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Exodus and Leviticus - GLOSSARY
Exodus and Leviticus - GLOSSARY
by SPCK - John Goldingay
GLOSSARY aide A supernatural agent through whom God appears and works in the world. Standard English translations refer to them as “angels,” but this rather suggests ethereal figures with wings, wearing diaphanous white dresses. Aides are humanlike figures; hence it is possible t…
Exodus and Leviticus - Introduction
Exodus and Leviticus - 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…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - I Would Rather Fall into God's Hands than into Human Hands
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - I Would Rather Fall into God's Hands than into Human Hands
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Would Rather Fall into God’s Hands than into Human Hands 2 Samuel 24: 1- 16a By a nice coincidence, it’s census month in the United States. Many an advertisement is urging us to make sure we fill in forms; even the announcements in church repeat the exhortation, and the governm…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - It Was Just a Coincidence
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - It Was Just a Coincidence
by SPCK - John Goldingay
It was Just a Coincidence 2 Kings 8:1-29 I had a visit yesterday from a student on another campus of our seminary who wanted to talk about postgraduate study. The visit arose out of the fact that she had been on the seminary’s list of Anglican/Episcopal students, a list I had obt…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Horse and Chariots of Fire Around Elisha
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Horse and Chariots of Fire Around Elisha
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Horses and Chariots of Fire around Elisha 2 Kings 6:8-23 Over recent years the way I pray has been revolutionized by the awareness from the Prophets that when we pray we are taking part in debates in God’s cabinet in heaven. Stories like the one about Micaiah in 1 Kings 22 illust…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Is It the End, or Is There Hope
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Is It the End, or Is There Hope
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is It the End, or Is There Hope? 2 Kings 24:17-25:30 On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sitting on my patio when one of my neighbors passed and told me that a plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers in New York. I went indoors and watched transfixed for a while (I di…
Exodus and Leviticus - One Kind of Fear Turns to Another
Exodus and Leviticus - One Kind of Fear Turns to Another
by SPCK - John Goldingay
One Kind of Fear Turns to Another EXODUS 13: 17- 14: 31 This weekend our rector is on a discernment retreat, and next weekend he is away preaching at a church in another city. I was a bit slow on the uptake, and someone else had to whisper to me that this is code for his wonderin…
Exodus and Leviticus - Picking Up the Story
Exodus and Leviticus - Picking Up the Story
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Picking Up the Story EXODUS 1: 1-14 As I write in the month of May, the TV series are running down or working their way to the kind of cliffhanger I referred to in the introduction, hoping to keep us in suspense for the fall: “Get out of that problem/threat”! One or two long-runn…
Exodus and Leviticus - Rock of Ages Cleft For Me
Exodus and Leviticus - Rock of Ages Cleft For Me
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Rock of Ages Cleft for Me EXODUS 33: 12-23 In the County of Somerset in the West of England there is a canyon called Cheddar Gorge (yes, where the cheese comes from). One day in 1763 a young minister was caught in a tumultuous thunderstorm in the cliffs nearby. The minister, Augu…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Great Sacrifice Baal
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Great Sacrifice Baal
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Great Sacrifice for Baal 2 Kings 10:1-35 Each August 30 in my home city of Birmingham, England, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the martyrdom of a woman called Margaret Ward. In the reign of Elizabeth I, when it was against English law to practice the Roman Catholic fait…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - What to Do with Tricky Mail
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - What to Do with Tricky Mail
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What to Do with Tricky Mail 2 Kings 19:1-37 I used to be the principal of a seminary in England; being a principal is a cross between being a president and a provost in the United States. From Monday to Friday my assistant would open the mail, but on Saturday I would do so and th…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - You Can Disguise, but You Can't Hide
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - You Can Disguise, but You Can't Hide
by SPCK - John Goldingay
You Can Disguise, but You Can’t Hide 1 Kings 22:24- 2 Kings 1:1 A friend of mine recently became attracted to a woman I also know, and he arranged to have lunch with her last week, taking with him his mental list of questions he felt he needed to ask of a potential wife. Being sm…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Undo a Reform
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Undo a Reform
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Undo a Reform 2 Kings 22:1-23:24 The first time I visited the United States, I came to give a week’s guest lectures in a seminary. People must have thought the lectures were OK, because they were then interested in offering me a job, but it wasn’t a moment when I could thi…
Jeremiah for everyone - A Complicated Neighbourly and Family Relationship
Jeremiah for everyone - A Complicated Neighbourly and Family Relationship
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Complicated Neighbourly and Family Relationship The London Olympics have just finished. I didn’t watch, but I did check the news each day because I was concerned not with the number of medals that Britain had won (I didn’t expect it to be many, though I was wrong) but with what…
Isaiah for everyone - Beautiful Feet
Isaiah for everyone - Beautiful Feet
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Beautiful Feet My feet went all nasty a few years ago in Jerusalem. Visiting Jerusalem was the only occasion when I got to wear sandals continually for two weeks, and the skin on my heels frayed. One result was that it became impossible to keep them clean…
Jeremiah for everyone - Clay in the Potter's Hand
Jeremiah for everyone - Clay in the Potter's Hand
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Clay in the Potter's Hand There’s a neat Christian song that expresses our commitment to being “clay in the potter’s hand.” It’s a suggestive image. It means that we are malleable, open to being formed into what God wants us to be…
Jeremiah for everyone - Cursed Be the Day I Was Born