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Jeremiah for everyone - Expect Great Things
Jeremiah for everyone - Expect Great Things
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Expect Great Things In the 1780s a shoemaker and part-time Baptist preacher near Northampton in England named William Carey used to do his work with a world map on the wall in front of him, and while he worked he’d pray for the nations of the world, many of whom knew little or no…
Jeremiah for everyone - Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage
Jeremiah for everyone - Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage One of my first memories of being a wet-behind-the-ears young parish minister is an interview with a couple who wanted to get married in our church though they were not members of it…
Isaiah for everyone - God Is Our Refuge and Strength, Really?
Isaiah for everyone - God Is Our Refuge and Strength, Really?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God Is Our Refuge and Strength, Really? I have just read a message from an Indian Christian couple who expect tomorrow to go to another village for a day of teaching for which they expect Christians to gather from many villages in the area. They’re thirsty to hear the Word of God…
Isaiah for everyone - Gods You Have to Carry and the God Who Carries You
Isaiah for everyone - Gods You Have to Carry and the God Who Carries You
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Gods You Have to Carry and the God Who Carries You We had Mother’s Day dinner yesterday with some Jews and some Roman Catholics and some agnostics. The agnostics thought that if you need the prop of faith in something in order to keep you going, fine, but if you can live your lif…
Isaiah for everyone - If only...
Isaiah for everyone - If only...
by SPCK - John Goldingay
If Only… I was talking this week to a student who told me that his wife had left him. They had been married for five years and she had discovered he was addicted to porn; I don’t know how he had kept it secret for so long. I don’t know, and he doesn’t know, if this is the end of …
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Nightmares and Dreams (2)
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Nightmares and Dreams (2)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Nightmares and Dreams (2) My wife and I both have recurrent features of our dreams. Kathleen’s dreams tend to be frightening—yesterday in her dream she fell under a car. In my dreams, more often than not an incidental feature is that I am pushing my first wife, Ann, in her wheelc…
Isaiah for everyone - On Grieving God’s Holy Spirit, and the Consequences
Isaiah for everyone - On Grieving God’s Holy Spirit, and the Consequences
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Grieving God’s Holy Spirit, and the Consequences The Episcopal Daily Devotions that we use each morning include prayers from Psalm 51 asking God to renew a right spirit within us, to sustain us with his bountiful spirit, and not to take his holy spirit from us. Using that pray…
Isaiah for everyone - People Who Won’t Let Yahweh Rest
Isaiah for everyone - People Who Won’t Let Yahweh Rest
by SPCK - John Goldingay
People Who Won’t Let Yahweh Rest I mentioned earlier the work calling that my wife’s daughter and son-in-law have been following for several years to stir up concern for the people of Darfur who are refugees in Chad. The effort is hard work for little effect…
Isaiah for everyone - Our Ideas and Plans, and God’s
Isaiah for everyone - Our Ideas and Plans, and God’s
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Our Ideas and Plans, and God’s This morning we had the last regular seminary chapel of the year, the last regular seminary chapel ever for people who were graduating. The preacher was an eighty-year-old retired professor who told us stories about his experience at that stage of h…
Exodus and Leviticus - Ordination and Disaster
Exodus and Leviticus - Ordination and Disaster
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Ordination and Disaster LEVITICUS : 8- 1: 10: 20 There’s a joke that describes the pastor as six days invisible and one day incomprehensible. My first sermon after I was ordained had five points all beginning with the letter p. They were long or tricky words too—the only one I ca…
Psalms for Everyone - The God Present in Jerusalem Is Also Present in the Wilderness
Psalms for Everyone - The God Present in Jerusalem Is Also Present in the Wilderness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The God Present in Jerusalem Is Also Present in the Wilderness Psalm 63 When I came to the United States, I didn’t know that Jesus is a common Hispanic name, nor did I know that Jesus is pronounced “Heysus” in Spanish, which reduces the confusion. The difference in pronunciation …
Psalms for Everyone - Self-Knowledge or Self-Deception
Psalms for Everyone - Self-Knowledge or Self-Deception
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Self-Knowledge or Self-Deception Psalm 18: 25-50 I know some Christians who have had affairs, and I have come closer to doing so than I should have done. When Christians talk about their affairs, the story regularly involves an element of denial and/or self-deception. Maybe the p…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Openness
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Openness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Openness Psalm 139 My wife carries in her purse a photograph of her prospective grandchild, an image from her daughter’s sonogram. It is extraordinary to have this vivid reminder of the way a baby is steadily developing in the womb. When the prospective mother is sick, as she …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Alternative to a Bulletproof Vest
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Alternative to a Bulletproof Vest
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Alternative to a Bulletproof Vest Psalm 140 Not surprisingly (I recently read in a magazine), the best place to buy a bulletproof vest is Bogotá, Colombia, where two students at the University of the Andes noticed that bodyguards didn’t wear their bulletproof vests because th…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Learning from Your Story
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Learning from Your Story
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Learning from Your Story Psalm 105 It’s coming up to Thanksgiving/Advent Sunday, and I’m asking the members of our church to think about the following four questions: 1. “What are you particularly thankful for this year?” 2. “In your Christian faith, what are you finding nouri…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God of Light and God of Darkness
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God of Light and God of Darkness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God of Light and God of Darkness Psalm 104 When my older son got into his midteens, he declared that he was no longer coming to church with his mother and me. Fortunately this was not because he had decided that all church was stupid but that our demure Anglican church wasn’t kee…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The One Day and the Thousand Days
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The One Day and the Thousand Days
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The One Day and the Thousand Days Psalm 84 Each of the churches to which I belonged as a minister in England used to have something like a retreat each year—not a business-focused retreat (the connotation that often attaches to the word retreat in the United States) but a weekend…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Servant Leans on His Master