Search Results
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - On Rendering to Caesar and Rendering to God
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - On Rendering to Caesar and Rendering to God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Rendering to Caesar and Rendering to God 1 Kings 18:1-18 Two friends of mine work in a Middle Eastern country where it is illegal to seek to get people to come to believe in Christ. Their own position is secure because they work in the expatriate church in the capital, and it …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Not Following Your Instincts
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Not Following Your Instincts
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Not Following Your Instincts Deuteronomy 12: 1- 32 Tomorrow morning I shall go to seminary chapel. Except that it isn’t a chapel. It’s an auditorium. On other occasions, I have lectured there, sung the blues in a concert there, listened to jazz concerts there, and taken part i…
Exodus and Leviticus - On Rendering to Caesar
Exodus and Leviticus - On Rendering to Caesar
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Rendering to Caesar EXODUS 4: 18-23 I have just been talking to a student who is a missionary in Indonesia, and we were discussing the dilemma of the church there. He described the church as postcolonial, but I suggested it is still colonial. The gospel came to Indonesia throu…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - On Not Being Able to Have a Baby
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - On Not Being Able to Have a Baby
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Not Being Able to Have a Baby Genesis 16: 1-4a People who cannot have children may go to huge lengths to fulfill their longing. Yesterday I noticed in the newspaper an advertisement for a free lunch and seminar on how to start a family by surrogacy. It involved going to India,…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Raising the Ceiling of Our Hope
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Raising the Ceiling of Our Hope
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Teach Me Psalm 119: 49-72 I’m grading student papers, and one effect that has on me (alongside making me want to commit suicide) is to make me puzzle over what it is that enables people to learn. There are people who have read the Scriptures with fresh eyes, seen things they had …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Challenging the Gods and God
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Challenging the Gods and God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Challenging the Gods and God Psalm 82 Two friends who live in the Philippines had lunch with us a week or so ago while on a visit home in the United States. One of them, a Chinese American, told us that in the Philippines he had a sense of the presence of evil spirits that he …
Exodus and Leviticus - A Rule of Life
Exodus and Leviticus - A Rule of Life
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Rule of Life EXODUS 20: 1- 21 As a seminary professor in England, it was my task to ask the students who were my particular pastoral responsibility about their rule of life. The idea of a rule of life had become popular, though maybe the idea was more popular than actually keep…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Skin Disorder Removed and Exposed
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Skin Disorder Removed and Exposed
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Skin Disorder Removed and Imposed 2 Kings 5:1-6:7 Yesterday was the fourth Sunday in the month, and as usual on that Sunday we didn’t have a “proper” sermon; the rector sat on a chair and invited the congregation to tell us what they heard God saying to us out of the Scripture …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - A Summons, not a Call
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - A Summons, not a Call
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Summons, Not a Call 1 Samuel 3: 1- 4: 1a One of my friends is going through the “discernment process” whereby the Episcopal Church seeks to decide whether she is called to ordained ministry. It involves meetings with a group of people from your local church, with diocesan offic…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Story about Several Asses
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Story about Several Asses
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Story about Several Asses NUMBERS 22: 1- 23:4 I was once assistant minister in a flourishing suburban church that had a history of having notable rectors, one of whom was by then rector of one of the most high-profile churches in the country. I have never forgotten hearing him …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Spy Story
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Spy Story
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Spy Story NUMBERS 13: 1-14: 38 I like to raise student eyebrows by pointing out occasions when God has abandoned segments of the church. In the first Christian centuries, the eastern Mediterranean (Turkey, the Levant, Egypt, North Africa) was full of lively Christian churches, …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Appoint Us a King
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Appoint Us a King
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Appoint Us a King 1 Samuel 7: 15- 8: 20 Almost every day, television and the newspapers report the cost that ordinary people pay for their government. Sometimes the cost lies in expenditure that may be inevitable. Representatives have to be paid salaries and expenses and need bui…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Attitudes to Egyptians (and Others)
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Attitudes to Egyptians (and Others)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Attitudes to Egyptians (and Others) Deuteronomy 23: 1-25 I have recently been to two concerts where the band included musicians from British towns within an hour or two of my own hometown—singer Graham Nash and guitarist Slash. Both have lived in Los Angeles for decades, and I do…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - At Last
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - At Last
by SPCK - John Goldingay
At Last Genesis 20: 14- 21: 14 My parents married later in life than was usual in their day, and I previously mentioned that it was some years before I was born. My mother used to tell me she couldn’t imagine there was a baby more welcomed into the world than I was. A generation …
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Coveting Can Kill
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Coveting Can Kill
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Coveting Can Kill JOSHUA 7: 16-26 Today (as I am writing this) is Black Friday, when the stores hope to get their books into the black as the year draws toward an end. People will have been lining up all night or will have got up at crazily early hours to get a plasma TV for a hu…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Curses and Blessings and Curses
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Curses and Blessings and Curses
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Curses and Blessings and Curses Deuteronomy 27: 1- 28: 68 Last night I had a lovely dinner with some students. I accepted a second helping of pasta and a second glass of wine, and ate a magnificent brownie dessert with strawberries and ice cream. When it came to coffee, I decline…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - David on the Run