Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Beware of Divisions
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Beware of Divisions
by SPCK - N T Wright
Beware of Divisions! 1 Corinthians 1.10-17 I was woken up early this morning by beautiful birdsong. Right outside my window some little fellow was chirruping, squeaking and whistling like a virtuoso musician showing off before an admiring crowd. Then others joined in. The trees a…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Blessings on the Sovereign God
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Blessings on the Sovereign God
by SPCK - N T Wright
Blessings on the Sovereign God Ephesians 1.1-3 The most successful tourist attraction to appear in London in recent years is the ‘London Eye’. From a distance it looks like a giant Ferris wheel, but this is no fun-fair ride. For a start, it’s far, far bigger: it rises to 450 feet…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Beware of Deceivers
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Beware of Deceivers
by SPCK - N T Wright
Beware of Deceivers Colossians 2.8-12 One of the greatest philosophers of the seventeenth century was John Locke (1632–1704).He rejected several previous schemes of thought and sketched out a way of looking at the world which influenced the thought not only of his native England …
The Pastoral Letters - Beware of False Teaching!
The Pastoral Letters - Beware of False Teaching!
by SPCK - N T Wright
Beware of False Teaching! 1Timothy 4.1-5 Jane grew up in a family which was always playing games. Outdoor games, whenever possible; but if the weather was bad, and especially on long winter evenings, the children would curl up around the fire and play – well, you name it: Scrabbl…
John for Everyone part 2 - Blood and Water
John for Everyone part 2 - Blood and Water
by SPCK - N T Wright
Blood and Water John 19.31-37 He came up at the end of the service and shook me warmly by the hand. ‘I didn’t really know why I was coming here this morning,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t normally have made the effort. I’d have gone somewhere closer to home. But something made me come. A…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Blasphemy!
John for Everyone Part 1 - Blasphemy!
by SPCK - N T Wright
Blasphemy John 10.31-42 They found the music, a single manuscript copy, among the piles of unsorted paper the composer had left at the time of his death. It was clearly a piece for solo violin, but it looked extraordinary: difficult, daring, probably unplayable. Above it was scra…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Epiphany - Year A Isaiah 9: 1-4 1 Corinthians 1: 10-18 Matthew 4: 12-23 Was Jesus waiting for a signal? The Gospels agree that he didn’t begin to announce the Kingdom until he heard that John had been arrested. Something about that sinister moment told him tha…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Epiphany - Year A Isaiah 49: 1-7 1 Corinthians 1: 1-9 John 1: 29-42 Our question to Isaiah is always, ‘Who is the Servant?’ Israel, replies the prophet (Isaiah 49.3). But the far harder question is, ‘Who is Israel?’ To this, Isaiah gives three concentric answ…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany - Year A 1 Kings 17: 8-16 1 Corinthians 1: 18-31 John 2: 1-11 The third day; it would be. John does nothing by accident. New creation bursts in upon a village wedding, itself a sign of hope. Wine is to water as the new world is to the old; bubbling u…
The Pastoral Letters - Elders
The Pastoral Letters - Elders
by SPCK - N T Wright
Elders 1Timothy 5.17-25 I had an urgent message the other day from a friend. He is a priest, and was applying for a new job in a different country. The trouble is that he has family responsibilities, and after doing all the calculations he reckoned he simply couldn’t live on the …
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Everything Belongs to You
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Everything Belongs to You
by SPCK - N T Wright
Everything Belongs to You 1 Corinthians 3.18-23 I remember a wise address given at a graduation ceremony by a respected senior professor. (I was present in order to say the opening prayer.) In his address, the great man said many things, and gave a lot of good advice, but the one…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Everything Belongs To You
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Everything Belongs To You
by SPCK - N T Wright
1 THE WISDOM OF THE SPIRIT EVERYTHING BELONGS TO YOU 1 Corinthians 3: 18-23 I remember a wise address given at a graduation ceremony by a respected senior professor. (I was present in order to say the opening prayer.) In his address, the great man said many things, and gave a lot…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Exhortation to Steadfastness
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Exhortation to Steadfastness
by SPCK - N T Wright
Exhortation to Steadfastness 2 Thessalonians 2.13-17 ‘Stand firm and hold on tight.’ When did you last hear those words? On an airport bus, perhaps, taking you from the terminal building to the plane. On a boat ferrying passengers across a busy river. On a narrow mountain ledge w…
Luke for Everyone - Entering through the Narrow Door
Luke for Everyone - Entering through the Narrow Door
by SPCK - N T Wright
Entering through the Narrow Door Luke 13.22-30 I sat in the airport for two hours, waiting for my onward flight. I had come in to New York on a flight from England, and I was tired and eager to catch the connection to Washington, to get to where I was staying, and to rest for the…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Epiphany Isaiah 43.1–7 Acts 8.14–17 Luke 3.15–17, 21–22 We now have the middle of Luke 3 for the second time in four weeks, and verses 19–20 are still missing. This mightn’t matter so much if they didn’t relate as closely as they do to the underlying themes of…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Final Instructions for Worship
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Final Instructions for Worship
by SPCK - N T Wright
Final Instructions for Worship 1 Corinthians 14.26-40 ‘Last night I stood in awe at a mosaic dating from the sixth century. It is a picture of Jesus himself, ‘coming on the clouds’, and it’s in the domed apse above the altar in a church in Rome. Peter and Paul are standing on eit…
The Pastoral Letters - Foolish Words and the Word of Truth
The Pastoral Letters - Foolish Words and the Word of Truth
by SPCK - N T Wright
Foolish Words and the Word of Truth 2Timothy 2.14-19 ‘What we need to know’, said the young lawyer, ‘is what Professor Johnson really means by “reform”. He says he’s proposing a “reform” in the way we admit undergraduates to the College. But the word “reform” really means “the sa…
Revelation for Everyone - Four Horsemen