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Job for Everyone - On Accepting Your Ignorance
Job for Everyone - On Accepting Your Ignorance
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Accepting Your Ignorance Job 38 16-38 In my seminary in England we once produced a dramatic version of the story of Job; I was the screenwriter, and one of my colleagues was the director. She wanted to have God appearing on stage during the dialogues between Job and his friend…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Watching Your Son Die
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Watching Your Son Die
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Watching Your Son Die Genesis 21: 15-32 Today I read about the death of the young son of the leader of the opposition party in the U.K. parliament. The boy had been born with cerebral palsy and a severe form of epilepsy, and in a sense his parents had been watching him die all…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - One Fatal Mistake
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - One Fatal Mistake
by SPCK - John Goldingay
One Fatal Mistake NUMBERS 20: 1-13 A few years ago a bright young church leader in England whom I knew slightly made one mistake, and his ministry was finished. It must have been devastating for him; it was devastating for people who had set their hopes on him as a symbol of some…
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II Psalm 40 As usual we had a time of sharing praise and prayer concerns in church yesterday, and as usual I had more success getting people to share prayer concerns than to share reasons for thanksgiving. As far as I remember the only t…
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I Psalm 9: 1-18 Yesterday a pastor in Florida invited me to look at his blog, where he had written about God’s renewing the church. When God renewed the church (as happened with the emergence of Pentecostalism a century ago, for instance…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 24 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 24 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 24 Luke 18: 1-8 Gaze on all the people in this world who have lost heart. It won’t be obvious who they are, for we are good at hiding the signs, but everyone at some time in their life will be in danger of losing heart. Then gaze on this widow, who is demanding justice. Wh…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The First Sunday of Advent Luke 21.25-36 Gaze on all the climate change nightmares we read about – mountains sliding into rivers, icebergs breaking off from the Antarctic mass; rising sea levels and waves breaching sea defences, and winds that upend ancient oaks. Is this the fina…
friends, FOES and families - Take this baby and nurse him for me: Moses
friends, FOES and families - Take this baby and nurse him for me: Moses
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Take this baby and nurse him for me: Moses Exodus 1-2 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me.’ (Mark 9.36, 37)...
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Third Sunday of Easter John 21.1-19 Gaze on another dawn, another occasion when at first all is in shadow until Jesus illuminates the day for the disciples. Gaze on another setting when things are going badly: if there are no fish, at best the disciples won’t eat, and at wo…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday Before Lent - Year A Genesis 1.1–23 Romans 8.18–25 Matthew 6.25–34 Today’s Gospel reading reminds us how important it is not simply to take all passages of Scripture and apply them directly to ourselves, as though they had no original context and no intervening …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Christ the King Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Christ the King Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Christ the King Jeremiah 23.1–6 Colossians 1.11–20 Luke 23.33–43 Today’s passages might, on a superficial reading, simply be making the fairly standard point that Christ’s kingship and authority are a challenge to most human understandings of power. That’s a good and important po…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 7 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 7 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 7 Isaiah 65.1–9 Galatians 3.23–9 Luke 8.26–39 The people in today’s reading from Isaiah have apparently got bored with the true God. The chapter opens with God waiting patiently, almost passively, for his people to come looking for him. When they don’t, God begins to call …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 9 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 9 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 9 Isaiah 66.10–14 Galatians 6.1–16 Luke 10.1–11, 16–20 Luke 8—10 sets out a very interesting mission strategy. In chapter 8, Jesus himself goes through towns and villages, curing people, and gathering huge crowds to hear his stories and see his miracles. Then in chapter 9,…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Sarai Becomes Sarah
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Sarai Becomes Sarah
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Sarai Becomes Sarah Genesis 17: 15-19 On my father’s birth certificate, our family name is spelled Gouldingay. It was just a slip; I can imagine my grandfather and grandmother (hardly out of their teens) being a bit nervous when they registered the birth, and it seems they confus…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Sex in the City
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Sex in the City
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Sex in the City Deuteronomy 22: 13-30 I’ve been reading a book that interweaves the story of three iconic 1960s singer-songwriters—Carole King, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell. The key to Joni Mitchell’s life story and music is something that happened when she was a teenager and t…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Sour Hour of Prayer
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Sour Hour of Prayer
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Sour Hour of Prayer 1 Samuel 1: 9-11 For Hannah, too, the hour of prayer was initially sour, though eventually sweet. Presumably she prayed when she was at home in the village, as other Israelites did, but the occasion when the family went to Shiloh would be a natural time for sp…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - So Abraham Went