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Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - No, But...
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - No, But...
by SPCK - John Goldingay
No, But… Deuteronomy 1:46- 3: 29 I noted at the beginning of this commentary that my wife, Ann, died just before I started writing it. She had multiple sclerosis for forty-three years. The Sunday after her death, the set Scripture readings included Paul’s account in 2 Corinthians…
Psalms for Everyone - Neither Militarist nor Pacifist
Psalms for Everyone - Neither Militarist nor Pacifist
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Neither Militarist nor Pacifist Psalm 68: 19-35 On the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, I read an article by a Pakistani titled “Why Do They Hate Us So Much?” It picked up a question people in the United States asked after those attacks but reversed it in light of convict…
Job for Everyone - On Learning From the Past
Job for Everyone - On Learning From the Past
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Learning from the Past Job 8: 1-22 The other Saturday we were sitting in a restaurant by the ocean, and a woman came to talk to us who is a student at the seminary. This particular beach is an hour away, so I asked her if she lived nearby. She explained that she came here on S…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Missing Garlic
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Missing Garlic
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Missing Garlic NUMBERS 11: 1-35 My mother didn’t know about garlic. This is not unreasonable; she had learned to cook in the days when British cooking was boring, before Elizabeth David introduced us to proper cooking (she was our Julia Child) and before immigration from the I…
Isaiah for Everyone - On Mixed Motives
Isaiah for Everyone - On Mixed Motives
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Mixed Motives Next week my wife and are to speak at a retreat for students aimed at helping people maintain a connection with God while they’re studying theology. I’m looking forward to this event because we have the experience of going through seminary and watching generation…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Keeping Things Separate
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Keeping Things Separate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Keeping Things Separate Deuteronomy 22: 1-12 A house where we once lived in England had a small back garden with a nice rose patch but no room for growing vegetables (the previous occupant was a big gardener but had an allotment elsewhere for growing huge amounts of things to …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall
by SPCK - John Goldingay
People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall Psalm 78: 38-72 A few months ago one of the members of our church, a lively lady in her nineties who always had something to contribute, suddenly became less consistent in coming to church, and then didn’t appear for two or thr…
Job for Everyone - Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer's Position Worse
Job for Everyone - Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer's Position Worse
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer’s Position Worse Job 33 1-33 A woman came to see me a little while ago to talk about an occasion when she had been given pastoral care by some people, and she said the occasion had left her disturbed for years. I knew her to be an intelligent…
Job for Everyone - Perish the Day I Was Born
Job for Everyone - Perish the Day I Was Born
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Perish the Day I was Born Job 3: 1-26 I never knew my Uncle Billy, my mother’s younger brother. The year I was born, he was killed in combat in the Second World War in North Africa. I did know my Uncle Ray, the husband of my mother’s older sister, who was also a combat soldier in…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - One Thing Leads to Another
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - One Thing Leads to Another
by SPCK - John Goldingay
One Thing Leads to Another Genesis 12: 11-20 The movie Spanglish concerns the adventures of a Los Angeles family who hire a Mexican as housekeeper. While she may not be in the same class as Sarah, she is not to be sneezed at, and the head of the household does not sneeze at her. …
Psalms for Everyone - Passion Means Persecution
Psalms for Everyone - Passion Means Persecution
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Passion Means Persecution Psalm 68: 1-18 I dreamed last night that I was being taken to court for preaching. The question “If you were prosecuted for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” is a cliché, but it’s a clever and thought-provoking one. When …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The First Sunday of Lent Deuteronomy 26.1–11 Romans 10.8b–13 Luke 4.1–13 Proust’s great theme is that without memory there is no character or understanding. One of the things that is so appealing about his work is that the small memories are at least as significant as the huge …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Choice and the Plan
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Choice and the Plan
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Choice and the Plan Ephesians 1.4-10 Have you noticed how sometimes you have a story in the back of your mind which keeps peeping out even when you’re talking about something else? Imagine you’ve come back from work and the train has been late again. You stood for half an hou…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Man Who Has Learned How To Be A Prophet
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Man Who Has Learned How To Be A Prophet
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Man Who Has Learned How to Be a Prophet 2 Samuel 12: 1- 15a A pastor once came to talk to me because he had had an affair. He had actually “got away with it.” He thinks his wife never realized, but he knew he had behaved in a way that was both wrong and stupid, and he knew he…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Eating and Drinking the Son of Man
John for Everyone Part 1 - Eating and Drinking the Son of Man
by SPCK - N T Wright
Eating and Drinking the Son of Man John 6.47-59 One of the most moving, and often forgotten, stories about King David concerns the time when he was fighting the Philistines, who had occupied his native town of Bethlehem. Among David’s fiercely loyal fighting men he had three in p…
Mark for Everyone - Warnings about Sin
Mark for Everyone - Warnings about Sin
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 9.38–50 Warnings about Sin... ...During the Second World War, while London was being heavily bombed, one of the canons of Westminster Abbey watched as his house, and everything in it, went up in flames after a direct hit. The clothes he stood up in were all…
Hebrews for Everyone - The Sacrifice of the Messiah
Hebrews for Everyone - The Sacrifice of the Messiah
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sacrifice of the Messiah Hebrews 9.11-14 The first time we moved house we could hardly believe our luck. We went from a basement flat to a house above ground. The flat had been damp, even to the point of growing fungus on the walls; the house was warm and snug. We had had no …
Hebrews for Everyone - The Messiah's Work in the Heavenly Sanctuary