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Isaiah for everyone - A Time to Cry and a time to Whoop
Isaiah for everyone - A Time to Cry and a time to Whoop
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Time to Cry and a Time to Whoop We had dinner with a young couple a few months ago and were delighted to discover that they were expecting their first baby. It was not their first pregnancy; the wife had had a miscarriage last year. I remember how distressing it was when my fir…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Arrogance Goes before Shattering
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…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Anxiety and a Good Word
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…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Don't Let Your Nap Go On Too Long
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Don't Let Your Nap Go On Too Long
by SPCK - John Goldingay
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…
Isaiah for everyone - Don't Be Afraid
Isaiah for everyone - Don't Be Afraid
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Don’t Be Afraid My wife’s degree program requires her to take part this week in a day’s silent retreat. Students are not allowed to bring their computers or other communication devices. Kathleen is looking forward to the event, but some of her classmates are freaking out about it…
Jeremiah for everyone - Does God Really Punish?
Jeremiah for everyone - Does God Really Punish?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Does God Really Punish? At dinner last night, one of our friends was troubled by the way the Old Testament speaks of God’s exercising violent judgment by means of Israel. I tried my usual ploy of asking whether she was as troubled by Jesus’ speaking of millions of people being th…
Isaiah for everyone - High and Holy, but Present with the Crushed and Low in Spirit
Isaiah for everyone - High and Holy, but Present with the Crushed and Low in Spirit
by SPCK - John Goldingay
High and Holy, but Present with the Crushed and Low in Spirit In a recent sermon in our seminary I told students that Jesus isn’t their buddy. I’m told the air went out of the room when I said it. A friend subsequently gave me a “Buddy Christ” statuette, which I could put on my d…
Isaiah for Everyone - Grief Brought To An End
Isaiah for Everyone - Grief Brought To An End
by SPCK - John Goldingay
GRIEF BROUGHT TO AN END In a movie called Grace Is Gone, Grace is a sergeant in the army on active service. Her husband, Stan, looks after a supply store back home. One morning the feared and terrifying visit comes from army representatives with the task of telling Stan that Grac…
Jeremiah for everyone - I Don't Trust You
Jeremiah for everyone - I Don't Trust You
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Don't Trust You In the latter years of my first wife’s life, from time to time I’d attempt to confront God about the way she was increasingly affected by her multiple sclerosis. God was inclined to be equally confrontational in his response (I could get away with a cry of pain …
Jeremiah for everyone - Not Always the Holywood Ending
Jeremiah for everyone - Not Always the Holywood Ending
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Not Always the Holywood Ending Last night we watched a French movie about a couple whose baby son developed a brain tumour. The movie focused on the way the couple coped, naturally with tensions and grief but also with determination and energy and more than a little therapeutic c…
Jeremiah for everyone - Pottery Smashed
Jeremiah for everyone - Pottery Smashed
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Pottery Smashed In Hanoi there’s an embassy that gives visas to people who want to find the bodies of relatives who died in Vietnam’s wars. The family wants to be able to give them a proper burial to avoid their becoming angry ghosts rather than guardian spirits…
Jeremiah for everyone - Settle Down
Jeremiah for everyone - Settle Down
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Settle Down When I first moved to California, people would ask how long I’d be here, thinking it might be just for an academic quarter or year. They’d be a bit taken aback when I said, “I want to die here,” so I would add, “but not too soon,” yet they’d still be taken aback, so I…
Isaiah for everyone - Straight-Talking Meets Straight-Talking
Isaiah for everyone - Straight-Talking Meets Straight-Talking
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Straight-Talking Meets Straight-Talking I sometimes have a hard time persuading people that prayer is an act of communication between us and God and that there’s a mutuality about this communication. The idea has got around that prayer is really more like a form of reflection and…
Isaiah for everyone - The Ambiguous Hezekiah