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1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Ultimate Sacrifice
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Ultimate Sacrifice
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Ultimate Sacrifice 2 Kings 3:4-27 The writer of a letter in today’s newspaper, in the aftermath of the U.S. president’s firing of his top commander in Afghanistan, asks whether “we must continue to sacrifice our brave men and women” there. By the time you read this, we will p…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - The Younger Again Ahead of the Elder
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - The Younger Again Ahead of the Elder
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Younger Again Ahead of the Elder Genesis 47:27-48:22 I have known more than one grandfather who made a nuisance of himself by whipping out a folder of photographs of his grandchildren at the slightest provocation, to inflict them on other people. I understand the intensity of…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Three Strong Women and Three Feeble Men (I)
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Three Strong Women and Three Feeble Men (I)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Three Strong Woman and Three Feeble Men(I) JUDGES 4:1- 24 Men can have mixed feelings about strong women, though for me strong women are not as worrying as strong men. Before my wife became disabled, she was quite capable of standing up to me; in my head I can still hear her sayi…
Exodus and Leviticus - Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God
Exodus and Leviticus - Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Kinds of Preparation for Meeting God EXODUS 19: 1- 25 When the Israelites arrived at Sinai, they first had a morally challenging experience—or perhaps one should call it a relationally challenging one. It marks a new stage in the covenant relationship between God and Israel. …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Mothers, One Baby
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Mothers, One Baby
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Mothers One Baby 1 Kings 3:16- 4:19 Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and I was reading a newspaper story about two mothers with one baby. Its birth mother had got pregnant while she was a single student, and she had decided she didn’t want to keep the baby but that she would not h…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Unusual Covenants
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Unusual Covenants
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Unusual Covenants 2 Kings 11:1-21 The idea of covenant has been very important in the history of the United States and in the development of American democracy as a way of understanding relationships in the human community. Etymologically, the word covenant includes the idea …
Psalms for Everyone - Trusting God with Your Anger
Psalms for Everyone - Trusting God with Your Anger
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Trusting God with Your Anger Psalm 68: 19-35 In a day or two I am to lecture on the Psalms and our spirituality, and I shall talk about the way psalms are designed to feed and shape our praise, prayer, and thanksgiving. Last night as I was finalizing the lecture, I realized I had…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Unfinished Business
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Unfinished Business
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Unfinished Business NUMBERS 31:1- 34 Two or three years ago, out of the blue, I received a phone call from a Jewish lawyer in Los Angeles. He had self-published a book called Twenty-six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus, and he wanted me to make sure that his statements abo…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim 1 Kings 15:25-16:34 Yesterday, as usual, we began our faculty meeting by sharing topics for prayer, and then as it happened I had to try to pray a prayer that covered them all. The sharing referred to someone’s health needs, to someone who had lo…
Exodus and Leviticus - Vocation
Exodus and Leviticus - Vocation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Vocation EXODUS 3: 11- 4: 17 In my seminary in England, most students had already been accepted as candidates for ordination, but in my seminary in California many more people come not sure what ministry they may seek or even what denomination they belong to. So we have an Office…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Two Very Different Attitudes to War
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Two Very Different Attitudes to War
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Very Different Attitudes to War NUMBERS 20: 14- 21:3 I write at what we hope is near the end of a war in Iraq but in the midst of a war in Afghanistan whose likely outcome no one can predict; both these wars relate to the attack on the United States of September 11, 2001. Bef…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild West
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild West
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Welcome to the Wild Wild West Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone JOSHUA 10: 28- 43 28That day Joshua took Makkedah and struck it down, it and its king, with the edge of the sword. He devoted them, along with every person there. He did not let any survivor remain. So he dealt wi…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - What Game is Joseph Playing?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - What Game is Joseph Playing?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Game Is Joseph Playing? Genesis 42:1-35 I arrived home late one evening, picked up the mail, and checked messages. When I was in charge of a seminary, I used to avoid reading messages just before bedtime in case it gave me things to worry about that kept me from sleeping, bu…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - When the Apostate King's Son Gets Sick
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - When the Apostate King's Son Gets Sick
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the Apostate King’s Son Gets Sick 1 Kings 13:33-14:20 Last night a friend of mine was blowing a fuse concerning the sermon at her church a couple of Sundays ago. The preacher was talking about Jesus’ healing of the man who had been lying sick by the Pool of Siloam for thirty…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When Minister's Indulge Themselves
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When Minister's Indulge Themselves
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When Ministers Indulge Themselves 1 Samuel 2: 11- 36 Lent has just begun. Just beforehand, over dinner, the members of our Bible study group were wondering what Lenten discipline they might take on. I argued that discipline was better understood as a matter of doing something pos…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Has to Take Decisive Action
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Has to Take Decisive Action
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the King Has to Take Decisive Action 1 Samuel 13: 1- 22 Saul mustered the company of those that were present with him, some six hundred men. 16Saul and his son Jonathan and the company that was present with them were staying at Geba in Benjamin, and the Philistines were camp…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Isn't Tough Enough
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Isn't Tough Enough
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the King Isn’t Tough Enough 1 Samuel 15: 1- 33 According to news reports, at U.S. bases in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in the first decade of the twenty-first century we were engaged in the torture of people suspected of terrorist acts. This involved keeping people in constrained…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Where to Find Isaac a Wife