Jeremiah for everyone - Things Can't Get Worse (Can They?) (2)
Jeremiah for everyone - Things Can't Get Worse (Can They?) (2)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Things Can't Get Worse (Can They?) (2) There’s a story about a man who falls over the edge of a cliff but manages to grab the branch of a small tree and thus stop himself from falling hundreds of feet to his death. The tree saves him, but only temporarily, because he can’t get ba…
Jeremiah for everyone - Things can only get worse
Jeremiah for everyone - Things can only get worse
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Things Can Only Get Worse As a newly ordained minister I was required to take part in “post-ordination training,” irreverently known as “potty training.” It’s no criticism of it that decades later I remember little about it, but I do have one vivid memory…
Isaiah for everyone - There Is to Be No Forgetting
Isaiah for everyone - There Is to Be No Forgetting
by SPCK - John Goldingay
There Is to Be No Forgetting Yesterday we dropped by a bakery and coffee shop because we were early for a meeting. I was confused by there being two counters and lines, one for coffee and one for pastries, and asked one of the servers what the system was…
Isaiah for everyone - Three Ways a Prophet Speaks
Isaiah for everyone - Three Ways a Prophet Speaks
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Three Ways a Prophet Speaks It’s Pentecost Sunday. I came home from church with some mixed feelings. There were fewer people in church than usual (it happens also to be a holiday weekend), but the day had a sense of celebration, including red balloons flying from the pews. People…
Isaiah for everyone - Things That Shouldn’t Happen, Yet Do
Isaiah for everyone - Things That Shouldn’t Happen, Yet Do
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Things That Shouldn’t Happen, Yet Do As we woke this morning, the man in the apartment above had already set his washing machine going, and it was making a clunkier noise than usual. Indeed, at first I thought there was a helicopter hovering above the building…
Jeremiah for everyone - Truth to Power
Jeremiah for everyone - Truth to Power
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Truth to Power As I write, the Australian founder of Wikileaks is effectively a prisoner in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. If he leaves the embassy, Britain will arrest him and hand him over to authorities in Sweden that have sought his extradition…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Under the Sun, Where Randomness Rules
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Under the Sun, Where Randomness Rules
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Under the Sun, Where Randomness Rules There will be no remembering on their part, among the people who will be after them. I noted in connection with Proverbs 11 that I am inclined to think that nothing I do has any effect…
Jeremiah for everyone - Uncircumcised Ears
Jeremiah for everyone - Uncircumcised Ears
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Uncircumcised Ears I had an odd experience yesterday. My wife initiated a quite ordinary and reasonable conversation about moving around some of the furniture and repainting the walls and replacing the dining furniture that’s falling apart…
Isaiah for Everyone - What to do With a Whore's Fee?
Isaiah for Everyone - What to do With a Whore's Fee?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What to Do with a Whore’s Fee Education and health have been realms where Christians get involved both to benefit people in other cultures and to draw people to Christ. I recently heard about an Indian with the same vision for his soft ware company…
Jeremiah for everyone - Why Do the Faithless Do Well?
Jeremiah for everyone - Why Do the Faithless Do Well?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Why Do the Faithless Do Well? In connection with Jeremiah’s opening chapter, I mentioned a “How” question in connection with disability. There’s also a “Why” question. My first wife was wheelchair-bound and unable to do anything for herself for the last twelve years of her life…
Isaiah for everyone - Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying, Planning, and Dreaming
Isaiah for everyone - Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying, Planning, and Dreaming
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying, Planning, and Dreaming On Thursday I took part in interviewing a prospective new faculty member and on Friday my wife and I took part in a student retreat, and I now see a feature these events had in common. The interviewee referred to…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - With Modesty There Is Wisdom
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - With Modesty There Is Wisdom
by SPCK - John Goldingay
With Modesty There Is Wisdom In an earlier volume of The Old Testament for Everyone I referred to the fact that I’m inclined to think that nothing I do as a teacher or writer or pastor makes any difference to anyone…
Isaiah for everyone - Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying, Planning, and Dreaming (2)
Isaiah for everyone - Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying, Planning, and Dreaming (2)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying, Planning, and Dreaming (2) When I was about eight, we went for a family holiday to stay with some friends. One morning as breakfast was about to begin I went back to our bedroom to get a sweater or something (it was an English summer) …
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Wisdom's Dictionary
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Wisdom's Dictionary
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Wisdom’s Dictionary I turned onto the freeway near our house, built up speed down the ramp, noticed as I reached the main lanes that there was a gap in the traffic but that a bunch of cars was on its way, so I built up speed to 80 or so to get ahead of them…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Yahweh Tests Minds
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Yahweh Tests Minds
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Yahweh Tests Minds A year after we came to California, one Sunday evening my son called to tell us that they had just had their first child on Monday morning in London. When Monday morning came in California, I rushed to book an air ticket to go back to London for the next weeken…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Yahweh's Name Is a Refuge