Isaiah for everyone - God’s Strange Work
Isaiah for everyone - God’s Strange Work
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Strange Work The other Sunday we were singing the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” and I was reflecting wryly that it’s a shame nobody realizes where its basic ideas come from, as is the case with the related chorus “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” They come …
Isaiah for everyone - High and Holy, but Present with the Crushed and Low in Spirit
Isaiah for everyone - High and Holy, but Present with the Crushed and Low in Spirit
by SPCK - John Goldingay
High and Holy, but Present with the Crushed and Low in Spirit In a recent sermon in our seminary I told students that Jesus isn’t their buddy. I’m told the air went out of the room when I said it. A friend subsequently gave me a “Buddy Christ” statuette, which I could put on my d…
Isaiah for Everyone - Grief Brought To An End
Isaiah for Everyone - Grief Brought To An End
by SPCK - John Goldingay
GRIEF BROUGHT TO AN END In a movie called Grace Is Gone, Grace is a sergeant in the army on active service. Her husband, Stan, looks after a supply store back home. One morning the feared and terrifying visit comes from army representatives with the task of telling Stan that Grac…
Jeremiah for everyone - I Don't Trust You
Jeremiah for everyone - I Don't Trust You
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Don't Trust You In the latter years of my first wife’s life, from time to time I’d attempt to confront God about the way she was increasingly affected by her multiple sclerosis. God was inclined to be equally confrontational in his response (I could get away with a cry of pain …
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - I Have Not Found A Woman
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - I Have Not Found A Woman
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Have Not Found A Woman I just had a message from a young friend who will be in town next week and wants to come to see us. It’s only a few months since she emailed to tell us that she had maybe found the man of her dreams, a man whose instincts about Christian ministry match he…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - I Belong to My Love, and His Desire Is toward Me
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - I Belong to My Love, and His Desire Is toward Me
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Belong to My Love, and His Desire Is toward Me I once had to review a commentary on the Song for a journal. The author assumed that the Song is about the relationship between a man and a woman and dismissed the idea that under the surface it’s about the relationship between Chr…
Jeremiah for everyone - In the Interests of the living
Jeremiah for everyone - In the Interests of the living
by SPCK - John Goldingay
In the Interests of the living A woman recently inherited a diary her mother kept during the last months of her life. It showed a side of her mother she hadn’t seen before—angry, afraid, self-recriminatory. It was upsetting to read…
Jeremiah for everyone - Is Anything Too Extraordinary for Yahweh?
Jeremiah for everyone - Is Anything Too Extraordinary for Yahweh?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is Anything Too Extraordinary for Yahweh? I have to preside over a funeral today and then over a memorial next week for someone who has already been cremated. Whether your body dissolves gradually in the ground or burns up quickly in the fire, the idea that we are all going to be…
Jeremiah for everyone - Looking for Spiritual Resources
Jeremiah for everyone - Looking for Spiritual Resources
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Looking for Spiritual Resources I just read about a couple who travelled to India because they couldn’t have a baby. The British medics were puzzled about the reasons, as both husband and wife seemed to be physiologically OK…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - My Love Is Mine, and I Am His
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - My Love Is Mine, and I Am His
by SPCK - John Goldingay
My Love Is Mine, and I Am His One of my best friends when I was a teenager, having exhausted the dating possibilities in our youth fellowship, started going out with a girl from another church, and I commented that she was rather plain compared with some of the girls he had gone …
Jeremiah for everyone - Not Always the Holywood Ending
Jeremiah for everyone - Not Always the Holywood Ending
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Not Always the Holywood Ending Last night we watched a French movie about a couple whose baby son developed a brain tumour. The movie focused on the way the couple coped, naturally with tensions and grief but also with determination and energy and more than a little therapeutic c…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - On Trust
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - On Trust
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Trust A senior member of our congregation died last week. Joe had fought in the Second World War and was then one of the first African Americans to graduate from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - One Ecclesiastes Is Good, but One Is Enough
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - One Ecclesiastes Is Good, but One Is Enough
by SPCK - John Goldingay
One Ecclesiastes Is Good, but One Is Enough Yesterday a student came to see me because he’s having a hard time with my course on the Psalms and with his academic work in general. He wasn’t concerned to make excuses but just wanted me to understand what was going on…
Jeremiah for everyone - On Witnessing by Your Obedience to Your Special Vocation
Jeremiah for everyone - On Witnessing by Your Obedience to Your Special Vocation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Witnessing by Your Obedience to Your Special Vocation Fortuitously, I completed the translation of Jeremiah 35:1–19 just as the moment arrived when we often have a glass of wine before dinner…
Jeremiah for everyone - Pottery Smashed