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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Following Up Your Good Ideas but Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Following Up Your Good Ideas but Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Following Up Your Good Ideas but Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously 2 Samuel 5: 1- 25 I am coming to the end of my fortieth year as a professor. On Sunday evening, the day before yet another new quarter started, a friend asked me a question that unintentionally made me feel rat…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Giving Up Your Son
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Giving Up Your Son
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Giving Up Your Son 1 Samuel 1: 25- 2: 10 As I write, two anniversaries have recently passed. Just over thirty years ago the Shah of Iran was ousted and the Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to become the “Leader” of Iran, a more powerful position than that of the presiden…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Dying outside the Promised Land
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Dying outside the Promised Land
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Dying outside the Promised Land Deuteronomy 32: 48- 34: 12 I just read the obituary of a fine trumpet player and singer and even lovelier flugelhorn player, Stacy Rowles, who died after a car accident. My personal memory is of the way she once came to give a CD to my wife, Ann…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - On Getting Your Feet Wet
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - On Getting Your Feet Wet
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Getting Your Feet Wet JOSHUA 3: 1-17 So the people crossed over near Jericho. 17The priests carrying the chest of Yahweh’s covenant stood steady on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan while all Israel was crossing on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing o…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Sacred Inefficiency
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Sacred Inefficiency
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Sacred Inefficiency Deuteronomy 24: 1-22 Just once in my life I had to give someone the sack because we needed to economize in the seminary and we saw a post we could terminate without too much loss to the enterprise’s efficiency. The person had worked for the seminary for man…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Little Thing Can Have Terrible Consequences and Foreshadow Tragedy
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Little Thing Can Have Terrible Consequences and Foreshadow Tragedy
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Little Things Can Have Terrible Consequences and Foreshadow Tragedy 2 Samuel 6: 1- 23 I write this during Holy Week. In my Bible study group this week someone was expressing his unease with the way we speak of God’s sending his Son to be crucified. Is God some sort of masochist? …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - A Sign of Grace, Commitment and Discipline
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - A Sign of Grace, Commitment and Discipline
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Sign of Grace, Commitment, and Discipline Genesis 17: 9-14 As was once the custom in Britain, my parents had me baptized when I was a baby, even though this was the only involvement they had with the church apart from weddings and funerals. I don’t know exactly what they though…
Job for Everyone - A Whimper and a Whisper
Job for Everyone - A Whimper and a Whisper
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Whimper and a Whisper Job for Everyone Job 25: 1- 26: 14 1 Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2 Rule and awe are with him; he brings about peace in his heights. 3 Is there any numbering of his troops, or on whom does his light not shine? 4 Or how can a mortal be right with God; how ca…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - A Life for a Life
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - A Life for a Life
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Life for a Life Genesis 9: 5- 13 I was once asked to visit a man in prison who had come to trust in Christ and was now taking online courses on Christian faith; he hoped to be ordained one day. He was a man about my age and build; indeed, his name was also John. As we sat on ei…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Snakes, and Progress and Another Attitude to War
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Snakes, and Progress and Another Attitude to War
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Snakes and Progress and Another Attitude to War NUMBERS 21: 4- 35 Yesterday in church I was aware, as I sometimes am, that many people make the sign of the cross at certain points in the service. I was never taught to do that, and I would feel self-conscious about trying to do it…
Job for Everyone - A Witness in the Heavens?
Job for Everyone - A Witness in the Heavens?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Witness in the Heavens? Job 16: 18- 17: 16 When I was a young assistant pastor in London (what would now be called a youth pastor, but youth pastors hadn’t been invented yet), one of the prize members of our largely middleclass youth group was a teenager from the local projects…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - A Strange Prohibition and a Surprising Experiment
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - A Strange Prohibition and a Surprising Experiment
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Strange Prohibition and a Surprising Experiment Genesis 2: 15-20 One of our friends has been looking and hoping for years to find the girl of his dreams, but he is getting older, and it looks less and less likely that this will ever happen. So he recently acquired a dog. At lea…
Exodus and Leviticus - Be Holy as I am Holy
Exodus and Leviticus - Be Holy as I am Holy
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Be Holy as I am Holy LEVITICUS : 19: 1- 18 Today’s newspaper reports on the release from a detention center in Iraq of a twenty-seven-year-old man, after eighteen months there. He was given a letter to say that his case had been concluded and the occupation authorities had decide…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - As Far as this Yahweh Has Helped Us
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - As Far as this Yahweh Has Helped Us
by SPCK - John Goldingay
As Far as This Yahweh Has Helped Us 1 Samuel 7: 2- 14 “Helping” can have a variety of connotations. On one occasion a tire came off my wife’s wheelchair when we were on our way to church. As I was bending down trying to get the tire back on, with Ann still in the chair, a car dri…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Babylon Becomes Babble-on
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Babylon Becomes Babble-on
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Babylon Becomes Babble-on Genesis 11: 8- 30 In England I had an Egyptian colleague whose first language was Arabic. When we were going to Morocco for a holiday, I asked him to teach me a few phrases of Arabic so I could at least say, “Good morning” and “Thank you” to people, but …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do People Change?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do People Change?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Do People Change? Genesis 35:1-29 We used to meet each week for dinner with a group of friends, including a pastor or two, a therapist or two, and a missiologist or two, and one of the topics we used to come back to was transformation. Mission is concerned with it; ministry is co…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Don't Look Back
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Don't Look Back
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Don’t Look Back Genesis 19: 15-38 The English make jokes about the Irish and use the word Irish as a term of opprobrium; it is a way of saying something is stupid. Other ethnic groups behave in similar ways; Portuguese people and Brazilians make jokes about each other. The Irish …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Friday Lunchtime