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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…
Jeremiah for everyone - The Bold Miscalculation
Jeremiah for everyone - The Bold Miscalculation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Bold Miscalculation In church this Sunday morning, the first of our three passages from Scripture was the story of God’s asking Solomon what he wanted, that most testing of questions, a test that Solomon passed magnificently…
Jeremiah for everyone - The Perilous Position of Prophet and Priest
Jeremiah for everyone - The Perilous Position of Prophet and Priest
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Perilous Position of Prophet and Priest Today we had a bumper crop of birthdays to celebrate at church; I was tempted to ask people to stand up if they were not having a birthday this week. As a wondrous coincidence, the Gospel reading was the story of a birthday party…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Yahweh Tests Minds
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Yahweh Tests Minds
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Yahweh Tests Minds A year after we came to California, one Sunday evening my son called to tell us that they had just had their first child on Monday morning in London. When Monday morning came in California, I rushed to book an air ticket to go back to London for the next weeken…
Isaiah for everyone - A Politician’s One Fatal Mistake
Isaiah for everyone - A Politician’s One Fatal Mistake
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Politician’s One Fatal Mistake When I was the principal of a seminary, I would get lots of mail. Usually my assistant would open it, but on Saturday I would do so, and thus would get first sight of the tricky pieces of correspondence, ones that raised worrying issues or asked q…
Jeremiah for everyone - If You Can Find Anyone
Jeremiah for everyone - If You Can Find Anyone
by SPCK - John Goldingay
If You Can Find Anyone Last night we watched a Woody Allen movie called Match Point about a man who commits adultery and murder but by pure luck gets away with it. The last shots of the movie make clear that he’ll always live with the burden of what he’s done…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Love Is as Fierce as Death
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Love Is as Fierce as Death
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Love Is as Fierce as Death A recent movie tells the story of Edward VIII, who reigned as king of the United Kingdom for 325 days in 1936. Before coming to the throne he had fallen for a woman called Wallis Simpson who had not only committed the sin of being an American but also h…
Isaiah for everyone - An Invitation to Imagination and Hope
Isaiah for everyone - An Invitation to Imagination and Hope
by SPCK - John Goldingay
An Invitation to Imagination and Hope I was exchanging messages with a Pentecostal friend yesterday, the Feast of Pentecost, and was amused when he observed that oddly “we don’t really celebrate Pentecost in the Assemblies of God.” I don’t know whether his Pentecostal church has …
Jeremiah for everyone - More a Summons than a Vocation
Jeremiah for everyone - More a Summons than a Vocation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
More a Summons than a Vocation Last week I took part in a conference on God, the church, and disability. One participant was a woman who has been ordained a priest, but she has a speech impediment that makes it hard to understand what she says, and she has had difficulty finding …
Isaiah for everyone - What Will We Do When God’s Servant Is Deaf and Blind?
Isaiah for everyone - What Will We Do When God’s Servant Is Deaf and Blind?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Will We Do When God’s Servant Is Deaf and Blind? One of our bishops came to visit our church last Sunday. She recently moved to California from Maryland, and I asked her whether she missed the East Coast. Basically, she said, she was too busy enjoying the new things here, bu…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - It Takes a Miracle- Yahweh and Eli
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - It Takes a Miracle- Yahweh and Eli
by SPCK - John Goldingay
It Takes a Miracle 1 Samuel 1:12-19a Because she kept on pleading before Yahweh, and Eli was watching her mouth and Hannah was speaking in her heart (only her lips were quivering, and her voice was not audible), Eli thought she was drunk. Eli said to her, “How long will you behav…
Simply Good News - Rethinking Heaven
Simply Good News - Rethinking Heaven
by SPCK - N T Wright
Rethinking Heaven If Jesus’s first followers spoke about the good news of what had just happened, what did they think would happen in the future as a result? Here we face a major problem. For many generations in the modern church, followers of Jesus in many parts of the world hav…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Shadow of the Almighty
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Shadow of the Almighty
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Shadow of the Almighty Psalm 91 I have a vivid memory from when I was a teenager of watching a filmstrip (a prehistoric antecedent of DVDs) that told the story of five young men from the United States who went to a rainforest in Ecuador to seek to bring the gospel of Christ to th…
Psalms for Everyone - Where Is Your God?
Psalms for Everyone - Where Is Your God?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Where Is Your God? Psalm 42 There is a poignant movie called James’ Journey to Jerusalem about a young Zulu who has been designated to be his village’s next pastor. If it were the West he would be sent to seminary, but the village decides that the best way to prepare him for his …
Psalms for Everyone - Be Still and Know That I am God
Psalms for Everyone - Be Still and Know That I am God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Be Still and Know That I Am God Psalm 46 For nearly a thousand years, most of what is now Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and other areas comprised the Holy Roman Empire. It had a legislative assembly confusingly called a diet, which in 1521 met at a Germ…
Psalms for Everyone - I Can't Wait
Psalms for Everyone - I Can't Wait
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Can’t Wait Psalm 25 “We can’t wait till you come to see us next year,” a friend in the Philippines said. “I can’t wait till the concert on Saturday,” a singer-songwriter said. “We can’t wait to meet your new wife,” a friend said. “I can’t wait for Christmas,” another friend sai…
Psalms for Everyone - They're Trying to Wash Us Away