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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…
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…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Where to Find Isaac a Wife
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Where to Find Isaac a Wife
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Where To Find Isaac a Wife Genesis 24: 1-20 When you make your short list of the things that you pray most concerning your children, their being able to marry the “right” person (and keep that marriage going) is near the top of the list. Our sons married beautiful, strong women w…
Exodus and Leviticus - You Know the Feelings of an Alien
Exodus and Leviticus - You Know the Feelings of an Alien
by SPCK - John Goldingay
You Know the Feelings of an Alien EXODUS 22: 15- 23: 19 There are aliens who freely choose to live in a foreign country, and there are aliens who felt they were driven to do so (and then there are the aliens who come on spaceships). I am an alien and that occasionally causes me a…
Psalms for Everyone - You Have a Choice
Psalms for Everyone - You Have a Choice
by SPCK - John Goldingay
You Have a Choice Psalm 1 It’s Independence Day today in the United States, and our visiting preacher on Sunday more than once referred to our freedom to make choices as a reason for rejoicing. I imagine that as well as the freedom not to have one’s destiny shaped by guys the oth…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - You Can't Mess with the Covenant Chest
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - You Can't Mess with the Covenant Chest
by SPCK - John Goldingay
You Can’t Mess with the Covenant Chest 1 Samuel 5: 1- 7: 1 When I used to read Bible stories to my young sons, they would sometimes ask, “Did that really happen?” As far as I remember, they did not ask that question about big events like the Israelites’ crossing of the Reed Sea (…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - But the Thing David Had Done Was Displeasing in Yahweh's Eyes
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - But the Thing David Had Done Was Displeasing in Yahweh's Eyes
by SPCK - John Goldingay
But the Thing David Had Done Was Displeasing in Yahweh’s Eyes 2 Samuel 11: 1- 27 There is a news item today about a state governor who had to resign because of a sex scandal a couple of years ago but is now trying to rehabilitate himself in the eye of the public. As governor, one…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Dealing with Ambition
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Dealing with Ambition
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Dealing with Ambition NUMBERS 16: 1-17: 13 I am amazed that anyone seeks a position of leadership. We once had a new principal come to the seminary where I taught in England who unveiled his detailed and carefully thought-out vision for its future. The faculty took one look and s…
Exodus and Leviticus - Distinguishing Life from Death
Exodus and Leviticus - Distinguishing Life from Death
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Distinguishing Life from Death LEVITICUS : 13 1- 14: 57 The first funeral I did in the United States was for a friend in his thirties whose wedding I had conducted. We buried him within about a year, after he died of a brain tumor. I admire the way U.S. funerals commonly have the…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Everyone Is Against Me
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Everyone Is Against Me
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Everyone is against Me 1 Samuel 18: 17- 19: 24 Last night I watched a Jordanian Oscar-nominated movie called Captain Abu Raed, whose central figure is an airport janitor at Amman Airport (just up the street from Jabesh-gilead, actually). In a subordinate plot point, he gets to kn…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Everything Came True
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Everything Came True
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Everything Came True JOSHUA 20:1- 21:43 Less than three weeks ago I received one of those standard e-mails from a student: she did not think she would be able to finish her coursework by the deadline. Except that it was not the standard e-mail. She had been told that she had a br…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Flexibility
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Flexibility
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Flexibility NUMBERS 8: 5-9: 14 A woman came to talk to me after church two weeks ago. In the sermon I had described the way the Psalms invite us in prayer to appeal to God’s compassion, grace, and steadfast love, especially when we know we are in the wrong in relation to Go…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Claim on Levi
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God's Claim on Levi
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Claim on Levi NUMBERS 3: 1-5: 4 Last night I was watching the “Extras” on the DVD of a movie called The Soloist, whose background is Skid Row in Los Angeles, ten minutes away from where I sit. It noted the contribution made by volunteers (of the kind I could be) to the need…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God Doesn't Go Back on a Promise
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - God Doesn't Go Back on a Promise
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God Doesn’t Go Back on a Promise NUMBERS 22: 1- 23:4 People in traditional societies know there can be a strange power about blessing and cursing. A Nigerian told me about the way in his society people know that their enemies can use curses to cause harm to them, and the traditio…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How Not to Get Overextended in Real Estate
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How Not to Get Overextended in Real Estate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Not to Get Overextended in Real Estate RUTH 4:1-10 The end of the first decade of the twenty-first century saw a collapse in housing prices in the United States, Britain, and elsewhere, and an increase in the number of people “walking away” from property they “owned” but coul…
Exodus and Leviticus - Knowing and Acknowledging Again
Exodus and Leviticus - Knowing and Acknowledging Again
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Knowing and Acknowledging Again EXODUS 11: 1-10 EXODUS and Leviticus for Everyone 1Yahweh said to Moses, “There is yet one more blow I shall bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will send you off from here. When he sends you off, it will be complete. He will finally thro…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Last Chance to take the Torah and The Prophets Seriously
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Last Chance to take the Torah and The Prophets Seriously
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Last Chance to Take the Torah and the Prophets Seriously 2 Kings 22:1-23:24 Being the principal of a seminary occupied the middle ten years of my time as a professor. I had felt no desire to be in that position, but once it became clear that it was the right thing for a time, I r…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Land, Promises and Politics