Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Desperate Dan
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Desperate Dan
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Desperate Dan JUDGES 18:1-31 When we were in the midst of agreeing to come to California for me to teach here, one of our students at my seminary in England sensed God saying to her one day in chapel, “Tell John, ‘Judges 18:6.’” “I don’t know what it says,” she replied. “Never mi…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Do Not Be Afraid
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Do Not Be Afraid
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Do Not Be Afraid Genesis 15: 1-6a When my mother died, I rode to her funeral with our rector. I say “our rector” though he had arrived at the church only after I was myself ordained, and he reminded me that one of the first services he conducted had been my father’s funeral. Whil…
Exodus and Leviticus - Distinguishing Life from Death
Exodus and Leviticus - Distinguishing Life from Death
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Distinguishing Life from Death LEVITICUS : 13 1- 14: 57 The first funeral I did in the United States was for a friend in his thirties whose wedding I had conducted. We buried him within about a year, after he died of a brain tumor. I admire the way U.S. funerals commonly have the…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Everyone Is Against Me
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Everyone Is Against Me
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Everyone is against Me 1 Samuel 18: 17- 19: 24 Last night I watched a Jordanian Oscar-nominated movie called Captain Abu Raed, whose central figure is an airport janitor at Amman Airport (just up the street from Jabesh-gilead, actually). In a subordinate plot point, he gets to kn…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Everyone Under Their Vines and Their Fig Trees
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Everyone Under Their Vines and Their Fig Trees
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Everyone under Their Vines and Their Fig Trees 1 Kings 4:20-5:18 A few weeks ago my son and his family were visiting, and we spent some great times sitting out in the shade eating bread and cheese and drinking wine while the children played in the pool. The eruption of a volcano …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Excluded but Not Forgotten
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…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Everything Came True
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Everything Came True
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Everything Came True JOSHUA 20:1- 21:43 Less than three weeks ago I received one of those standard e-mails from a student: she did not think she would be able to finish her coursework by the deadline. Except that it was not the standard e-mail. She had been told that she had a br…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Entertaining Angels Unawares
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Entertaining Angels Unawares
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Entertaining Angels Unawares JUDGES 13:1- 25 Some friends of mine have just become pregnant. I am not accustomed to using that verb in the first-person plural; when I was young, it was only women who got pregnant, but now it is a joint operation. There is a certain appropriatenes…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Flexibility
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Flexibility
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Flexibility NUMBERS 8: 5-9: 14 A woman came to talk to me after church two weeks ago. In the sermon I had described the way the Psalms invite us in prayer to appeal to God’s compassion, grace, and steadfast love, especially when we know we are in the wrong in relation to Go…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - God Struggles
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…
Psalms for Everyone - God Laughs on His People's Behalf
Psalms for Everyone - God Laughs on His People's Behalf
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God Laughs on His People’s Behalf Psalm 2 We watched Independence Day fireworks last night, and I recalled how people sometimes ask me, “Do you celebrate Independence Day in Britain?” I say, “Yes, of course: parents are glad when their kids grow up and take control of their own l…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Claim on Levi
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Claim on Levi
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Claim on Levi NUMBERS 3: 1-5: 4 Last night I was watching the “Extras” on the DVD of a movie called The Soloist, whose background is Skid Row in Los Angeles, ten minutes away from where I sit. It noted the contribution made by volunteers (of the kind I could be) to the need…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - God was with Joseph
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…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God Doesn't Go Back on a Promise
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God Doesn't Go Back on a Promise
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God Doesn’t Go Back on a Promise NUMBERS 22: 1- 23:4 People in traditional societies know there can be a strange power about blessing and cursing. A Nigerian told me about the way in his society people know that their enemies can use curses to cause harm to them, and the traditio…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How to be a Dysfunctional Royal Family
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How to be a Dysfunctional Royal Family
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Be a Dysfunctional Royal family 1 Samuel 17: 55- 18: 16 Queen Elizabeth II declared 1992 her annus horribilis, her “horrible year.” The phrase is a riff on the expression annus mirabilis, “miracle year,” the phrase devised by the poet John Dryden to describe 1666, the year…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Saul Lost Some Donkeys and Found More Than He Bargained For
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Saul Lost Some Donkeys and Found More Than He Bargained For
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Saul Lost Some Donkeys and Found More than He Bargained For 1 Samuel 8: 21- 9: 27 A friend of mine begins his church ministry tomorrow, fifteen years after he first had a sense that he might be called to the ministry. Of course he has been involved in ministry in different se…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How Our Faithlessness Magnifies God’s Faithfulness
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How Our Faithlessness Magnifies God’s Faithfulness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Our Faithlessness Magnifies God’s Faithfulness Psalm 106: 1-47 From six thousand miles’ distance I have been astonished to follow the London equivalent to Occupy Wall Street, which has involved protesters camping out at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where I was ordained, near the Lon…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How Not to Leave the Initiative to the Man