Job for Everyone - Does Job Dispute the Moral Foundation of the World?
Job for Everyone - Does Job Dispute the Moral Foundation of the World?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Does Job Dispute the Moral Foundation of the world? Job 18: 1- 21 Last night we were watching the great movie Dogma, which is full of bad language, violence, and scatological humor. It is not a movie for the sensitive or fainthearted or squeamish, but it is one of the most theolo…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Don't Look Back
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Don't Look Back
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Don’t Look Back Genesis 19: 15-38 The English make jokes about the Irish and use the word Irish as a term of opprobrium; it is a way of saying something is stupid. Other ethnic groups behave in similar ways; Portuguese people and Brazilians make jokes about each other. The Irish …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do We Ever Learn?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do We Ever Learn?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Do We Ever Learn Genesis 20: 1-13 There was a man who used to come to talk to me from time to time when he had gotten into a mess with a woman (well, he came at other times, too). He was married and ought to have known better, but he didn’t. He would blame the women: they were at…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Friday Afternoon
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Friday Afternoon
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Friday Afternoon Genesis 1: 27-30 My wife and I have friends who used to keep an animal or two, and when we stayed with them for the weekend we were introduced to a calf called Jeremy. It was at Sunday lunch that we met him. They brought Jeremy up, had him slaughtered and cut up,…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Get Yourself Outta Here
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Get Yourself Outta Here
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Get Yourself Outta Here Genesis 11: 31- 12: 2a I just had a phone call from a graduate of our seminary who is about to leave the United States to join some people seeking to establish a Christian presence in a country where there is little such witness. She knows that when my wif…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Fool by Name, Fool by Nature
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Fool by Name, Fool by Nature
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Fool by Name and Fool by Nature 1 Samuel 24: 1- 25: 44 You sometimes wonder how on earth a certain woman ended up marrying a certain man, but sometimes you can see that a couple are a good match. My office is located between the offices of two of my married colleagues; I joke tha…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Friendship
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Friendship
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Friendship 1 Samuel 20: 1- 21: 16 I know someone now in her eighties who lived for forty or fifty years with a friend. They had separate jobs, but in the rest of life they were inseparable, involved together in church and social life and spending their holidays together. The frie…
Job for Everyone - Friendship
Job for Everyone - Friendship
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 - Friday Lunchtime
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Friday Lunchtime
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Friday Lunchtime Genesis 1: 26 We human beings are pretty self-centered creatures. For their Scripture reading, some churches (like mine) use a lectionary, a set list of passages for reading each Sunday, and when we read Genesis 1, we are inclined to jump from the opening verse (…
Exodus and Leviticus - From Guerrilla to Fugitive
Exodus and Leviticus - From Guerrilla to Fugitive
by SPCK - John Goldingay
From Guerrilla to Fugitive EXODUS 2: 11- 25 There is a special kind of irregular verb (popularized by the British TV series Yes Minister) that describes the same action differently according to who speaks and who is being referred to. A well-known example is “I am firm; you are o…
Exodus and Leviticus - Giving to God
Exodus and Leviticus - Giving to God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Giving to God LEVITICUS 1: 1- 2: 16 In our seminary in England, faculty and students worked as teams in planning and leading worship. While this was a great privilege and I enjoyed it when it was my team’s turn, my heart would also sink somewhat when our period of duty arrived be…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Honey, We Solved the Riddle
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Honey, We Solved the Riddle
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Honey, We Solved the Riddle JUDGES 14:1- 15:20 Only trivial things went wrong at our wedding. Admittedly, for Ann and me it was a narrow escape. At one stage her father said he would not come; that was the degree to which he disapproved of me. I had long hair, like Samson (being …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Helping People Get Back on Their Feet
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Helping People Get Back on Their Feet
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Helping People Get Back on Their Feet Deuteronomy 15: 1- 18 According to a legal record from July 6, 1773, James Best, a laborer, “doth voluntarily put himself Servant to Captain Stephen Jones Master of the Snow Sally” (a snow was a kind of sailing ship). Jones would take Best fr…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God’s Laws as the Way to Blessing
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God’s Laws as the Way to Blessing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Laws as the Way to Blessing Psalm 119: 1-24 After church today, a friend asked me a question that had arisen out of a conversation he’d had with a co-worker. My friend was surprised that the co-worker was willing to work seven days a week—what about the commandment concerni…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Grace Found Noah
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Grace Found Noah
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Grace Found Noah Genesis 6: 5-8 Early in our marriage, we adopted the mantra that the most destructive phrase in the English language was “you should have,” as in “You should have done this or that,” or “You shouldn’t have done this or that.” The phrase “you should,” as in “You s…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Horse and Chariots of Fire Around Elisha
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Horse and Chariots of Fire Around Elisha
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Horses and Chariots of Fire around Elisha 2 Kings 6:8-23 Over recent years the way I pray has been revolutionized by the awareness from the Prophets that when we pray we are taking part in debates in God’s cabinet in heaven. Stories like the one about Micaiah in 1 Kings 22 illust…
Psalms for Everyone - How to Dwell with God
Psalms for Everyone - How to Dwell with God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Dwell with God Psalms for Everyone Part 1 Psalms 1-72 Psalm 15 A composition. David’s. 1 Yahweh, who may stay in your tent, who may dwell on your holy mountain? 2 The person who walks with integrity, and acts with faithfulness, and speaks the truth in his heart. 3 He has n…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church II