SPCK
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Question of Power
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Question of Power
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Question of Power Psalm 110 My wife keeps going on about power. I don’t take it personally. Actually, it works in my favor, because her fixation lies with the way contemporary Western thinking is preoccupied by questions about who has power and about how power features in the r…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Deal with Being Swindled
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Deal with Being Swindled
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Deal with Being Swindled Psalm 109 This weekend we plan to go to a new movie about some of the victims of the financial meltdown in the first decade of this century. They are the staff of a high-end condo block who discover that the occupant of the penthouse has been engag…
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 Part 2 - Another Amen
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Another Amen
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Another Amen Psalm 106:48 Whereas the amen at the end of Book Three of the Psalter stands in contrast to Psalm 89 to which it is appended, this amen at the end of Book Four follows nicely on Psalm 106, though perhaps it issues a challenge in that it involves recognizing that our …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How Our Faithlessness Magnifies God’s Faithfulness
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How Our Faithlessness Magnifies God’s Faithfulness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Our Faithlessness Magnifies God’s Faithfulness Psalm 106: 1-47 From six thousand miles’ distance I have been astonished to follow the London equivalent to Occupy Wall Street, which has involved protesters camping out at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where I was ordained, near the Lon…
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 - God of Light and God of Darkness
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God of Light and God of Darkness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God of Light and God of Darkness Psalm 104 When my older son got into his midteens, he declared that he was no longer coming to church with his mother and me. Fortunately this was not because he had decided that all church was stupid but that our demure Anglican church wasn’t kee…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Persuade Your Heart
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Persuade Your Heart
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Persuade Your Heart Psalm 103 Some years ago I went through one of those periods when God didn’t seem to be real. I don’t mean I was going through some intellectual questioning, though I have done that at other times, but rather that I didn’t feel that God was there. I wou…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - I Have Hope for Zion, but Is There Hope for Me?
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - I Have Hope for Zion, but Is There Hope for Me?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Have Hope for Zion, but Is There Hope for Me? Psalm 102 Every morning when we wake up, my wife prays our morning prayers, and almost invariably she thanks God for another wonderful day. An hour later, I sit at my desk thinking about that day’s passage for The Old Testament for …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Leadership Challenge
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Leadership Challenge
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Leadership Challenge Psalm 101 The news yesterday reported that a recent poll indicates that people’s distrust of government in the United States is at its highest level ever, and that people have a deep sense of economic anxiety and doubt about the future. The apparent air o…
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 - The Real King of Kings
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Real King of Kings
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Real King of Kings Psalm 97-98 According to news reports, Muammar el-Qaddafi, who had ruled Libya for over forty years, once declared, “I am an international leader, the dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of Muslims, and my international status …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Yes, Yahweh Has Begun to Reign
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Yes, Yahweh Has Begun to Reign
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Yes, Yahweh Has Begun to Reign Psalm 96 Today’s news includes a report about forces in Yemen firing on people protesting the government and killing some of them. In Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan soldiers have faced sharply increased attacks by insurgents from their base in Pakista…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Will You Just Shut Up and Listen?
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Will You Just Shut Up and Listen?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Will You Just Shut Up and Listen? Psalm 95 One of the most formative experiences of my life was being a chorister in the choir at the cathedral in my home city in England. I learned to sing and to read and write music, and I wouldn’t have become a music freak except for that expe…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The God of Redress
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The God of Redress
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The God of Redress Psalm 94 As I write, hundreds of people are encamped in a park near Wall Street, their base for protesting the fact that the 1 percent of the U.S. population, of whom Wall Street is a symbol, have a greater net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent, with many…
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 - 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 - Shadow of the Almighty