SPCK

Don't Let Your Nap Go On Too Long When I was a student and we were working in the library in the afternoon, my friend Jim would wrap his scarf around his head, put up the hood of his coat over his head, lean forward onto his desk, and nap…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Rich and Poor Meet

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Rich and Poor Meet Getting dressed this morning, I noticed there was no change in my pocket. I remembered giving my change to someone in the street and wondering whether I was helping him get a meal or just get another drink…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - The Way of a Man Can Be Strange

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Way of a Man Can Be Strange A newly married couple came to talk to us about a tension within their marriage (as if we were experts, being married for only a year ourselves). The husband is a lively, young man whom his wife regards as handsome…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Drink Is a Brawler

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Drink Is a Brawler A friend who is a recovering alcoholic sometimes comments with dark humour on the process whereby drinking ruins people’s lives. It all but ruined his life, and it has ruined the lives of people he knows…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Does God Have a Wonderful Plan for Your Life?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Does God Have a Wonderful Plan for Your Life? Students who would like to find their way into teaching sometimes ask how I came to be a professor, so as to make plans for their career trajectory. My answer is that I drifted into where I am now…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Yahweh's Name Is a Refuge

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Yahweh's Name Is a Refuge We recently went for nine days to a country we had not previously visited. For some time beforehand, my wife was apprehensive because she had a sense that demonic spirits were active in this country. Kathleen doesn’t often talk in these terms, and neithe…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Yahweh Tests Minds

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Yahweh Tests Minds A year after we came to California, one Sunday evening my son called to tell us that they had just had their first child on Monday morning in London. When Monday morning came in California, I rushed to book an air ticket to go back to London for the next weeken…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Arrogance Goes before Shattering

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Arrogance Goes before Shattering So I wrote a third draft and I now have responses from some other members of our church council, and I must finalize and send the message later today. In a sense it’s easy enough to think through the issues, but it may be harder to work out exactl…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - A Gentle Response Turns Back Wrath

by SPCK - John Goldingay

A Gentle Response Turns Back Wrath Shortly I must attempt a third draft of a reply to a message concerning our congregation’s terminating the employment of our long-time gardener, who is getting elderly and was finding it harder to do the work that needed doing…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Even in Laughter a Heart May Hurt

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Even in Laughter a Heart May Hurt A friend of mine told me last week about a dinner he and his wife had had with another couple. The other wife was my friend’s ex, but both couples are happily married so it seemed that this piece of history would not be a problem, and the couples…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Discipline Your Teenagers If You Can

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Discipline Your Teenagers If You Can A mother recently told me how Christian parenting experts had urged her to start spanking her children; some said to continue only until the children become verbal, others at any sign of willful rebellion regardless of age…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Anxiety and a Good Word

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Anxiety and a Good Word As usual, I got to sleep fine last night, but awoke after a couple of hours as I sometimes do, and I stayed awake for about three. I had an ache in my arm that wouldn’t worry me if I was fully awake…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - With Modesty There Is Wisdom

by SPCK - John Goldingay

With Modesty There Is Wisdom In an earlier volume of The Old Testament for Everyone I referred to the fact that I’m inclined to think that nothing I do as a teacher or writer or pastor makes any difference to anyone…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - The Mouth of the Faithful Person is Fruitful

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Mouth of the Faithful Person is Fruitful I rode to my mother’s funeral with our rector, who told me a funny, poignant story about her. Being a mother, she had an exaggerated sense of her son’s significance…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - The Two Voices

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Two Voices I’ve just come back from a workshop on sexual exploitation at church, which included DVD presentations incorporating testimonies by victims and exploiters (some actual, some actors)…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Let Me Tell You Another Story

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Let Me Tell You Another Story On the way out of chapel yesterday, we bumped into the provost (his position stands midway between being the principal and the vice-principal in U.K. terms). Before he became provost a few months ago, we had dinner with him and his wife, but we have …

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Let Me Tell You a Story

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Let Me Tell You a Story Last Sunday we said Psalm 62, which includes the line “put no trust in extortion,” but the person who led the psalm read it as “put no trust in exhortation.”…

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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - On Safeguarding Concord

by SPCK - John Goldingay

On Safeguarding Concord The pest control man came the other day to check that we had no termites or other unwelcome guests. It reminded me of an experience a few weeks after we moved to California, when another Old Testament professor who was in town came for afternoon tea…

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