Jeremiah for everyone - An Ambassador in Chains
Jeremiah for everyone - An Ambassador in Chains
by SPCK - John Goldingay
An Ambassador in Chains When Paul was apparently in prison in Rome, he wrote letters to a number of churches. In church today I was struck by a passage in which he describes himself as an ambassador in chains and asks the Christians in Ephesus to pray for him so that he’d be bold…
Isaiah for everyone - Beautiful Feet
Isaiah for everyone - Beautiful Feet
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Beautiful Feet My feet went all nasty a few years ago in Jerusalem. Visiting Jerusalem was the only occasion when I got to wear sandals continually for two weeks, and the skin on my heels frayed. One result was that it became impossible to keep them clean…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Be Realistic
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Be Realistic
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Be Realistic Reading the line in Ecclesiastes 4 about a triple cord not breaking quickly, I remembered an occasion in seminary when I gave our professor of preaching a hard time for using that line to support the idea that a sermon ought to have three points…
Isaiah for everyone - Blown Over and Anointed
Isaiah for everyone - Blown Over and Anointed
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Blown Over and Anointed This week I’m meeting with a young man considering ordination in the Episcopal Church who wants to “seek my advice regarding my vocation.” There are aspects of the Episcopal Church about which he is uneasy—how will he cope with those? Should he ask his rec…
Isaiah for everyone - Comfort My People
Isaiah for everyone - Comfort My People
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Comfort My People A week ago we had dinner with two clergy friends from England, one of whom commented in passing that on present trends the Church of England would be functionally non-existent in twenty years. I discovered that the comment was echoing speeches at the Church of E…
Jeremiah for everyone - Clay in the Potter's Hand
Jeremiah for everyone - Clay in the Potter's Hand
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Clay in the Potter's Hand There’s a neat Christian song that expresses our commitment to being “clay in the potter’s hand.” It’s a suggestive image. It means that we are malleable, open to being formed into what God wants us to be…
Jeremiah for everyone - Compassion Has the Last Word
Jeremiah for everyone - Compassion Has the Last Word
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Compassion Has the Last Word A variant on whether you see the glass as half full or half empty is whether you look to the future with hope or anxiety. I’m a mildly anxious person myself—I don’t worry much about particular threats or problems, but I’m susceptible to a vague unease…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Drink Is a Brawler
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Drink Is a Brawler
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Drink Is a Brawler A friend who is a recovering alcoholic sometimes comments with dark humour on the process whereby drinking ruins people’s lives. It all but ruined his life, and it has ruined the lives of people he knows…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Enjoy Your Life Mindful of Your Creator
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Enjoy Your Life Mindful of Your Creator
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Enjoy Your Life Mindful of Your Creator I remember the first time I heard Ray Charles perform. Having been blind for many years, he had to be guided toward the piano, but he needed much more help than his blindness alone would have required…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Faithful Are the Wounds of a Friend
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Faithful Are the Wounds of a Friend
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Faithful Are the Wounds of a Friend Austin Farrer, the warden (that is, president) of my undergraduate college, was one of the great preachers of the day, though more for the wisdom and insight of his content than for the singsong style of his delivery…
Jeremiah for everyone - How Do You Get People to Change?
Jeremiah for everyone - How Do You Get People to Change?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Do You Get People to Change? In the 1960s a man called Arthur Blessitt moved from Louisiana to Hollywood in order to preach to hippies, runaways, addicts, bikers, prostitutes, flower children, and would-be actors and rock stars; he became known as the minister of Sunset Strip…
Isaiah for everyone - I SEE HAWKS IN L.A.
Isaiah for everyone - I SEE HAWKS IN L.A.
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I SEE HAWKS IN L.A. One of my favorite bands is called I See Hawks in L.A., which is also the title of one of their early songs. In the song the hawks hover over the city as if they sense it’s about to be destroyed and there will be plenty of provender for them to enjoy. “What if…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - I'm Just a Weary Sojourner, but I Have Some Words from God
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - I'm Just a Weary Sojourner, but I Have Some Words from God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I'm Just a Weary Sojourner, but I Have Some Words from God My wife sits at the desk next to mine working harder than me at a course that is part of her degree program. There’s some kind of incompatibility between the subject and/or the teacher’s method of teaching that is driving…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - It's Not Enough, but It's Not Nothing
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - It's Not Enough, but It's Not Nothing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
It's Not Enough, but It's Not Nothing One sunny January day some years ago I came home after a lecture and wheeled my disabled wife down to the row of shops where there was a magnificent ice cream parlor that alas subsequently closed down (evidently we didn’t go there enough)…
Jeremiah for everyone - On Facing Reality
Jeremiah for everyone - On Facing Reality
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Facing Reality We were doing our monthly stint serving dinner at a homeless shelter last night, and I got to talk to one of the residents. She’d had a successful and lucrative career in the movie business and lived in a house in Malibu…
Isaiah for everyone - On Following God’s Prompting
Isaiah for everyone - On Following God’s Prompting
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Following God’s Prompting We were at a singer-songwriter venue and the singer’s last song was about her mother’s death two or three years ago. The song title referred to the year of her mother’s birth, which was the same birth year of someone who was with us. She later told us…
Jeremiah for everyone - On Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Jeremiah for everyone - On Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is When we came to California, we were buying a house for the first time—we had always lived in church or seminary housing. It felt as if we were growing up. Two or three years ago, a friend of mine was wondering about buying a house, but pr…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - On Safeguarding Concord