Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - But Samson's Hair Began to Grow Again
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - But Samson's Hair Began to Grow Again
by SPCK - John Goldingay
But Samson’s Hair Began to Grow Again JUDGES 16:22-31 The first time I went to Israel, I took part in an exciting archaeological dig. Just next to a tennis club in the big modern city of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean, where people started playing at 6:00 a.m. because it would be …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Brothers United and Divided
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Brothers United and Divided
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Brothers United and Divided Genesis 25: 7- 22 Not so many years ago, my wife and I were part of a regulation three-generation family. My mother, our only surviving parent, was at the top. We were in the middle. Our sons and their wives were at the bottom. Then, within two years, …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - But God Remembered Noah
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - But God Remembered Noah
by SPCK - John Goldingay
But God Remembered Noah Genesis 8: 1-22a There are several restaurants and clubs where I take my wife in her wheelchair and where they invariably both remember us and are mindful of us. When I call to make a reservation, they remember us (it’s partly the odd accent), and when we …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - But What about Ishmael
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - But What about Ishmael
by SPCK - John Goldingay
But What about Ishmael? Genesis 17: 20-27 When my sister and I were young children, our parents had a hard time making ends meet on my father’s wages as a factory worker. My father was not keen on my mother going out to work while we were small, and eventually they decided to sel…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Call No One Happy until They Are Dead
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Call No One Happy until They Are Dead
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Call No One Happy Until They are Dead Genesis 46:1-34 Introducing Genesis 44 I referred to one incident in the life of a man and a woman; then, introducing Genesis 45, I referred to an aspect of my wife’s and my life. In different ways, both stories show how at the time something…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Desires and Choices
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Desires and Choices
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Desires and Choices 1 Kings 9:1-28 In connection with 1 Kings 7 I mentioned the work Joe is doing on my bathroom. Yesterday he finished the work. The fixtures look as if they were designed in the twenty-first century rather than somewhat before; the rusty cupboards are gone; the …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Deathbed Promises and Predictions
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Deathbed Promises and Predictions
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Deathbed Promises and Predictions Genesis 49:1-28 When you know you are going to die soon, it may concentrate the mind. You may see things more clearly. The poet Jason Shinder found his voice as a poet through the cancer that brought his death in middle age. His friends saw him a…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Dealing with Ambition
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Dealing with Ambition
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Dealing with Ambition NUMBERS 16: 1-17: 13 I am amazed that anyone seeks a position of leadership. We once had a new principal come to the seminary where I taught in England who unveiled his detailed and carefully thought-out vision for its future. The faculty took one look and s…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Desperate Dan
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Desperate Dan
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Desperate Dan JUDGES 18:1-31 When we were in the midst of agreeing to come to California for me to teach here, one of our students at my seminary in England sensed God saying to her one day in chapel, “Tell John, ‘Judges 18:6.’” “I don’t know what it says,” she replied. “Never mi…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Do Not Be Afraid
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Do Not Be Afraid
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Do Not Be Afraid Genesis 15: 1-6a When my mother died, I rode to her funeral with our rector. I say “our rector” though he had arrived at the church only after I was myself ordained, and he reminded me that one of the first services he conducted had been my father’s funeral. Whil…
Exodus and Leviticus - Distinguishing Life from Death
Exodus and Leviticus - Distinguishing Life from Death
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Distinguishing Life from Death LEVITICUS : 13 1- 14: 57 The first funeral I did in the United States was for a friend in his thirties whose wedding I had conducted. We buried him within about a year, after he died of a brain tumor. I admire the way U.S. funerals commonly have the…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Everyone Is Against Me
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Everyone Is Against Me
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Everyone is against Me 1 Samuel 18: 17- 19: 24 Last night I watched a Jordanian Oscar-nominated movie called Captain Abu Raed, whose central figure is an airport janitor at Amman Airport (just up the street from Jabesh-gilead, actually). In a subordinate plot point, he gets to kn…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Everyone Under Their Vines and Their Fig Trees
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Everyone Under Their Vines and Their Fig Trees
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Everyone under Their Vines and Their Fig Trees 1 Kings 4:20-5:18 A few weeks ago my son and his family were visiting, and we spent some great times sitting out in the shade eating bread and cheese and drinking wine while the children played in the pool. The eruption of a volcano …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Excluded but Not Forgotten
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Excluded but Not Forgotten
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Excluded but Not Forgotten Genesis 36:1- 37:4 Some years ago I decided to try to discover what I could about the Goldingays of the past. It’s probably easier for most British people to investigate their ancestors than for most people in the United States, whose families came from…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Everything Came True
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Everything Came True
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Everything Came True JOSHUA 20:1- 21:43 Less than three weeks ago I received one of those standard e-mails from a student: she did not think she would be able to finish her coursework by the deadline. Except that it was not the standard e-mail. She had been told that she had a br…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Entertaining Angels Unawares
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Entertaining Angels Unawares
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Entertaining Angels Unawares JUDGES 13:1- 25 Some friends of mine have just become pregnant. I am not accustomed to using that verb in the first-person plural; when I was young, it was only women who got pregnant, but now it is a joint operation. There is a certain appropriatenes…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Flexibility
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Flexibility
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Flexibility NUMBERS 8: 5-9: 14 A woman came to talk to me after church two weeks ago. In the sermon I had described the way the Psalms invite us in prayer to appeal to God’s compassion, grace, and steadfast love, especially when we know we are in the wrong in relation to Go…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - God Struggles