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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - I Will Not Offer Worship That Costs Me Nothing
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - I Will Not Offer Worship That Costs Me Nothing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Will Not Offer Worship That Costs Me Nothing 2 Samuel 24: 16b- 25 As we left a concert last night, one of my friends commented that he always emerges from live music with renewed energy. I am the same. It reminded me of how I felt after a terrific, animated, dynamic worship ser…
Exodus and Leviticus - It Was an Ordinary Working Day
Exodus and Leviticus - It Was an Ordinary Working Day
by SPCK - John Goldingay
It Was an Ordinary Working Day EXODUS 3: 1-10 It was an ordinary working day. My wife, Ann (but she wasn’t my wife then—in fact, we hadn’t even met), left her university residence in London and took the subway to her medical school. She was just a week or two into her preclinical…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Story about Several Asses
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Story about Several Asses
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Story about Several Asses NUMBERS 22: 1- 23:4 I was once assistant minister in a flourishing suburban church that had a history of having notable rectors, one of whom was by then rector of one of the most high-profile churches in the country. I have never forgotten hearing him …
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Check Things out with God
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Check Things out with God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Check Things Out with God EXODUS 32: 30-33: 11 Throughout most of my life, I have had a particular place where I pray each day. At the moment it is an ancient recliner chair sitting in front of my desk. Next to it is a little table where I keep a Bible and a prayer noteboo…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Now I Know
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Now I Know
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Now I Know Genesis 22: 11- 19 In 1969, as the Vietnam war reached its peak, the Canadian Jewish poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen recorded a song about “The Story of Isaac.” The first two verses imaginatively retell the story from Isaac’s angle, but then the song ricochets into a…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Prophets and When to Ignore Them
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Prophets and When to Ignore Them
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Prophets, and When to Ignore Them 1 Kings 12:33-13:32 When I look back over the leadership of the various bosses I have had (present company excepted, in case he reads this) and reflect on my own time as a boss, I can see various ways in which proven ability and divine guidance p…
Exodus and Leviticus - Anticipatory Celebration
Exodus and Leviticus - Anticipatory Celebration
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Anticipatory Celebration EXODUS 12: 1-27 I am sometimes asked, “What do you miss about England?” One of my joke replies is that I miss a magnificent chocolate-and- cream pastry called an “elephant’s foot” that they sell at a bakery where we often had Saturday lunch. Another reply…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Entertaining Angels Unawares
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Entertaining Angels Unawares
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Entertaining Angels Unawares JUDGES 13:1- 25 Some friends of mine have just become pregnant. I am not accustomed to using that verb in the first-person plural; when I was young, it was only women who got pregnant, but now it is a joint operation. There is a certain appropriatenes…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God Doesn't Go Back on a Promise
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God Doesn't Go Back on a Promise
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God Doesn’t Go Back on a Promise NUMBERS 22: 1- 23:4 People in traditional societies know there can be a strange power about blessing and cursing. A Nigerian told me about the way in his society people know that their enemies can use curses to cause harm to them, and the traditio…
Psalms for Everyone - I Will Survive
Psalms for Everyone - I Will Survive
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Will Survive Psalm 34 Our preacher yesterday told us how two years ago she had married a man who was soon abusing her. So after a short while she had to decide to leave him, though it was enough time for her to be pregnant. Thus she soon found herself divorced, jobless, and a s…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to get to the Promised Land
Exodus and Leviticus - How to get to the Promised Land
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Get to the Promised Land EXODUS 23: 20- 33 Modern people get concerned about the Israelites annihilating the Canaanites. As far as one can tell, it only became an issue in modern times. Although Christians explain their concern by referring to Jesus’ exhortation to love on…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Lord of The Flies
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Lord of The Flies
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Lord of the Flies 2 Kings 1:2-18 There are more positive and less positive understandings of human nature. The word zebub means fly, so the title “Master Zebub” or “Lord Zebub” would mean “Lord Fly” or “Lord of the Fly.” Now Lord of the Flies was a mid-twentieth-century novel by …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Personal and The Political
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Personal and The Political
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Personal and the Political 1 Kings 17:1-24 I have just deleted an e-mail from a student in whose life I saw something of a miracle a few months ago. She had been diagnosed as having a brain tumor and was hastily scheduled for an emergency operation to try to remove it. The su…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Brothers United and Divided
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Brothers United and Divided
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Brothers United and Divided Genesis 25: 7- 22 Not so many years ago, my wife and I were part of a regulation three-generation family. My mother, our only surviving parent, was at the top. We were in the middle. Our sons and their wives were at the bottom. Then, within two years, …
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - On the Unimportance of Spiritual Insight
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - On the Unimportance of Spiritual Insight
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On the Unimportance of Spiritual Insight JUDGES 5:31b- 6: 24 I have just been talking to a couple I have not seen for a year or two, exchanging news about our children and their marriages and their families. This other couple has several daughters. The last of these was almost th…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - The Complications of Surrogacy