Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Put It Another Way
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Put It Another Way
by SPCK - John Goldingay
To Put It Another Way… Genesis 2: 4b-7 There is a children’s story about Pinocchio, a wooden doll carved from a piece of pine who longs to become a real boy. After a series of adventures that come to a climax with his making a great sacrifice, this eventually happens, and everyon…
Psalms for Everyone - Trusting God with Your Anger
Psalms for Everyone - Trusting God with Your Anger
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Trusting God with Your Anger Psalm 68: 19-35 In a day or two I am to lecture on the Psalms and our spirituality, and I shall talk about the way psalms are designed to feed and shape our praise, prayer, and thanksgiving. Last night as I was finalizing the lecture, I realized I had…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Unfinished Business
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Unfinished Business
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Unfinished Business NUMBERS 31:1- 34 Two or three years ago, out of the blue, I received a phone call from a Jewish lawyer in Los Angeles. He had self-published a book called Twenty-six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus, and he wanted me to make sure that his statements abo…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim 1 Kings 15:25-16:34 Yesterday, as usual, we began our faculty meeting by sharing topics for prayer, and then as it happened I had to try to pray a prayer that covered them all. The sharing referred to someone’s health needs, to someone who had lo…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Unlikely Saviors
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Unlikely Saviors
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Unlikely Saviors JUDGES 3:5- 31 My father was a machine minder in a printing works, and my mother was a seamstress. I was the first person in my extended family to stay at school beyond the age of fourteen. I have more than thirty cousins; only one other has been to college. I am…
Exodus and Leviticus - Vocation
Exodus and Leviticus - Vocation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Vocation EXODUS 3: 11- 4: 17 In my seminary in England, most students had already been accepted as candidates for ordination, but in my seminary in California many more people come not sure what ministry they may seek or even what denomination they belong to. So we have an Office…
Psalms for Everyone - We've Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times
Psalms for Everyone - We've Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times
by SPCK - John Goldingay
We’ve Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times Psalm 18: 1-24 Between us my wife and I have had four or five illnesses that would have left us dead had we lived in most contexts in human history. We have both had appendicitis that might have killed us without medical inte…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Two Very Different Attitudes to War
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Two Very Different Attitudes to War
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Very Different Attitudes to War NUMBERS 20: 14- 21:3 I write at what we hope is near the end of a war in Iraq but in the midst of a war in Afghanistan whose likely outcome no one can predict; both these wars relate to the attack on the United States of September 11, 2001. Bef…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild West
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild West
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Welcome to the Wild Wild West Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone JOSHUA 10: 28- 43 28That day Joshua took Makkedah and struck it down, it and its king, with the edge of the sword. He devoted them, along with every person there. He did not let any survivor remain. So he dealt wi…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - What Game is Genesis Playing?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - What Game is Genesis Playing?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Game Is Genesis Playing? Genesis 42:36-43:34 In the movie The English Patient, Count Laszlo crashes a plane and in order to go to get help has to abandon the only woman he has loved, in an injured state, in a cave in a desert mountain. He is long unable to convince people to…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - What Do You Do When You're Desperate
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - What Do You Do When You're Desperate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Do You Do When You’re Desperate? 1 Samuel 28: 3- 29: 11 This coming Sunday is the nine-month anniversary since my wife died. I think about her a lot and dream about her, sometimes in her wheelchair as she was for years but sometimes fit and able to live a normal life, as she…
Job for Everyone - What Are Human Beings That You Pay Them So Much Attention?
Job for Everyone - What Are Human Beings That You Pay Them So Much Attention?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Are Human Beings That You Pay Them So Much Attention? Job 7: 1-21 I have an odd life compared with many of the people who live in the same city as I do. I never cease being grateful for the fact that I can work at home much of the time and that when I go to the seminary, it …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - What Do You Need to Know?
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - What Do You Need to Know?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Do You Need to Know? Genesis 14: 14-18 If you are Abraham, what do you assume about the religious insight of a person like Melchizedek, who is “priest of God Most High” but doesn’t know what you know about God? I have friends who have moved to Turkey, and to Central Asia, an…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - What Game is Joseph Playing?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - What Game is Joseph Playing?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Game Is Joseph Playing? Genesis 42:1-35 I arrived home late one evening, picked up the mail, and checked messages. When I was in charge of a seminary, I used to avoid reading messages just before bedtime in case it gave me things to worry about that kept me from sleeping, bu…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild North
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild North
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Welcome to the Wild Wild North JOSHUA 11: 1- 15 As you drive north from Lake Galilee on the road that leads from Jerusalem or from the Mediterranean, you can fork right and cross the Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob toward Damascus along the route that Abraham would have taken wh…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Weeping and Insomnia
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Weeping and Insomnia
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Weeping and Insomnia Psalm 126-127 Like anybody else, when I am worried, anxious, or preoccupied, I can’t sleep. Sometimes I don’t even know what it is that is preoccupying me. While I found sleep problematic for a while after my first wife died, in general I have this difficulty…
Job for Everyone - When Life Falls Apart
Job for Everyone - When Life Falls Apart
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Covenant or Contract Job 1: 6-12 Yesterday the air-conditioning/heating maintenance office called. After we had a big problem with the air conditioning last year, I took out a maintenance contract to try to avoid a recurrence of problems of that magnitude, so I now pay a certain …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - When the Apostate King's Son Gets Sick