Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Children, Parents, Slaves and Masters
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Children, Parents, Slaves and Masters
by SPCK - N T Wright
Children, Parents, Slaves and Masters Ephesians 6.1-9 My first experience of a building site was disillusioning. I was part of the work crew building a factory. (I did the job for four weeks during a university holiday.) Right from the start it became clear that, with only one ex…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Christ the King Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Christ the King Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christ the King Jeremiah 23.1–6 Colossians 1.11–20 Luke 23.33–43 Shepherds, shepherding stories, and shepherding metaphors abound throughout the Bible, as one would expect in that culture. The creative thing in Israel’s traditions, though, was the development of ‘the shepherd’ as…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Christ the King Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Christ the King Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christ the King Daniel 7.9-10, 13-14 Revelation 1.4b-8 John 18.33b-37 The ‘Feast of Christ the King’ was invented by Pius XI in 1925. Only in 1970 was it moved from October to the last Sunday before Advent. It slid into Anglicanism very recently, introducing three muddles. First,…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Christ the Seed, Christ the Mediator
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Christ the Seed, Christ the Mediator
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christ the Seed, Christ the Mediator Galatians 3.15-22 ‘It’s what he would have wanted.’ How often has that phrase been used to settle an argument, when someone has died and the family are trying to organize the funeral, or the disposal of property, or the appropriate way to brin…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Day of Pentecost Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Day of Pentecost Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Day of Pentecost Acts 2.1–21 Romans 8.14–17 John 14.8–17 The Israelites had been aware of certain persons in their midst, unpredictable and untameable, in whom the Spirit of YHWH dwelt. They spoke his word, led his people, encouraged, rebuked, prayed for and agonized over Israel.…
Mark for Everyone - David’s Son and the Widow’s Mite
Mark for Everyone - David’s Son and the Widow’s Mite
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 12.35–44 David’s Son and the Widow’s Mite... ...The final scene in the Temple courtyards takes us to a dense and difficult riddle which Jesus himself puts to his hearers (and which they cannot answer), and to a small but striking incident by the Temple trea…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Disaster
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Disaster
by SPCK - N T Wright
Disaster Acts 5.1-11 Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great Victorian Baptist preacher, recounted the story of how, on one occasion, he was preaching as usual when he found himself denouncing some- one in the congregation whom he didn’t know. Words came into his mouth describing how …
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Divided Loyalties
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Divided Loyalties
by SPCK - N T Wright
Divided Loyalties 1 Corinthians 7.32-40 He came to see me both excited and distressed. He was one of the brightest students I had ever taught at that time; but he was also passionately involved in the plight of some of the poorest people in the world. Most of his fellow students …
2 Corinthians - Death and Glory
2 Corinthians - Death and Glory
by SPCK - N T Wright
Death and Glory 2 CORINTHIANS 3.7-11 The two teenagers were slumped in armchairs. Both of them had their headphones plugged into personal stereos, and had the faraway look of people being carried along by hidden sounds. One of them nodded her head gently in time with the beat. Th…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Dead to Sin, Alive to God
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Dead to Sin, Alive to God
by SPCK - N T Wright
Dead to Sin, Alive to God ROMANS 6.6-11 From time to time I hear of someone who has suffered a bad accident, or a particular kind of illness, and can no longer remember who they are. It must be deeply disturbing – both for the person concerned and for those trying to help. We are…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Disputes about Jesus
John for Everyone Part 1 - Disputes about Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Disputes about Jesus John 7.10-18 ‘You’ll find out how when you really want to.’ Jeff ’s mother was trying, not for the first time, to teach him how to cook. He just couldn’t get the hang of it. He would see what she was doing and copy her, but when he tried later to do it himsel…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Discussions of Clean and Unclean
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Discussions of Clean and Unclean
by SPCK - N T Wright
Discussions of Clean and Unclean Matthew 15.1-9 All churches have jokes about the power of tradition. How many Anglicans (or Methodists, or Baptists, or Roman Catholics . . . or whatever you like) does it take to change a light bulb? Five, comes the answer: one to change the bulb…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - From Bad to Worse
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - From Bad to Worse
by SPCK - N T Wright
From Bad to Worse 2 Peter 2.10b-22 ‘A year or two ago I was invited to dinner with some friends, who had also invited a judge. I don’t often meet senior members of the legal profession, and I was intrigued to hear what he might say about his work. My anticipation turned to shock …
Lent for Everyone Year A - Friday after Ash Wednesday Reflection
Lent for Everyone Year A - Friday after Ash Wednesday Reflection
by SPCK - N T Wright
FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Matthew 4; focused on 4.18 –25 18 There’s a sense of excitement at the start of the season. The ground is prepared and marked out. The fixture list is printed. Everything is ready. So along you go for the first match. But imagine what it would be like i…
Hebrews for Everyone - From Mount Sinai to Mount Sion
Hebrews for Everyone - From Mount Sinai to Mount Sion
by SPCK - N T Wright
From Mount Sinai to Mount Sion Hebrews 12.18-24 ‘The year we moved to London we gave each of the children a map of the city and a small guide to the main attractions. Predictably, each of them became excited over different things which the city had to offer. One was noting the ma…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Freedom in Christ
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Freedom in Christ
by SPCK - N T Wright
Freedom in Christ Galatians 5.1-6 The lake freezes over for four months in the winter, to a depth of at least ten feet. People drive not only snowmobiles across it, but even cars and vans. It’s exciting – and also quite convenient – to be able to drive across the water to the vil…
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B - Friday after Ash Wednesday Year B
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B - Friday after Ash Wednesday Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY... ...Three times yesterday the doorbell rang unexpectedly. First it was the engineer; he came to inspect the foundations of the outhouse. Then it was the builder; he came to measure for some windows that need replacing. Fi…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Fruit of the Spirit