenant includes the idea …

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Great Sacrifice Baal

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Great Sacrifice for Baal 2 Kings 10:1-35 Each August 30 in my home city of Birmingham, England, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the martyrdom of a woman called Margaret Ward. In the reign of Elizabeth I, when it was against English law to practice the Roman Catholic fait…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Man Who Drives Like a Madman

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Man Who Drives Like a Madman 2 Kings 9:1-37 My parents so loved movie star Bette Davis that they named my sister after her. They married in 1938, the year Bette Davis won an Oscar for her central role in the film Jezebel. As “Jezebel” she is Julie Marsden, a powerful, proud, …

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - It Was Just a Coincidence

by SPCK - John Goldingay

It was Just a Coincidence 2 Kings 8:1-29 I had a visit yesterday from a student on another campus of our seminary who wanted to talk about postgraduate study. The visit arose out of the fact that she had been on the seminary’s list of Anglican/Episcopal students, a list I had obt…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Shoot The Messenger

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Shoot the Messenger 2 Kings 6:24-7:20 I muse from time to time on why it is that many Christians today fret about war more than Christians in previous ages. It’s not simply because they are following Jesus—at least, most previous generations of Christians did not think this way, …

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Horse and Chariots of Fire Around Elisha

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Horses and Chariots of Fire around Elisha 2 Kings 6:8-23 Over recent years the way I pray has been revolutionized by the awareness from the Prophets that when we pray we are taking part in debates in God’s cabinet in heaven. Stories like the one about Micaiah in 1 Kings 22 illust…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Skin Disorder Removed and Exposed

by SPCK - John Goldingay

A Skin Disorder Removed and Imposed 2 Kings 5:1-6:7 Yesterday was the fourth Sunday in the month, and as usual on that Sunday we didn’t have a “proper” sermon; the rector sat on a chair and invited the congregation to tell us what they heard God saying to us out of the Scripture …

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Tale of Two Women

by SPCK - John Goldingay

A Tale of Two Women 2 Kings 4:1-44 Among my friends are a number of young couples who have been hoping to have children, and it has never happened. They then go in for medical examinations of various kinds and for treatment of various kinds. One couple had eggs implanted, but the…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Ultimate Sacrifice

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Ultimate Sacrifice 2 Kings 3:4-27 The writer of a letter in today’s newspaper, in the aftermath of the U.S. president’s firing of his top commander in Afghanistan, asks whether “we must continue to sacrifice our brave men and women” there. By the time you read this, we will p…

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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Cloak and the Power of Elijah

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Cloak and the Power of Elijah 2 Kings 2:1-3:3 I once had to change a flat tire by the Dead Sea. I jacked the car up and in the process of changing the tire or loosening or tightening the wheel nuts, I lay on the sandy but hard ground. It was summer and hot, and when I got up …

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