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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
Isaiah for everyone - The Ambiguous Hezekiah
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Ambiguous Hezekiah The other week we heard a Los Angeles priest who works with ex-gang members tell of going to a university to talk about his work. He took with him an ex-gang member called Juan. During the day they went to classes and spoke to students and in the evening ad…
Jeremiah for everyone - The Prophet Who’s Forbidden to Pray (2)
Jeremiah for everyone - The Prophet Who’s Forbidden to Pray (2)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Prophet Who’s Forbidden to Pray (2) My wife’s daughter and her husband work on behalf of Darfuri refugees who long ago fled from Sudan to Chad, seeking to make their plight known in the United States. My wife often feels it’s as if they’re bashing their heads against a brick …
Jeremiah for everyone - The Prophet Who’s Forbidden to Pray (1)
Jeremiah for everyone - The Prophet Who’s Forbidden to Pray (1)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Prophet Who’s Forbidden to Pray My first Old Testament mentor once told us about his first visit to the new cathedral in Coventry in the center of England. The old cathedral, like much of the city, was devastated by bombing in the Second World War…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's A couple of years ago, when we were planning to get married in the month of December, I initially assumed we would honeymoon somewhere tropical like Bali…
Isaiah for everyone - The Servant's Servant