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Jeremiah for everyone - An Ambassador in Chains
Jeremiah for everyone - An Ambassador in Chains
by SPCK - John Goldingay
An Ambassador in Chains When Paul was apparently in prison in Rome, he wrote letters to a number of churches. In church today I was struck by a passage in which he describes himself as an ambassador in chains and asks the Christians in Ephesus to pray for him so that he’d be bold…
Jeremiah for everyone - How Do You Get People to Change?
Jeremiah for everyone - How Do You Get People to Change?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Do You Get People to Change? In the 1960s a man called Arthur Blessitt moved from Louisiana to Hollywood in order to preach to hippies, runaways, addicts, bikers, prostitutes, flower children, and would-be actors and rock stars; he became known as the minister of Sunset Strip…
Isaiah for everyone - I SEE HAWKS IN L.A.
Isaiah for everyone - I SEE HAWKS IN L.A.
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I SEE HAWKS IN L.A. One of my favorite bands is called I See Hawks in L.A., which is also the title of one of their early songs. In the song the hawks hover over the city as if they sense it’s about to be destroyed and there will be plenty of provender for them to enjoy. “What if…
Isaiah for everyone - On Following God’s Prompting
Isaiah for everyone - On Following God’s Prompting
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Following God’s Prompting We were at a singer-songwriter venue and the singer’s last song was about her mother’s death two or three years ago. The song title referred to the year of her mother’s birth, which was the same birth year of someone who was with us. She later told us…
Jeremiah for everyone - On Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Jeremiah for everyone - On Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is When we came to California, we were buying a house for the first time—we had always lived in church or seminary housing. It felt as if we were growing up. Two or three years ago, a friend of mine was wondering about buying a house, but pr…
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 …
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…
Jeremiah for everyone - Pottery Smashed
Jeremiah for everyone - Pottery Smashed
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Pottery Smashed In Hanoi there’s an embassy that gives visas to people who want to find the bodies of relatives who died in Vietnam’s wars. The family wants to be able to give them a proper burial to avoid their becoming angry ghosts rather than guardian spirits…
Jeremiah for everyone - Settle Down
Jeremiah for everyone - Settle Down
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Settle Down When I first moved to California, people would ask how long I’d be here, thinking it might be just for an academic quarter or year. They’d be a bit taken aback when I said, “I want to die here,” so I would add, “but not too soon,” yet they’d still be taken aback, so I…
Isaiah for everyone - Straight-Talking Meets Straight-Talking
Isaiah for everyone - Straight-Talking Meets Straight-Talking
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Straight-Talking Meets Straight-Talking I sometimes have a hard time persuading people that prayer is an act of communication between us and God and that there’s a mutuality about this communication. The idea has got around that prayer is really more like a form of reflection and…
Isaiah for everyone - The Ambiguous Hezekiah
Isaiah for everyone - The Ambiguous Hezekiah
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Ambiguous Hezekiah The other week we heard a Los Angeles priest who works with ex-gang members tell of going to a university to talk about his work. He took with him an ex-gang member called Juan. During the day they went to classes and spoke to students and in the evening ad…
Isaiah for everyone - The Servant's Servant
Isaiah for everyone - The Servant's Servant
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Servant’s Servant A few weeks ago I had to preach at the ordination of a friend. She asked me to choose a passage as a Scripture reading from which I would preach. She laughed when I told her it would be the first of these two paragraphs, because (she commented) everyone knew…
Jeremiah for everyone - Truth to Power
Jeremiah for everyone - Truth to Power
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Truth to Power As I write, the Australian founder of Wikileaks is effectively a prisoner in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. If he leaves the embassy, Britain will arrest him and hand him over to authorities in Sweden that have sought his extradition…
Jeremiah for everyone - Uncircumcised Ears
Jeremiah for everyone - Uncircumcised Ears
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Uncircumcised Ears I had an odd experience yesterday. My wife initiated a quite ordinary and reasonable conversation about moving around some of the furniture and repainting the walls and replacing the dining furniture that’s falling apart…
Isaiah for everyone - Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying, Planning, and Dreaming