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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Subtle Link between God’s Grace and People’s Response
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Subtle Link between God’s Grace and People’s Response
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Subtle Link between God’s Grace and People’s Response Psalm 78: 1-37 Yesterday in church the Old Testament reading was the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, and we followed that reading with some congregational discussion of which of these commands seem most import…
Psalms for Everyone - The Way Prayer Makes a Difference
Psalms for Everyone - The Way Prayer Makes a Difference
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Way Prayer Makes a Difference Psalm 6 Two of my friends are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary, and I have been asked to contribute to the greetings book that will be presented to them at the celebratory party. So I wrote that my first wife, Ann, sat up in her cot i…
Psalms for Everyone - The Wretched of the Earth
Psalms for Everyone - The Wretched of the Earth
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Wretched of the Earth Psalm 9: 19- 10: 18 My stepdaughter and her husband spend their lives seeking to make known the plight of Darfuri refugees in Chad; they make dangerous visits there from time to time. They tell horrifying stories about the way the Sudanese government tre…
Psalms for Everyone - There Is No God Here
Psalms for Everyone - There Is No God Here
by SPCK - John Goldingay
There Is No God Here Psalm 53 Yesterday, my wife and I walked through crowds of people whose faces seemed to say, “There is no God here.” They were crowds walking up and down the pier at Santa Monica among the stands selling ice cream and sunhats and hotdogs. They should have bee…
Psalms for Everyone - They Hated Me without a Reason; They Will Treat You the Same
Psalms for Everyone - They Hated Me without a Reason; They Will Treat You the Same
by SPCK - John Goldingay
They Hated Me Without a Reason; They Will Treat You the Same Psalm 35 It’s amusing that many of the nastier parts of the Old Testament don’t seem to raise a problem for Jesus in the way they raise a problem for Western people; it helps us see that our niceness has nothing to do w…
Psalms for Everyone - They're Trying to Wash Us Away
Psalms for Everyone - They're Trying to Wash Us Away
by SPCK - John Goldingay
They’re Trying to Wash Us Away Psalm 31 Last night we went to a concert by the great honky-tonk/blues singer Marcia Ball, who grew up in Louisiana. Her closing song was Randy Newman’s unbearably moving “Louisiana.” The song describes how the Mississippi River rose all day and all…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Thine Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Thine Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Thine Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory Psalm 145 A student once asked me why the Lord’s Prayer is so different from the prayers in the Psalms, which characteristically cry out to God and issue protests to God because of people’s urgent needs. I wasn’t sure, but in due cou…
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…
Psalms for Everyone - Thus Far and No Further
Psalms for Everyone - Thus Far and No Further
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Thus Far and No Further Psalm 8 The crying of babies and sucklings is hard to listen to yet hard to avoid. In the area that is now South Sudan, one in seven children dies before his or her fifth birthday. In Darfur, countless young girls have been raped and abducted. The media re…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Trust or Control
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Trust or Control
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Trust or Control Psalm 115 Today I received a much-forwarded e-mail with a moving story about a woman showing a caring attitude to a homeless guy and his mentally challenged friend who showed up in a fast-food restaurant. The e-mail promised that if in turn I forward the e-mail t…
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…
Psalms for Everyone - Wake Up, God!
Psalms for Everyone - Wake Up, God!
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Wake Up, God! Psalm 44 In connection with Psalm 20 I’ve mentioned that our church has just had to accept that we could no longer afford to pay the salary of a pastor. I mentioned this to one of my sons in England, who expressed surprise that such a thing could happen, surmising t…
Psalms for Everyone - We've Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times
Psalms for Everyone - We've Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times
by SPCK - John Goldingay
We’ve Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times Psalm 18: 1-24 Between us my wife and I have had four or five illnesses that would have left us dead had we lived in most contexts in human history. We have both had appendicitis that might have killed us without medical inte…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Weeping and Insomnia
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Weeping and Insomnia
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Weeping and Insomnia Psalm 126-127 Like anybody else, when I am worried, anxious, or preoccupied, I can’t sleep. Sometimes I don’t even know what it is that is preoccupying me. While I found sleep problematic for a while after my first wife died, in general I have this difficulty…
Psalms for Everyone - What a Rogue Says to Himself
Psalms for Everyone - What a Rogue Says to Himself
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What a Rogue Says to Himself Psalm 14 In the last decades of the twentieth century there was a thing called the charismatic movement that emphasized the felt reality of God’s presence and the perceptible reality of God’s speaking and acting in healing people. One of my bosses con…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - What Sabbath Worship Looks Like?
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - What Sabbath Worship Looks Like?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Sabbath Worship Looks Like? Psalm 92 If I am preaching on Sunday, instead of giving a ten- to fifteen-minute sermon after the Scripture readings (Episcopalians are not used to long sermons), I have gotten into the habit of talking for a few minutes after each of the three re…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - What to Do When God’s Promises Fail
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - What to Do When God’s Promises Fail
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What to Do When God’s Promises Fail Psalm 108 I was talking the other day with a friend who has been an associate pastor in a flourishing Pentecostal church for a year. He did not have a Pentecostal background, but this fact had not seemed to matter, because nothing very Pentecos…
Psalms for Everyone - When Life Continues to Be Darkness