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
Hebrews for Everyone - Christian Suffering is God's Discipline
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christian Suffering is God’s Discipline Hebrews 12.4-11 Western society is in a turmoil these days about discipline. We have become very aware of the dangers of physical violence at every level. What happens when a child grows up knowing only that authority belongs to the person …
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