Mark for Everyone - The Calling of Levi
Mark for Everyone - The Calling of Levi
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 2.13–17 The Calling of Levi... ...There are some jobs where you need a particularly thick skin. In many modern Western countries, one of the worst is being a parking attendant or traffic warden. All day long it’s your job to give people parking tickets, to …
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Calming of the Storm
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Calming of the Storm
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Calming of the Storm Matthew 8.23-27 The sea has always been a symbol of wild, untamable power. You only have to stand beside the ocean, even on a calm day, to sense something of it. There is so much of it, for a start; when the tide comes in, up a beach, imagine how many gal…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Call of Matthew
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Call of Matthew
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Call of Matthew Matthew 9.9-17 I was a teenager in the famous 1960s. Revolution was in the air. Protests, especially among young people, were the order of the day. Young Americans protested against the Vietnam war. Students in Paris told factory workers they had nothing to lo…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - The End is Where We Start From
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - The End is Where We Start From
by SPCK - N T Wright
The End is Where We Start FromActs 28.23-31 When I was an undergraduate, I played the trombone (badly) in various instant home-made orchestras. There were plenty of budding conductors around, eager to try out their skills, and they would organize concerts at a couple of weeks’ …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Divine Purpose, and Limited Role, of Ruling Authorities
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Divine Purpose, and Limited Role, of Ruling Authorities
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Divine Purpose, and Limited Role, of Ruling Authorities ROMANS 13.1-7 When you hear the word ‘policeman’, what is your instant reaction? For many people growing up in Britain when I was young, the policeman was a friendly and familiar figure. (There weren’t many policewomen a…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Desolating Sacrilege
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Desolating Sacrilege
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Desolating Sacrilege Matthew 24.15-28 In many countries, one of the things children look forward to is going away to a summer camp. The weather is warm, there is swimming and boating, there are old friends and new ones, there are songs round a campfire, there are sports and g…
John for Everyone part 2 - The Death of Lazarus
John for Everyone part 2 - The Death of Lazarus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Death of Lazarus John 11.1-16 Why didn’t they do something? A friend of mine had been invited to take on the leadership of a vibrant, growing church. He and his family were eager to go and meet this new challenge. But the church authorities seemed to be dragging their feet ab…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Double "Law" and the Miserable "I"
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Double "Law" and the Miserable "I"
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Double “Law” and the Miserable “I” ROMANS 7.21-25 When you do a complicated mathematical sum, you end up by drawing a line across the page and displaying the result, or, if you like, your ‘findings’. The same thing happens after a lengthy judicial review of some complex quest…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Death of Judas
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Death of Judas
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Death of Judas Matthew 27.1-10 Perhaps the most interesting thing about this story is the people who do not show remorse. In many countries, a feature of the criminal justice system is that people who have been jailed for serious crimes often become eligible for parole, or po…
Mark for Everyone - The Demon-Possessed Boy
Mark for Everyone - The Demon-Possessed Boy
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 9.14–29 The Demon-Possessed Boy... ...Our mountain walk started quite easily. We strolled along the first mile or two, following the red flashes of paint on nearby rocks, which marked the route. Only a gentle incline; we didn’t even break into a sweat. We b…
John for Everyone part 2 - The Empty Tomb
John for Everyone part 2 - The Empty Tomb
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Empty Tomb John 20.1-10 Darkness on the face of the deep. The formless beginning, the chaos. The void. The beginning. The wind and the word. God’s breath, God’s speech, summoning things never known before. Life and light. The first day. Creation. In the beginning was the Word…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Dying and the Rising with Christ
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Dying and the Rising with Christ
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Dying and the Rising with Christ Colossians 2.20-3.4 ‘I’ll just be two minutes,’ I said, leaving my friends on the street corner while I went to fetch the car. It was raining, and we’d just come out of the theatre. But I wasn’t two minutes. I took more like ten. They were sta…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Epiphany - Year A Isaiah 42: 1-9 Acts 10: 34-43 Matthew 3: 13-17 John’s baptism can easily seem a mere introduction, the soon-to-be-forgotten starting point. The early Church clearly didn’t see it like that, since John continues to haunt the story in all four …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Isaiah 1.10–18 2 Thessalonians 1.1–12 Luke 19.1–10 Luke cuts Zacchaeus even more down to size, describing him with affected pomposity (‘he was a chief tax-collector! He was rich!’) and then pointing out that he was also a bit too small for his own …
The Pastoral Letters - The First Rule: Prayer fo the World
The Pastoral Letters - The First Rule: Prayer fo the World
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Rule: Prayer for the World 1Timothy 2.1-7 When did you last make a list of people you wanted to pray for? Whose were the first names you wrote down? Most of us would start with the people we know and love best: our spouse, our children, our parents; other close relative…
Revelation for Everyone - The First Four Plagues
Revelation for Everyone - The First Four Plagues
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Four Plagues Revelation 16.1-9 I was cycling down the road one day when I came up beside my former tutor. I had studied the New Testament with him some years before, and was now engaged on some early work towards my doctorate. ‘How are you getting on?’ he asked. ‘How’s …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Advent Year C