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
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - When the Apostate King's Son Gets Sick
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the Apostate King’s Son Gets Sick 1 Kings 13:33-14:20 Last night a friend of mine was blowing a fuse concerning the sermon at her church a couple of Sundays ago. The preacher was talking about Jesus’ healing of the man who had been lying sick by the Pool of Siloam for thirty…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When Minister's Indulge Themselves
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When Minister's Indulge Themselves
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When Ministers Indulge Themselves 1 Samuel 2: 11- 36 Lent has just begun. Just beforehand, over dinner, the members of our Bible study group were wondering what Lenten discipline they might take on. I argued that discipline was better understood as a matter of doing something pos…
Job for Everyone - When Silence is Not Enough
Job for Everyone - When Silence is Not Enough
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When Silence is Not Enough Job 40:1- 24 Over the years during which my first wife had multiple sclerosis, I have concrete memories concerning two or three occasions when I attempted to confront God about it. Distressed at the way the illness affected her, on one such occasion I r…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - What to Do with Tricky Mail
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…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - When God Finds It Hard to Be Tough
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - When God Finds It Hard to Be Tough
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When God Finds It Hard to Be Tough JUDGES 10:1- 11:29 In my prayers each day (well, most days, to be honest), I pray either for the nation or for the church in our nation. I do so against the background of the fact that nations grow and triumph and then decline and fall, and that…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Has to Take Decisive Action
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Has to Take Decisive Action
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the King Has to Take Decisive Action 1 Samuel 13: 1- 22 Saul mustered the company of those that were present with him, some six hundred men. 16Saul and his son Jonathan and the company that was present with them were staying at Geba in Benjamin, and the Philistines were camp…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Isn't Tough Enough
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Isn't Tough Enough
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the King Isn’t Tough Enough 1 Samuel 15: 1- 33 According to news reports, at U.S. bases in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in the first decade of the twenty-first century we were engaged in the torture of people suspected of terrorist acts. This involved keeping people in constrained…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Where to Find Isaac a Wife
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Where to Find Isaac a Wife
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Where To Find Isaac a Wife Genesis 24: 1-20 When you make your short list of the things that you pray most concerning your children, their being able to marry the “right” person (and keep that marriage going) is near the top of the list. Our sons married beautiful, strong women w…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Which Side Are You On? Neither
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Which Side Are You On? Neither
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Which Side Are You On? Neither JOSHUA 5: 2-15 We were discussing the book of Job in a class this week. I have abandoned giving a set lecture on the book because when students have read it as part of their preparatory homework, they come to class with many questions and issues the…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - When You Need an Expert
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 …
Job for Everyone - Where Could I Go But to the Lord?
Job for Everyone - Where Could I Go But to the Lord?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Where Could I Go But to the Lord? Job 5: 1-27 The story goes that sometime in the 1930s a Mississippi music teacher and Baptist deacon named James Coats was at the bedside of one of his neighbors, whose name was Joe Keyes. Joe was dying, and James asked him if he knew where he wo…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Where Are You?