Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - They All Did What was Right in Their Own Eyes
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - They All Did What was Right in Their Own Eyes
by SPCK - John Goldingay
They All Did What Was Right in Their Own Eyes JUDGES 17:1-13 I am an Episcopalian/Anglican priest, but I don’t really believe in priesthood. One of the first things God pointed out at Sinai was that the whole people of God is a priesthood (see Exodus 19), and the New Testament re…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Be a Blessing
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Be a Blessing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
To Be a Blessing Genesis 12: 2b When my grandmother died, she left her legacy to be divided among her grandchildren. Her legacy was about two hundred pounds (about three hundred dollars), and we got about twenty pounds each. I bought two prints with it: one sits behind me as I wr…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Three Strong Women and Three Feeble Men (I)
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Three Strong Women and Three Feeble Men (I)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Three Strong Woman and Three Feeble Men(I) JUDGES 4:1- 24 Men can have mixed feelings about strong women, though for me strong women are not as worrying as strong men. Before my wife became disabled, she was quite capable of standing up to me; in my head I can still hear her sayi…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Three Strong Women and Three Feeble Men (II)
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Three Strong Women and Three Feeble Men (II)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Three Strong Woman and Three Feeble Men(II) JUDGES 5:1- 31a The other Sunday we sang the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” whose second verse begins, “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” I asked if anyone knew what this referred to, and hardly anyone did. (The answer is in 1 Samue…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - This Is It!
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - This Is It!
by SPCK - John Goldingay
This Is It! Genesis 2: 21-25 I once took part in a workshop where students produced dramatic, modern versions of stories in Genesis. The one I most remember was a retelling of Genesis 1 by Julia Bolden. There were a number of neat aspects to the story. It is set in a house instea…
Psalms for Everyone - Throwing Things onto God
Psalms for Everyone - Throwing Things onto God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Throwing Things onto God Psalm 55 A therapist friend of mine has described to me the process she goes through after spending a day listening to clients, who unburden themselves of their hurts, sufferings, and sins. It seems that these burdens have to go somewhere, a little like t…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Thursday, Friday Morning
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Thursday, Friday Morning
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Thursday, Friday Morning Genesis 1:20-25 A whole corner building in the downtown area of our city was recently reconstructed and remodeled, and to my astonishment what opened there was a store that just sells boxes. A friend of ours got a job there and told us that she was also s…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Two Guys Who Need Their Heads Banged Together
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Two Guys Who Need Their Heads Banged Together
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Guys Who Need Their Heads Banged Together Genesis 25: 23- 26: 5 There’s a weird thing about babies (well, many weird things). I often reflected on our having two sons, born of the same mother and father, more or less brought up in the same way by the same parents, who turned …
Exodus and Leviticus - Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God
Exodus and Leviticus - Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God EXODUS 19: 1- 25 When the Israelites arrived at Sinai, they first had a morally challenging experience—or perhaps one should call it a relationally challenging one. It marks a new stage in the covenant relationship between God and Israel. …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Love and to Cherish, to Desire and to Dominate
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Love and to Cherish, to Desire and to Dominate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
To Love and to Cherish, to Desire and to Dominate Genesis 3: 16b There is a Jewish story about the first human couple. Often such a Jewish midrash takes up a puzzling aspect of the biblical text and seeks to explain it or imagine something it might imply, using other scriptural m…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Mothers, One Baby
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Mothers, One Baby
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Mothers One Baby 1 Kings 3:16- 4:19 Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and I was reading a newspaper story about two mothers with one baby. Its birth mother had got pregnant while she was a single student, and she had decided she didn’t want to keep the baby but that she would not h…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Tough Love
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Tough Love
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Tough Love Genesis 44:1-34 A woman came to see me the other day. She thought she had met the love of her life. I had seen her with him. There had developed that light that comes into people’s eyes when they know they are loved. They had started talking about engagement. But then …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Unusual Covenants
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Unusual Covenants
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Unusual Covenants 2 Kings 11:1-21 The idea of covenant has been very important in the history of the United States and in the development of American democracy as a way of understanding relationships in the human community. Etymologically, the word covenant includes the idea …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Put It Another Way
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Put It Another Way
by SPCK - John Goldingay
To Put It Another Way… Genesis 2: 4b-7 There is a children’s story about Pinocchio, a wooden doll carved from a piece of pine who longs to become a real boy. After a series of adventures that come to a climax with his making a great sacrifice, this eventually happens, and everyon…
Psalms for Everyone - Trusting God with Your Anger
Psalms for Everyone - Trusting God with Your Anger
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Trusting God with Your Anger Psalm 68: 19-35 In a day or two I am to lecture on the Psalms and our spirituality, and I shall talk about the way psalms are designed to feed and shape our praise, prayer, and thanksgiving. Last night as I was finalizing the lecture, I realized I had…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Unfinished Business
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Unfinished Business
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Unfinished Business NUMBERS 31:1- 34 Two or three years ago, out of the blue, I received a phone call from a Jewish lawyer in Los Angeles. He had self-published a book called Twenty-six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus, and he wanted me to make sure that his statements abo…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim 1 Kings 15:25-16:34 Yesterday, as usual, we began our faculty meeting by sharing topics for prayer, and then as it happened I had to try to pray a prayer that covered them all. The sharing referred to someone’s health needs, to someone who had lo…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Unlikely Saviors