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Psalms for Everyone - How to Deal with Unfulfilled Promises
Psalms for Everyone - How to Deal with Unfulfilled Promises
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Deal with Unfulfilled Promises Psalm 60 Yesterday in church the Gospel reading from Matthew 18 included Jesus’ promise that where two people agree on anything, our heavenly Father will do it for them. Yet lots of people have the experience of God’s not doing something that…
Psalms for Everyone - A Challenge to the Principalities and Powers
Psalms for Everyone - A Challenge to the Principalities and Powers
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Challenge to the Principalities and Powers Psalm 58 A New Year event called the Rose Parade passes our house, and this year the organizers were in a state of panic about possible demonstrations designed to disturb it and make waves on TV. Here as in European cities and a number…
Psalms for Everyone - They Hated Me without a Reason; They Will Treat You the Same
Psalms for Everyone - They Hated Me without a Reason; They Will Treat You the Same
by SPCK - John Goldingay
They Hated Me Without a Reason; They Will Treat You the Same Psalm 35 It’s amusing that many of the nastier parts of the Old Testament don’t seem to raise a problem for Jesus in the way they raise a problem for Western people; it helps us see that our niceness has nothing to do w…
Psalms for Everyone - God's Commitment Fills the Earth
Psalms for Everyone - God's Commitment Fills the Earth
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Commitment Fills the Earth Psalm 33 Yesterday we went to the beach. It was a foolish venture because it was an August Saturday; I forgot that everyone else would have the same idea and that the parking would be impossible, but in the late afternoon we finally sat on the san…
Psalms for Everyone - On Living in Two Different Worlds
Psalms for Everyone - On Living in Two Different Worlds
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Living in Two Different Worlds Psalm 36 The governor of Texas recently held a prayer rally that aroused the ire of people who believed he was transgressing the boundary between church and state, and it also aroused the fascinated incomprehension of commentators. One remarked t…
Psalms for Everyone - Go On, Look into My Heart
Psalms for Everyone - Go On, Look into My Heart
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Go on, Look into My Heart Psalm 17 From time to time my wife asks me what I’m thinking. She has to do so because whereas she instinctively tells me what she’s thinking, I’m not good at doing so. But it’s a potentially scary question. Occasionally I might be thinking something tha…
Psalms for Everyone - Flee or Stay?
Psalms for Everyone - Flee or Stay?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Flee or Stay? Psalm 11 In this first week after South Sudan declared its independence, the president of northern Sudan has spoken before the national assembly as his reduced country starts a new phase of its life. He has described it as the “second republic” that will affirm the …
Psalms for Everyone - What a Rogue Says to Himself
Psalms for Everyone - What a Rogue Says to Himself
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What a Rogue Says to Himself Psalm 14 In the last decades of the twentieth century there was a thing called the charismatic movement that emphasized the felt reality of God’s presence and the perceptible reality of God’s speaking and acting in healing people. One of my bosses con…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - The Wise And Foolish Girls
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - The Wise And Foolish Girls
by SPCK - N T Wright
4 THE PATH OF THE DISCIPLE THE WISE AND FOOLISH GIRLS Matthew 25: 1-13 The guests had all arrived and were seated. The organ was playing. The bridegroom and the best man had been there half an hour in advance. The photographers were waiting. The flowers had all been beautifully a…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Introduction
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Introduction
by SPCK - John Goldingay
INTRODUCTION As far as Jesus and the New Testament writers were concerned, the Jewish Scriptures that Christians call the “Old Testament” were the Scriptures. In saying that, I cut corners a bit, as the New Testament never gives us a list of these Scriptures, but the body of writ…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Sunday
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Sunday
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Sunday Genesis 1:2-5 I have heard one or two people describe how they make records, and I have come to realize that there are two different approaches. Some people have worked it all out systematically before they go anywhere near a recording studio. They know how many songs they…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - The Character Of Love
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - The Character Of Love
by SPCK - N T Wright
3 THE GREAEST OF THE VIRTUES THE CHARACTER OF LOVE 1 Corinthians 13: 1-7 When people say, as they sometimes do, that Paul must have been a very difficult person to have around – that he seems to have been awkward, cantankerous, argumentative, and generally an unpleasant character…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus and Barabbas Before Pilate
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus and Barabbas Before Pilate
by
Jesus and Barabbas Before Pilate Matthew 27.11-26 One of the most dramatic scenes in Charles Dickens’ novels comes at the end of A Tale of Two Cities. Set in the French Revolution, the novel’s central figure is one Sydney Carton, a man who has done nothing very good with his life…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Wise and Wicked Girls
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Wise and Wicked Girls
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Wise and Wicked Girls Matthew 25.1-13 The guests had all arrived and were seated. The organ was playing. The bridegroom and the best man had been there half an hour in advance. The photographers were waiting. The flowers had all been beautifully arranged. The choir had practi…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Paying Taxes to Caesar
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Paying Taxes to Caesar
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paying Taxes to Caesar Matthew 22.15-22 It was election time. The politicians were out campaigning. The journalists were everywhere, interviewing people, taking photographs, setting up debates. Radio and television seemed full of it all. But this time round everyone seemed jumpy.…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16.19-31 We have all seen him. He lies on a pile of newspapers outside a shop doorway, covered with a rough blanket. Perhaps he has a dog with him for safety. People walk past him, or even step over him. He occasionally rattles a few c…
Luke for Everyone - The Persistent Widow and the Tax-Collector