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Isaiah for Everyone - A Day When There Will Be a Song to Sing
Isaiah for Everyone - A Day When There Will Be a Song to Sing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Day When There Will Be a Song to Sing Our city’s annual Black History Parade this year had the theme “Looking back and remembering: we’ve come a mighty long way.” The words reminded me of the hymn, “We’ve Come This Far by Faith.”…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - An Implausible Promise
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - An Implausible Promise
by SPCK - John Goldingay
An Implausible Promise Genesis 13: 14-18 I can recall two promises God made to me that seemed unlikely to be fulfilled. Both date from about the time I became principal of a theological college in England, which in U.S. terms is a cross between being a seminary president, provost…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Am I in the Place of God?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Am I in the Place of God?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Am I in the Place of God Genesis 49:29-50:26 A year or two ago, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, was attacked one night near the cathedral. According to reports that surfaced somewhat later, he was punched, knocked to the ground, and kicked. B…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Blood Cries Out
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Blood Cries Out
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Blood Cries Out Genesis 4: 10-13 I write the week after bombings and attacks in Mumbai that killed hundreds of people. “This is our 9/11,” many Indians said. They did not merely mean that these were attacks on a vast and savage scale, carried out with unprecedented sophistication…
Job for Everyone - Comforters? More like Troublemakers
Job for Everyone - Comforters? More like Troublemakers
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Comforters? More like Troublemakers Job 16: 1-17 When I take students through the book of Job in classes, I invite them to let me know the questions it raises for them, and usually someone asks, “So when we are ministering to people who are suffering like Job, what do we say to t…
Job for Everyone - Eliphaz Rewrites Job's Life Rather Than revise His Own Theology
Job for Everyone - Eliphaz Rewrites Job's Life Rather Than revise His Own Theology
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Eliphaz rewrites Jo’s Life Rather Than Revise His Own Theology Job 22: 1-30 My early years of teaching coincided with a time when many churches were rediscovering the possibility of praying for sick people to be healed and of finding that many were healed. It was an exciting redi…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Filled with Violence
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Filled with Violence
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Filled with Violence Genesis 6: 9-22 At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Ottoman Empire undertook a systematic attempt to annihilate the Armenian people in Turkey. One to one and a half million people were killed. In the middle of the twentieth century, the Nazi govern…
Psalms for Everyone - Father of the Fatherless, Protector of the Widow
Psalms for Everyone - Father of the Fatherless, Protector of the Widow
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Father of the fatherless, Protector of the Widow Psalm 68: 1-18 In conversations with people who have inquired about getting married or having children baptized in our church, I have been struck anew by how many are children without fathers or mothers without husbands. I think of…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Not to Display Accurate Empathy I
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Not to Display Accurate Empathy I
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Not to Display Accurate Empathy I 1 Samuel 1:1-8 I don’t very often shout out loud when I read an e-mail, but I did so a few weeks ago when a message came from a friend of mine who had returned to a country in Asia two or three years ago. She and her husband had been longing …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Not to Evade the Draft
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Not to Evade the Draft
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Not to Evade the Draft 1 Samuel 10: 17- 11: 13 I am sometimes asked why I am so involved with the Old Testament, and I have various answers. I may talk about two great Old Testament teachers I had, one at university and one at seminary. I may refer to the fact that I had lear…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - I Trace the Rainbow through the Rain
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - I Trace the Rainbow through the Rain
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Trace the Rainbow through the Rain Genesis 9: 14- 25 Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian and pastor George Matheson lost his sight when he was a student. That led his fiancée to break off their engagement because she could not face life with a blind man. He never married; hi…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - It Takes a Miracle
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - It Takes a Miracle
by SPCK - John Goldingay
It Takes a Miracle 1 Samuel 1:19b-24 In Joshua, Judges, and Ruth for Everyone I referred to one of my students who spent last year preparing to get married but also developed increasingly intense headaches. A month or so before her wedding date she had an MRI that suggested a bra…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - It's Over Even When It's Not Over
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - It's Over Even When It's Not Over
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Importance of a Game Plan JOSHUA 8: 1-21 Three weeks ago I went to my first American football game. It was also my first experience of tailgating in the warm sunshine and of eating breakfast burritos, which (accompanied by mimosas) were perhaps the highlight of the day. I was…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Praying for Sodom
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Praying for Sodom
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Praying for Sodom Genesis 18: 21-33 Yesterday we prayed in church, as we usually do, for God to grant peace and goodwill among nations. It is tempting to feel cynical about such prayers. Does God listen to them? Do they make a difference? Would it make a difference if we gave …
The Act of Prayer Year B - Proper 22 - Year B