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Exodus and Leviticus - The 3a.m. Scream
Exodus and Leviticus - The 3a.m. Scream
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The 3 a.m. Scream EXODUS 12: 28- 13: 16 It was midnight, not 3 a.m., but in the Western world where we organize our own time rather than following nature’s time, midnight is not the middle of the night; it is about the time I put out the light. So think of yourself as having been…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Bird in a Cage
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Bird in a Cage
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Bird in a Cage 2 Kings 18:1-37 When my sons were babies, we would play trust exercises with them, though I’m not sure whether we or they realized this was what we were doing. They would leap from some height, such as a wall, knowing that father or mother would catch them. As …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Appeal of the Lost Sheep
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Appeal of the Lost Sheep
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Appeal of the Lost Sheep Psalm 119:145-176 A Bedouin herdsman tells of how he was tending a flock of goats in the Judean wilderness near the Dead Sea. Before sleeping, the herdsmen would count their flocks, but for some reason this herdsman failed to do the count for two days…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Capital of Corruption
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Capital of Corruption
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Capital of Corruption 1 Kings 21:8-29 Sitting on the subway on the way home last night, I overheard a conversation between two young men about the candidates for our upcoming gubernatorial elections. (Isn’t that a great word, gubernatorial? We don’t have it in British English…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Chance to be a Servant Leader
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Chance to be a Servant Leader
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Chance to Be a Servant leader 1 Kings 12:1-32 One of my faculty colleagues was asked to become director of the chapel in the seminary, and she loved to relate how she needed to go and talk to the provost of the seminary (vice principal in Brit-speak) about her role, and how h…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Choice
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Choice
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Choice RUTH 1:10-19a When my wife’s multiple sclerosis was first diagnosed, I wrote to tell her pastor, who had also been a mentor of mine. I remember reading his reply. He told us how that morning he happened to have been studying the story of Jesus’ making the water into wi…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Faithful Master
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Faithful Master
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Faithful Master Psalm 119:121-144 One of my former colleagues used to delight to talk about her first appointment with her boss. His opening words to her were “How can I serve you?” “What can I do for you?” “How can I help you do your job?” In a way the questions seem smarmy …
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The God of Coincidences
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The God of Coincidences
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The God of Coincidences RUTH 2:10-23 When I was thirteen, I was walking home from school one day and met a teacher from the Sunday school I used to attend but had left two years previously to go to another church. She told me that my old church was about to start a new youth fell…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Fall of the Northern Kingdom
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Fall of the Northern Kingdom
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Fall of the Northern Kingdom 2 Kings 17:1-41 I suspect that people think I am an upright kind of guy, and they are not exactly wrong, but I have stories in my past of which I am ashamed and about which they don’t know, and I am not about to tell you these either. They still c…
Job for Everyone - The God Who Commands the Dawn
Job for Everyone - The God Who Commands the Dawn
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The God Who Commands the Dawn Job 38 1-15 On some people’s calculations, the world is due to end today. If you are reading this book, it didn’t end, or, alternatively, you and I were left behind. I am pretty confident it won’t end, though the basis for my confidence is different …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - The Lord Bless You and Keep You
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - The Lord Bless You and Keep You
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Lord Bless You and Keep You NUMBERS 6: 1-27 “Bless you,” we say when someone sneezes. “Blessings,” we put at the end of e-mails. “God bless,” my father would say as we went to bed. “It was a time of blessing,” someone may say at the end of a service. “Bless my soul,” we may s…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Man Who Would be King
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Man Who Would be King
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Man Who Would Be King JUDGES 9: 1-57 In connection with Joshua 20, I mentioned a woman in my class who apparently had a brain tumor. In an e-mail a couple of weeks ago, she talked about ways God had been speaking to her through classes she had taken over the summer and fall a…
Exodus and Leviticus - The Migrant Returns
Exodus and Leviticus - The Migrant Returns
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Migrant Returns EXODUS 4: 24-31 The last two people I had helping me care for my disabled wife were from the Philippines. Although both were the wives of students at our seminary, it is no coincidence that both were Filipinas. There are many Filipina caregivers in the United …
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Power of Forgetting
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Power of Forgetting
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Power of Forgetting JUDGES 2:1- 3: 4 Last night I went to the first performance in Los Angeles of the musical version of The Color Purple, a fabulous concoction of music, dance, and drama vividly bringing to life the tough reality of many women’s experience (and not just in t…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Peril of Other People's Faiths
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Peril of Other People's Faiths
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Peril of Other People’s Faiths JOSHUA 23:1- 16 In the aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. State Department financed visits to universities and seminaries in the United States by Muslim scholars from abroad as part of efforts to foster mutual understanding between “the Muslim World” a…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Struggle for Power
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Struggle for Power
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Struggle for Power 2 Samuel 3: 1- 4: 12 One of my colleagues holds a Bible study at his house for men he got to know through an organization that seeks to provide accommodation for homeless people in our city; they are typically people who have prison records and/or who have …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Tale of Two Women
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Tale of Two Women
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Tale of Two Women 2 Kings 4:1-44 Among my friends are a number of young couples who have been hoping to have children, and it has never happened. They then go in for medical examinations of various kinds and for treatment of various kinds. One couple had eggs implanted, but the…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Ultimate Sacrifice