New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Creation Renewed
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Creation Renewed
by SPCK - N T Wright
5 THE RENEWAL OF THE WORLD CREATION RENEWED Romans 8: 18-25 I walked through the wood several times before I realized what the signpost meant. The wood was thick, with paths leading this way and that. I knew some of them quite well, and had my favourites among them. There was the…
2 Corinthians - Copying the Generosity of the Lord Jesus
2 Corinthians - Copying the Generosity of the Lord Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Copying the Generosity of the Lord Jesus 2 CORINTHIANS 8.8-15 A few months ago there was a news item about a woman crossing the Atlantic Ocean single-handedly in a rowing boat. At least, she ended up doing it single-handedly; to begin with, her husband had been with her, but he h…
Hebrews for Everyone - Danger! God's Word at Work
Hebrews for Everyone - Danger! God's Word at Work
by SPCK - N T Wright
Danger! God’s Word at Work Hebrews 4.11-13 I washed the kitchen knife, put it down for a moment and then picked it up to dry it. As I did so, I felt what seemed like a slight tickle at the end of one finger. I looked down, and to my surprise and alarm saw blood spurting out of a …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Darkened Mind, Darkened Behaviour
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Darkened Mind, Darkened Behaviour
by SPCK - N T Wright
Darkened Mind, Darkened Behaviour ROMANS 1.28-32 Some years ago I attended a prize-giving at a local school. The headmaster made an entertaining speech, in the course of which he read out, without telling us who had written it or when, a long description of how the younger genera…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Bring on the Barristers
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Bring on the Barristers
by SPCK - N T Wright
Bring on the Barristers Acts 24.1-9 Jokes about lawyers are unkind, ungrateful, uncharitable – and often uncannily accurate. I remember listening in horror as a clever and unscrupulous young lawyer, in a meeting of a college governing body, constructed a rhetorically powerful arg…
2 Corinthians - Boasting of Weaknesses
2 Corinthians - Boasting of Weaknesses
by SPCK - N T Wright
Boasting of Weaknesses 2 CORINTHIANS 11.21b-33 You can see the war memorial from the other side of the valley. It stands on the slope just below the main school buildings, a simple but elegant cloister of grey stone, containing the names of boys from the school who died in the gr…
John for Everyone part 2 - Breakfast by the Shore
John for Everyone part 2 - Breakfast by the Shore
by SPCK - N T Wright
Breakfast by the Shore John 21.9-14 I don’t know much about mental health, and the therapy that can produce it. But I do know a little about the healing of memories, and the finding of a forgiveness that can go back to a buried hurt, fear, failure or sin and deal with it. I have …
John for Everyone Part 1 - Children of Abraham - Or of the Devil
John for Everyone Part 1 - Children of Abraham - Or of the Devil
by SPCK - N T Wright
Children of Abraham – Or of the Devil John 8.37-47 The famous psychologist Carl Jung published, among his many works, a picture-book illustrating the main points of his thought about the strange ways in which the human mind works. One of the most striking pages is a picture of Ad…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Building A Christian Character
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Building A Christian Character
by SPCK - N T Wright
2 THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SELF BUILDING A CHRISTIAN CHARACTER 2 Peter 1: 1-11 My grandson, aged one and a half, was taken the other day into a big toyshop. It was a riot of exciting things, all in bright colours. From floor to ceiling, from one end of the shop to the other, and…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Chasing On To The Finish
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Chasing On To The Finish
by SPCK - N T Wright
4 THE PATH OF THE DISCIPLE CHASING ON TO THE FINISH Philippians 3: 12-16 The athletics match had reached a critical stage. One of the final races was left to be run: the 440 yards (the old version of today’s 400 metres). The athletes were bunched together as they came to the firs…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Chasing on to the Finish
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Chasing on to the Finish
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chasing on to the Finish Philippians 3.12-16 The athletics match had reached a critical stage. One of the final races was left to be run: the 440 yards (the old version of today’s 400 metres). The athletes were bunched together as they came to the first bend, and one of them was …
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Born of God
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Born of God
by SPCK - N T Wright
Born of God 1 John 3.1-10 There are many stories about people who are blind who then receive the gift of sight. One of the most remarkable, of course, is found in chapter 9 of John’s gospel, where Jesus heals a man who had been born blind. But there are plenty more such stories i…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Boasting in the Cross
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Boasting in the Cross
by SPCK - N T Wright
Boasting in the Cross Galatians 6.11-18 At least half of all the items that come through my letter-box each day are what we loosely call ‘junk mail’. Often I receive letters which, though they may have my name at the top, have in fact been mass-produced by a computer as part of a…
2 Corinthians - Boasting in The Lord
2 Corinthians - Boasting in The Lord
by SPCK - N T Wright
Boasting in the Lord 2 CORINTHIANS 10.12-18 I took my son to school on a snowy morning. He was wearing boots, gloves, a woolly hat and a thick coat. When we got there – he was about five years old – we had quite a struggle to take it all off and get him ready for classes. To help…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The First Sunday of Christmas Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The First Sunday of Christmas Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Christmas - Year A Isaiah 63: 7-9 Hebrews 2: 10-18 Matthew 12: 13-23 More Isaianic translation problems. Fortunately here the meaning is not in doubt. ‘In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them’? – or is it ‘He became t…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Christianity Declared Legal in Achaea
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Christianity Declared Legal in Achaea
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christianity Declared Legal in Achaea Acts 18.12-17 Though I have walked with great pleasure in the hills of the north of England, both the Lake District in the west and the Cheviot hills in the east, I have only once walked in the almost equally famous Peak District of Derbyshir…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Children of God, Led by the Spirit
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Children of God, Led by the Spirit
by SPCK - N T Wright
Children of God, Led by the Spirit ROMANS 8.12-17 Debt is one of the great problems of today’s world. When I was younger, banks didn’t allow many people to run into debt. Credit cards hadn’t been invented. Student loans were not even thought of. Of course, people still got into d…
Hebrews for Everyone - Christian Suffering is God's Discipline