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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Is Anything Stable?
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Is Anything Stable?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is Anything Stable? Psalm 89: 1-37 My wife once lived in a house on the side of a canyon in California that seemed capable of tumbling into the ocean if there was an earthquake, and after one worrying quake not far away she took to checking the weekly earthquake reports. Apparent…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Is the Earth Vulnerable?
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Is the Earth Vulnerable?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is the Earth Vulnerable? Psalm 93 I just saw a fabulous picture of the earth taken from above the North Pole. I know in theory that Canada, Greenland, Russia, Norway, and Alaska almost meet in the Arctic, but I am so used to the regular Mercator Projection world map that I don’t …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Mindfulness, God’s and Ours
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Mindfulness, God’s and Ours
by SPCK - John Goldingay
His Commitment Is Forever Psalm 136 A former student of mine served as an armed forces chaplain in Iraq for two years after graduating from seminary. One week he called me from there. He had felt compelled to preach on the idea of God’s steadfast love. He remembered my explaining…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Mountains around Jerusalem, Yahweh around His People
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Mountains around Jerusalem, Yahweh around His People
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Mountains around Jerusalem, Yahweh around His People Psalm 124-125 Last weekend we overheard a conversation on the San Francisco subway in which the father of two small children who was on his way to the airport with some people from different parts of the country was recounting …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Being Open to the Unexpected
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Being Open to the Unexpected
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Being Open to the Unexpected Psalm 113-114 In commenting on Psalm 108, I spoke of a friend’s Pentecostal church that seemed to have no more expectation of God’s acting than evangelical or mainline churches do. But yesterday I sat in the ophthalmologist’s waiting room reading a…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Challenging the Gods and God
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Challenging the Gods and God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Challenging the Gods and God Psalm 82 Two friends who live in the Philippines had lunch with us a week or so ago while on a visit home in the United States. One of them, a Chinese American, told us that in the Philippines he had a sense of the presence of evil spirits that he …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Keeping One’s Mouth Shut
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Keeping One’s Mouth Shut
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Alternative to a Bulletproof Vest Psalm 140 Not surprisingly (I recently read in a magazine), the best place to buy a bulletproof vest is Bogotá, Colombia, where two students at the University of the Andes noticed that bodyguards didn’t wear their bulletproof vests because th…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Learning from Your Story
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Learning from Your Story
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Learning from Your Story Psalm 105 It’s coming up to Thanksgiving/Advent Sunday, and I’m asking the members of our church to think about the following four questions: 1. “What are you particularly thankful for this year?” 2. “In your Christian faith, what are you finding nouri…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Openness
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Openness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Openness Psalm 139 My wife carries in her purse a photograph of her prospective grandchild, an image from her daughter’s sonogram. It is extraordinary to have this vivid reminder of the way a baby is steadily developing in the womb. When the prospective mother is sick, as she …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Raising the Ceiling of Our Hope
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Raising the Ceiling of Our Hope
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Teach Me Psalm 119: 49-72 I’m grading student papers, and one effect that has on me (alongside making me want to commit suicide) is to make me puzzle over what it is that enables people to learn. There are people who have read the Scriptures with fresh eyes, seen things they had …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Sacred Space, Sacred Acts, and Sacred Sound
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Sacred Space, Sacred Acts, and Sacred Sound
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Sacred Space, Sacred Acts, and Sacred Sound Psalm 99-100 Yesterday I received what initially seemed a puzzling invitation to a weekly, early-morning prayer meeting, described as “sacred space for a variety of prayer traditions.” It seemed puzzling because I always thought of s…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On the Relationship between Worship and Sermon
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On the Relationship between Worship and Sermon
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On the Relationship between Worship and Sermon Psalm 81 We went to the first regular seminary chapel service of the quarter yesterday, and there was lots of resounding singing, (tuneful) shouting, and melodious guitar and piano (equivalent to the harp?). There were no horns this …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - One Way to Evade Compassion Fatigue
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - One Way to Evade Compassion Fatigue
by SPCK - John Goldingay
One Way to Evade Compassion Fatigue Psalm 79 The expression “compassion fatigue” has been around for a while. The nature of modern communications media means that we become instantly aware of suffering in different parts of the world, but we cannot deal with all that suffering or…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Peaceableness and Peacefulness
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Peaceableness and Peacefulness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Peaceableness and Peacefulness Psalm 120-121 After a journey that took twenty-four hours, some friends of mine arrived yesterday in the capital of one of the toughest and poorest countries in Africa, which they visit from time to time seeking to help refugees there make their voi…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall
by SPCK - John Goldingay
People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall Psalm 78: 38-72 A few months ago one of the members of our church, a lively lady in her nineties who always had something to contribute, suddenly became less consistent in coming to church, and then didn’t appear for two or thr…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Reason to Believe
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Reason to Believe
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Reason to Believe Psalm 116 Last night I had dinner with a young man who is a faithful church worshiper. He has been so for most of his life, but he isn’t sure whether the worship in which he takes part is real in the sense of corresponding to the truth. As he put it, he isn’t su…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Restore Us Again
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Restore Us Again
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Restore Us Again Psalm 85 It is easy for me as a Brit to be resentful of the U.S. media’s critiques of Britain and Europe. “Why do they think it’s their business to criticize when the United States can’t solve its own problems?” I wonder. “Are the British media so critical of the…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Shadow of the Almighty