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Exodus and Leviticus - My People - Your God
Exodus and Leviticus - My People - Your God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
My People – Your God EXODUS 6: 2- 7: 13 I am discussing their wedding with a young couple in my student Bible-study group. The wedding is a lovely thing to be involved in, and not only because it will happen within sight of the beach but because it brings home to me as a Brit one…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Not with Our Parents
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Not with Our Parents
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Not with Our Parents Deuteronomy 5: 1-15 This week I read an e-mail from a student now doing graduate work elsewhere: “I quit my job on Monday as I was averaging four hours of sleep a night and came down with two colds in the first two weeks of school. Best decision of the year.”…
Exodus and Leviticus - Promises and Warnings and Promises
Exodus and Leviticus - Promises and Warnings and Promises
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Promises and Warnings and Promises LEVITICUS 26: 3- 46 Yesterday a student from a two-thirds-world country came to see me to talk about wealth and poverty, about the idea that God exercised a preferential option for the poor, about whether it was okay for us to enjoy the wealth w…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 4 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 4 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 4 1 Kings 18.22–3, 41–3 Galatians 1.1–12 Luke 7.1–10 This opening section of Galatians has Paul in a very combative frame of mind. Even his formal greetings at the beginning are perfunctory and pointed. Something very dear to Paul is under threat here, and he is riding to …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Should Our Sister Be Treated Like a Whore?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Should Our Sister Be Treated Like a Whore?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Should Our Sister Be Treated Like a Whore? Genesis 33:18-34:31 There were a couple in the seminary who got into a tangle in their relationship. The man had lost his wife in an accident. He seemed to be doing all the right things in the way he coped: grieving but keeping her memor…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Temples and Churches
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Temples and Churches
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Temples and Churches 1 Kings 6: 1-38 The little church building where I worship each Sunday holds only fifty or sixty people, but it divides into three parts. The congregation sits in the main body of the church; there is a little step up to the choir stalls; and finally there is…
Exodus and Leviticus - The 3a.m. Scream
Exodus and Leviticus - The 3a.m. Scream
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The 3 a.m. Scream EXODUS 12: 28- 13: 16 It was midnight, not 3 a.m., but in the Western world where we organize our own time rather than following nature’s time, midnight is not the middle of the night; it is about the time I put out the light. So think of yourself as having been…
Job for Everyone - The God Who Commands the Dawn
Job for Everyone - The God Who Commands the Dawn
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The God Who Commands the Dawn Job 38 1-15 On some people’s calculations, the world is due to end today. If you are reading this book, it didn’t end, or, alternatively, you and I were left behind. I am pretty confident it won’t end, though the basis for my confidence is different …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The God Who Can't Resist the Temptation to Be Merciful
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The God Who Can't Resist the Temptation to Be Merciful
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The God Who Can’t Resist the Temptation to Be Merciful 2 Kings 13:1-14:29 Yesterday in church, the person who was doing the first Scripture reading, from the Prophets, said as she came up to the lectern, “I don’t really want to read this passage.” After she had read it, our recto…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - The Intentional and the Unintentional
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - The Intentional and the Unintentional
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Intentional and the Unintentional NUMBERS 14: 39-15: 41 In our church we usually douse the candles during the final hymn, before the ministers process down the aisle and walk outside into the main street, back into the outside world, to say goodbye to the congregation. One Su…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Man Who Would be King
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Man Who Would be King
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Man Who Would Be King JUDGES 9: 1-57 In connection with Joshua 20, I mentioned a woman in my class who apparently had a brain tumor. In an e-mail a couple of weeks ago, she talked about ways God had been speaking to her through classes she had taken over the summer and fall a…
Exodus and Leviticus - The Migrant Returns
Exodus and Leviticus - The Migrant Returns
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Migrant Returns EXODUS 4: 24-31 The last two people I had helping me care for my disabled wife were from the Philippines. Although both were the wives of students at our seminary, it is no coincidence that both were Filipinas. There are many Filipina caregivers in the United …
Exodus and Leviticus - The Magnificent Presence
Exodus and Leviticus - The Magnificent Presence
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Magnificent Presence EXODUS 34: 27- 40: 38 When I sit in my ancient recliner aware that God is there with me, in the way I described in connection with Exodus 32:30– 33:11, I do not have experiences that leave my face radiating in such a way that later in the day students are…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Peril of Other People's Faiths
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Peril of Other People's Faiths
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Peril of Other People’s Faiths JOSHUA 23:1- 16 In the aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. State Department financed visits to universities and seminaries in the United States by Muslim scholars from abroad as part of efforts to foster mutual understanding between “the Muslim World” a…
Exodus and Leviticus - Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God
Exodus and Leviticus - Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God EXODUS 19: 1- 25 When the Israelites arrived at Sinai, they first had a morally challenging experience—or perhaps one should call it a relationally challenging one. It marks a new stage in the covenant relationship between God and Israel. …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - You Can't Mess with the Covenant Chest
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - You Can't Mess with the Covenant Chest
by SPCK - John Goldingay
You Can’t Mess with the Covenant Chest 1 Samuel 5: 1- 7: 1 When I used to read Bible stories to my young sons, they would sometimes ask, “Did that really happen?” As far as I remember, they did not ask that question about big events like the Israelites’ crossing of the Reed Sea (…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C