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Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Dance and Slaughter
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Dance and Slaughter
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Dance and Slaughter Psalm 148-149 As a teenager, I did not learn to dance or to shoot a gun for different reasons. I didn’t learn to dance because my church regarded dancing as “worldly”; it wasn’t appropriate to people who were really committed to God. I didn’t learn to shoot be…
Psalms for Everyone - Death Cathches You When You Don't Expect It To
Psalms for Everyone - Death Cathches You When You Don't Expect It To
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Death Catches You When You Don’t Expect It To Psalm 49 We recently buried the second-oldest member of our congregation, who until she faded away quickly at the end had regularly attended church. We drove quite a way to the cemetery, and I wondered why, until I discovered that her…
Psalms for Everyone - Did You Have Your Eyes Shut, Then?
Psalms for Everyone - Did You Have Your Eyes Shut, Then?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Did You Have Your Eyes Shut, Then? Psalm 37: 21-40 There’s a poem by Jacqueline Osherow in which she imagines a Jewish boy who has learned the Psalms by heart saying them at Auschwitz and puzzling over Psalm 37 (“Psalm 37 at Auschwitz,” in Dead Men’s Praise [New York: Grove Press…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Don’t Trust in Leaders
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Don’t Trust in Leaders
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Don’t Trust in Leaders Psalm 146 I remember the winter’s day when I announced to the students at the theological college in England where I used to be the principal that I would be leaving the coming summer. To my surprise, it aroused a feeling of anxiety among a number of studen…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Enough Punishment Already!
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Enough Punishment Already!
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Enough Punishment Already! Psalm 74 This evening, as I write, will be the beginning of the Jewish year 5772; in other words, on this reckoning the New Year will be the 5772nd year since creation. It will be followed by the Day of Atonement and the Festival of Sukkot. Thinking abo…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Facing the Other Set of Facts
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Facing the Other Set of Facts
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is Anything Stable? Psalm 89: 1-37 My wife once lived in a house on the side of a canyon in California that seemed capable of tumbling into the ocean if there was an earthquake, and after one worrying quake not far away she took to checking the weekly earthquake reports. Apparent…
Psalms for Everyone - Father of the Fatherless, Protector of the Widow
Psalms for Everyone - Father of the Fatherless, Protector of the Widow
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Father of the fatherless, Protector of the Widow Psalm 68: 1-18 In conversations with people who have inquired about getting married or having children baptized in our church, I have been struck anew by how many are children without fathers or mothers without husbands. I think of…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Fear or Reverence
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Fear or Reverence
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Fear or Reverence Psalm 76 Last week I was lecturing on the Psalms at a college in Michigan, and I referred to the extraordinary freedom that the Psalms assume we have in our relationship with God. You can say anything to God. In relation to God, we are like children in relation …
Psalms for Everyone - Flee or Stay?
Psalms for Everyone - Flee or Stay?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Flee or Stay? Psalm 11 In this first week after South Sudan declared its independence, the president of northern Sudan has spoken before the national assembly as his reduced country starts a new phase of its life. He has described it as the “second republic” that will affirm the …
Psalms for Everyone - From Birth through Youth to MIddle Age and Old Age
Psalms for Everyone - From Birth through Youth to MIddle Age and Old Age
by SPCK - John Goldingay
From Birth through Youth to Middle Age and Old Age Psalm 71 Several people in our church are in their eighties or nineties, and yesterday several things made me think about the lifelong nature of their following Christ. The Gospel passage was Jesus’ story about laborers getting t…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, Zion
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, Zion
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, Zion Psalm 87 A few weeks ago, we had a visit from friends in London who told us exciting tales about developments in their parish, where they have a rector who is full of ideas for reaching out into the community and a church that is growing. …
Psalms for Everyone - GLOSSARY
Psalms for Everyone - GLOSSARY
by SPCK - John Goldingay
GLOSSARY aide A supernatural agent through whom God may appear and work in the world. Standard English translations refer to such agents as “angels,” but this term suggests ethereal winged figures wearing diaphanous white dresses. Aides are humanlike figures; hence it is possible…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Glossary
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Glossary
by SPCK - John Goldingay
GLOSSARY aide An aide is supernatural agent through whom God may appear and work in the world. English translations refer to them as “angels,” but this suggests ethereal winged figures wearing diaphanous white dresses. Aides are humanlike figures; hence it possible to give them h…
Psalms for Everyone - Go On, Look into My Heart
Psalms for Everyone - Go On, Look into My Heart
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Go on, Look into My Heart Psalm 17 From time to time my wife asks me what I’m thinking. She has to do so because whereas she instinctively tells me what she’s thinking, I’m not good at doing so. But it’s a potentially scary question. Occasionally I might be thinking something tha…
Psalms for Everyone - God Laughs on His People's Behalf
Psalms for Everyone - God Laughs on His People's Behalf
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God Laughs on His People’s Behalf Psalm 2 We watched Independence Day fireworks last night, and I recalled how people sometimes ask me, “Do you celebrate Independence Day in Britain?” I say, “Yes, of course: parents are glad when their kids grow up and take control of their own l…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God of Light and God of Darkness
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God of Light and God of Darkness
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God of Light and God of Darkness Psalm 104 When my older son got into his midteens, he declared that he was no longer coming to church with his mother and me. Fortunately this was not because he had decided that all church was stupid but that our demure Anglican church wasn’t kee…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God Redeems Now
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God Redeems Now
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God Redeems Now Psalm 73 Last night we went to a concert by rock-country-bluegrass-folk artist Steve Earle. I first heard him at Nottingham Rock City when he was still fairly fresh out of prison where he had been for drug-related offenses. Twenty years later in a club in Disneyla…
Psalms for Everyone - God's Commitment Fills the Earth