SPCK
Jeremiah for everyone - Things Can't Get Worse (Can They?) (1)
Jeremiah for everyone - Things Can't Get Worse (Can They?) (1)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Things Can't Get Worse (Can They?) (1) News reports as I write (and over the past year or two) manifest a strange kind of naiveté about changes of government. A series of Middle Eastern countries have seen civil conflict and the overthrow of totalitarian regimes…
Jeremiah for everyone - The Grimmest Scene in the Old Testament
Jeremiah for everyone - The Grimmest Scene in the Old Testament
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Grimmest Scene in the Old Testament I hate this story about Jerusalem’s fall and its aftermath, and I hate the fact that it comes more than once in the Old Testament (indeed, more than once in Jeremiah alone, for goodness’ sake)…
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 - 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 - On Witnessing by Your Obedience to Your Special Vocation
Jeremiah for everyone - On Witnessing by Your Obedience to Your Special Vocation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Witnessing by Your Obedience to Your Special Vocation Fortuitously, I completed the translation of Jeremiah 35:1–19 just as the moment arrived when we often have a glass of wine before dinner…
Jeremiah for everyone - Expect Great Things
Jeremiah for everyone - Expect Great Things
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Expect Great Things In the 1780s a shoemaker and part-time Baptist preacher near Northampton in England named William Carey used to do his work with a world map on the wall in front of him, and while he worked he’d pray for the nations of the world, many of whom knew little or no…
Jeremiah for everyone - Is Anything Too Extraordinary for Yahweh?
Jeremiah for everyone - Is Anything Too Extraordinary for Yahweh?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is Anything Too Extraordinary for Yahweh? I have to preside over a funeral today and then over a memorial next week for someone who has already been cremated. Whether your body dissolves gradually in the ground or burns up quickly in the fire, the idea that we are all going to be…
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…
Jeremiah for everyone - The Power of Being Forgiven
Jeremiah for everyone - The Power of Being Forgiven
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Power of Being Forgiven Last night we listened to one of our favorite singer-songwriters performing an upbeat song with a downbeat account of her life (well, a downbeat account of a life—one mustn’t imagine that every song is autobiographical)…
Jeremiah for everyone - Rachel Weeps for Her Children
Jeremiah for everyone - Rachel Weeps for Her Children
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Rachel Weeps for Her Children North of Bethlehem on the Jerusalem road is the traditional site of the tomb of Rachel, the great love of Jacob’s life and the mother of Joseph (and thus grandmother of Ephraim and Manasseh); she died in giving birth to Benjamin…
Times and Seasons - Full Service - Proper 16 (21) - Year C
Times and Seasons - Full Service - Proper 16 (21) - Year C
by Andrew Pratt and Marjorie Dobson
Full Service - Proper 16 (21) - Year C Service contents: Hymn: God in his love for us lent us this planet or Place of our birthing, our life and our nurture Reading: Psalm 71:1-6 Prayer: Our rock and refuge Hymn: Beauty for brokenness or For the healing of the nations ? or Anyone…
Jeremiah for everyone - Compassion Has the Last Word
Jeremiah for everyone - Compassion Has the Last Word
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Compassion Has the Last Word A variant on whether you see the glass as half full or half empty is whether you look to the future with hope or anxiety. I’m a mildly anxious person myself—I don’t worry much about particular threats or problems, but I’m susceptible to a vague unease…
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…
Jeremiah for everyone - Things can only get worse
Jeremiah for everyone - Things can only get worse
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Things Can Only Get Worse As a newly ordained minister I was required to take part in “post-ordination training,” irreverently known as “potty training.” It’s no criticism of it that decades later I remember little about it, but I do have one vivid memory…
Jeremiah for everyone - Not Always the Holywood Ending