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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Three Strong Women and Three Feeble Men (II)
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Three Strong Women and Three Feeble Men (II)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Three Strong Woman and Three Feeble Men(II) JUDGES 5:1- 31a The other Sunday we sang the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” whose second verse begins, “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” I asked if anyone knew what this referred to, and hardly anyone did. (The answer is in 1 Samue…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - This Is It!
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - This Is It!
by SPCK - John Goldingay
This Is It! Genesis 2: 21-25 I once took part in a workshop where students produced dramatic, modern versions of stories in Genesis. The one I most remember was a retelling of Genesis 1 by Julia Bolden. There were a number of neat aspects to the story. It is set in a house instea…
Psalms for Everyone - Throwing Things onto God
Psalms for Everyone - Throwing Things onto God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Throwing Things onto God Psalm 55 A therapist friend of mine has described to me the process she goes through after spending a day listening to clients, who unburden themselves of their hurts, sufferings, and sins. It seems that these burdens have to go somewhere, a little like t…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Thursday, Friday Morning
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Thursday, Friday Morning
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Thursday, Friday Morning Genesis 1:20-25 A whole corner building in the downtown area of our city was recently reconstructed and remodeled, and to my astonishment what opened there was a store that just sells boxes. A friend of ours got a job there and told us that she was also s…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Two Guys Who Need Their Heads Banged Together
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Two Guys Who Need Their Heads Banged Together
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Guys Who Need Their Heads Banged Together Genesis 25: 23- 26: 5 There’s a weird thing about babies (well, many weird things). I often reflected on our having two sons, born of the same mother and father, more or less brought up in the same way by the same parents, who turned …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Love and to Cherish, to Desire and to Dominate
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Love and to Cherish, to Desire and to Dominate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
To Love and to Cherish, to Desire and to Dominate Genesis 3: 16b There is a Jewish story about the first human couple. Often such a Jewish midrash takes up a puzzling aspect of the biblical text and seeks to explain it or imagine something it might imply, using other scriptural m…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Tough Love
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Tough Love
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Tough Love Genesis 44:1-34 A woman came to see me the other day. She thought she had met the love of her life. I had seen her with him. There had developed that light that comes into people’s eyes when they know they are loved. They had started talking about engagement. But then …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Put It Another Way
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - To Put It Another Way
by SPCK - John Goldingay
To Put It Another Way… Genesis 2: 4b-7 There is a children’s story about Pinocchio, a wooden doll carved from a piece of pine who longs to become a real boy. After a series of adventures that come to a climax with his making a great sacrifice, this eventually happens, and everyon…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Unlikely Saviors
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Unlikely Saviors
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Unlikely Saviors JUDGES 3:5- 31 My father was a machine minder in a printing works, and my mother was a seamstress. I was the first person in my extended family to stay at school beyond the age of fourteen. I have more than thirty cousins; only one other has been to college. I am…
Job for Everyone - What Are Human Beings That You Pay Them So Much Attention?
Job for Everyone - What Are Human Beings That You Pay Them So Much Attention?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Are Human Beings That You Pay Them So Much Attention? Job 7: 1-21 I have an odd life compared with many of the people who live in the same city as I do. I never cease being grateful for the fact that I can work at home much of the time and that when I go to the seminary, it …
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild North
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild North
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Welcome to the Wild Wild North JOSHUA 11: 1- 15 As you drive north from Lake Galilee on the road that leads from Jerusalem or from the Mediterranean, you can fork right and cross the Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob toward Damascus along the route that Abraham would have taken wh…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Weeping and Insomnia
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Weeping and Insomnia
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Weeping and Insomnia Psalm 126-127 Like anybody else, when I am worried, anxious, or preoccupied, I can’t sleep. Sometimes I don’t even know what it is that is preoccupying me. While I found sleep problematic for a while after my first wife died, in general I have this difficulty…
Job for Everyone - When Life Falls Apart
Job for Everyone - When Life Falls Apart
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Covenant or Contract Job 1: 6-12 Yesterday the air-conditioning/heating maintenance office called. After we had a big problem with the air conditioning last year, I took out a maintenance contract to try to avoid a recurrence of problems of that magnitude, so I now pay a certain …
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - When God Finds It Hard to Be Tough
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - When God Finds It Hard to Be Tough
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When God Finds It Hard to Be Tough JUDGES 10:1- 11:29 In my prayers each day (well, most days, to be honest), I pray either for the nation or for the church in our nation. I do so against the background of the fact that nations grow and triumph and then decline and fall, and that…
Job for Everyone - Where Could I Go But to the Lord?
Job for Everyone - Where Could I Go But to the Lord?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Where Could I Go But to the Lord? Job 5: 1-27 The story goes that sometime in the 1930s a Mississippi music teacher and Baptist deacon named James Coats was at the bedside of one of his neighbors, whose name was Joe Keyes. Joe was dying, and James asked him if he knew where he wo…
Isaiah for Everyone - Where to Look for Guidance
Isaiah for Everyone - Where to Look for Guidance
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Where to Look for Guidance? In Mexico, and in Mexican communities in places such as Los Angeles, there’s a lively movement of prayer to Santa Muerte, Saint Death. You pray to her for protection from the dangers of the night, in the conviction that she can protect you from attack,…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - When Your Spouse Dies
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - When Your Spouse Dies
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When Your Spouse Dies Genesis 22: 20- 23: 20 I know where I want to bury my wife and where I want to be buried. Actually, it’s rather that I know where I want our ashes to be scattered. We spent the first night of our honeymoon in a hotel in Dovedale in England (we could afford o…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Who Can Lay Hands On Yahweh's Anointed and Get Away With It?