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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…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Fool by Name, Fool by Nature
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Fool by Name, Fool by Nature
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Fool by Name and Fool by Nature 1 Samuel 24: 1- 25: 44 You sometimes wonder how on earth a certain woman ended up marrying a certain man, but sometimes you can see that a couple are a good match. My office is located between the offices of two of my married colleagues; I joke tha…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Friendship
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Friendship
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Friendship 1 Samuel 20: 1- 21: 16 I know someone now in her eighties who lived for forty or fifty years with a friend. They had separate jobs, but in the rest of life they were inseparable, involved together in church and social life and spending their holidays together. The frie…
Job for Everyone - Friendship
Job for Everyone - Friendship
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…
Exodus and Leviticus - From Guerrilla to Fugitive
Exodus and Leviticus - From Guerrilla to Fugitive
by SPCK - John Goldingay
From Guerrilla to Fugitive EXODUS 2: 11- 25 There is a special kind of irregular verb (popularized by the British TV series Yes Minister) that describes the same action differently according to who speaks and who is being referred to. A well-known example is “I am firm; you are o…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Helping People Get Back on Their Feet
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Helping People Get Back on Their Feet
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Helping People Get Back on Their Feet Deuteronomy 15: 1- 18 According to a legal record from July 6, 1773, James Best, a laborer, “doth voluntarily put himself Servant to Captain Stephen Jones Master of the Snow Sally” (a snow was a kind of sailing ship). Jones would take Best fr…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Check Things out with God
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Check Things out with God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Check Things Out with God EXODUS 32: 30-33: 11 Throughout most of my life, I have had a particular place where I pray each day. At the moment it is an ancient recliner chair sitting in front of my desk. Next to it is a little table where I keep a Bible and a prayer noteboo…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Celebrate
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Celebrate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Celebrate LEVITICUS 23: 1- 24:9 When my parents could afford it, two or three times as a teenager I was able to go to “camps,” as they would be called in the United States (I am glad to say there were no tents in sight; we slept in school dormitories). It was at one of the…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Be the Bad Guy
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Be the Bad Guy
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Be the Bad Guy 2 Kings 21:1-26 I sometimes wish I knew what was going to happen in the future, though when I think about it, I am not so sure it’s a good idea. When my wife was diagnosed with her multiple sclerosis, if I had known how it would progress over four decades, I…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - I Don't Sweat
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - I Don't Sweat
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Don’t Sweat Genesis 15: 6b-7 On the day before his inauguration as president, someone asked Barack Obama whether he was sweating. “Nah, I don’t sweat,” he replied. “You ever see me sweat?” Not yet, but it’s early, a news report commented. When I was about to move to the United …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Human Beings as Gardeners
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Human Beings as Gardeners
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Human Beings as Gardeners Genesis 2: 8-14 Where I grew up as a toddler in Birmingham, England, my father grew potatoes. Then, when I was at junior school we had a plum tree, and when I was at secondary school we had two apple trees. When I taught at seminary in Nottingham, I grew…
Exodus and Leviticus - Human Promises
Exodus and Leviticus - Human Promises
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Human Promises LEVITICUS 27: 1- 34 A distinctive feature of my seminary in the United States compared with my seminary in Britain is the high number of students who are “pastor’s kids” or “missionary kids.” I have wondered what lay behind this difference. It raises a question rai…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - I Can Be Wiser Than My Professor
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - I Can Be Wiser Than My Professor
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Can Be Wiser Than My Professor Psalm 119:97-120 After my class on the Prophets last night, we invited the students back to our home for scones and tea, and during the conversation one of them asked what I enjoyed most about teaching. My response was that I love sending people a…
Job for Everyone - Insight Lies in Submission to the Lord
Job for Everyone - Insight Lies in Submission to the Lord
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Insight Lies in Submission to the Lord Job 28: 1-28 In two weeks I have to preach at the seminary’s baccalaureate service (a kind of commissioning service, I could call it for U.K. readers). Each year as I have listened appreciatively to the baccalaureate sermon, I have wondered …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Little by Little
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Little by Little
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Little by Little Deuteronomy 7: 16- 9: 3 In an agonized e-mail I received from a friend, she described herself as constantly frustrated by the fact that she is not as mature as she thinks she should be. “Why do I go back to fighting the same old battles in my spiritual life inste…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Love Actually
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Love Actually
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Love Actually JUDGES 16:1-21 After the incident a few weeks ago when a man on a plane bound for Detroit tried to blow up himself and the plane as an act of terrorism against the United States and the Western world in general, an extraordinary piece of background to the event emer…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Murder Desecrates the Land
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Murder Desecrates the Land
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Murder Desecrates the Land Deuteronomy 21: 1-23 Last night I watched the second episode of an enchanting TV series called The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. At one level it’s just another detective series of the “Miss Marple” genre, but it has a winsomeness deriving from its set…
Exodus and Leviticus - My People - Your God