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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 …
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 …
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jerusalem's Hopeful Future
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jerusalem's Hopeful Future
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Jerusalem’s Hopeful Future (Isaiah 60: 1-22; 62: 1-12; 66: 7-13) Chapters 60–62 at the center of Third Isaiah echo language and themes of Second Isaiah most closely. Chapter 60 addresses Jerusalem much as Isaiah 49 had, directing her eyes to see her children coming from afar and,…
Walking Backwards to Christmas - Chapter 11 Moses
Walking Backwards to Christmas - Chapter 11 Moses
by SPCK - Stephen Cottrell
Chapter 11 Moses The wind whistles and rattles across the plain. Harsh and unforgiving, it scours the land, and few things grow. You hear it, and you don’t hear it. It is here, and it is gone. There is a dread chill in the air. Eventually it gets inside you. Then one day the cold…
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 …
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…
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
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - David on the Run
by SPCK - John Goldingay
David on the Run 1 Samuel 22: 1- 23: 24 The other day, a student was discussing his future plans with me. He believed God was telling him that he should stay at the seminary for another year to do further courses to improve his chances of getting into a doctoral program, that he …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Creation Asserts Itself
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Creation Asserts Itself
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Creation Asserts Itself Genesis 3: 1-3 A talking snake? But this is a parable, remember. In Julia Bolden’s version of the story, the tempter is a parrot, and God’s ban concerns television; Adam and Eve are not to watch the good and- bad-knowledge channel. A parrot flies in throug…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do We Ever Learn?- Take Two
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do We Ever Learn?- Take Two
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Do We Ever Learn? Take Two Genesis 26: 6- 33 A few weeks ago, the great U.S. novelist John Updike died. I think I had tried to read one of his novels years ago but failed. In light of the eulogies, I thought I should try again, so I started with Too Far to Go, over which one of t…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do We Ever Learn?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Do We Ever Learn?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Do We Ever Learn Genesis 20: 1-13 There was a man who used to come to talk to me from time to time when he had gotten into a mess with a woman (well, he came at other times, too). He was married and ought to have known better, but he didn’t. He would blame the women: they were at…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Friday Afternoon
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Friday Afternoon
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Friday Afternoon Genesis 1: 27-30 My wife and I have friends who used to keep an animal or two, and when we stayed with them for the weekend we were introduced to a calf called Jeremy. It was at Sunday lunch that we met him. They brought Jeremy up, had him slaughtered and cut up,…
Exodus and Leviticus - Giving to God