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Psalms for Everyone - One Thing
Psalms for Everyone - One Thing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
One Thing Psalm 27 Soon after I came to the United States, I attended an inaugural lecture by a man who (we were told) was a full-time pastor and a half-time professor. I laughed because I assumed it was a joke—how could you be a full-time this and a half-time that? (He also told…
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 - Our Handiwork and God's
Psalms for Everyone - Our Handiwork and God's
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Our handiwork and God’s Psalm 28 In the news last weekend was a story about an unemployed and deep-in-debt hairdresser in his forties who went to a “Money Cometh to You” conference at a church in Vermont to listen to a visiting preacher who promised that the Lord could not only s…
Psalms for Everyone - Passion Means Persecution
Psalms for Everyone - Passion Means Persecution
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Passion Means Persecution Psalm 68: 1-18 I dreamed last night that I was being taken to court for preaching. The question “If you were prosecuted for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” is a cliché, but it’s a clever and thought-provoking one. When …
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 - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I Psalm 9: 1-18 Yesterday a pastor in Florida invited me to look at his blog, where he had written about God’s renewing the church. When God renewed the church (as happened with the emergence of Pentecostalism a century ago, for instance…
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II Psalm 40 As usual we had a time of sharing praise and prayer concerns in church yesterday, and as usual I had more success getting people to share prayer concerns than to share reasons for thanksgiving. As far as I remember the only t…
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 - Remembering Makes All the Difference
Psalms for Everyone - Remembering Makes All the Difference
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Remembering Makes All the Difference Psalm 57 I’ve been thinking about memory. As a result of a comment by a student, I found myself reflecting on the fact that we don’t think much about the link between memory and our life with God—our ethics and our spirituality—though there ar…
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 - Self-Knowledge or Self-Deception
Psalms for Everyone - Self-Knowledge or Self-Deception
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Self-Knowledge or Self-Deception Psalm 18: 25-50 I know some Christians who have had affairs, and I have come closer to doing so than I should have done. When Christians talk about their affairs, the story regularly involves an element of denial and/or self-deception. Maybe the p…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Shadow of the Almighty
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Shadow of the Almighty
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Shadow of the Almighty Psalm 91 I have a vivid memory from when I was a teenager of watching a filmstrip (a prehistoric antecedent of DVDs) that told the story of five young men from the United States who went to a rainforest in Ecuador to seek to bring the gospel of Christ to th…
Psalms for Everyone - Silence toward God
Psalms for Everyone - Silence toward God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Silence toward God Psalm 62 A friend of mine has gone on a month’s silent retreat (he is answering e-mails, which seems a bit like cheating, but then maybe so is reading or listening to talks). He needs to know what is to be the next stage in his life and his service of God, and …
Psalms for Everyone - Sometimes God Speaks
Psalms for Everyone - Sometimes God Speaks
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Sometimes God Speaks Psalm 12 Before coming to the United States to resume being an ordinary professor, I was principal of a theological college in England, a position that is a cross between being president, provost, and dean of a U.S. seminary, but on a much smaller scale. I ha…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Standing on the Promises
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Standing on the Promises
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Standing on the Promises Psalm 119: 25-48 Yesterday I got our congregation to write out their thanksgivings, uncertainties, and commitments for the coming year, in line with the plan I mentioned in connection with Psalm 105. Just before doing so, I realized that there was another…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Teach Me
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Teach Me
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 - Teach Me to Repent