Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3.14–20 Philippians 4.4–7 Luke 3.7–18 The new lectionary has hardly begun, and I fear I am going to grumble about it as I did about its predecessor. How will people ever learn that the Bible and its message are politically relevant – that the …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Epiphany Nehemiah 8.1–3, 5–6, 8–10 1 Corinthians 12.12–31a Luke 4.14–21 Read the text, and give the sense. Both matter. The first is given, there on the page. The second is risky, a matter of prayer and the Spirit, a deep breath and taking the plunge. History …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Easter Acts 9.1–20 Revelation 5.11–14 John 21.1–19 John 21 contains in microcosmic form most of the elements of the previous narrative. We are back in Galilee, with Peter and his friends going fishing. Jesus reveals himself as he had done throughout. He feed…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday in Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday in Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Lent Isaiah 55.1–9 1 Corinthians 10.1–13 Luke 13.1–9 Just in case anyone thought the Old Testament was all gloomy and the New cheerful, here are two passages of dire warning from the New Testament preceded by a warm, redeeming invitation from the Old. Underlyi…
2 Corinthians - The Vision and the Thorn
2 Corinthians - The Vision and the Thorn
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Vision and the Thorn 2 CORINTHIANS 12.1-10 Daedalus was a legendary Greek sculptor and craftsman, famous throughout the ancient world for his many clever inventions. It’s probable that he really did exist, though many of the stories about him and his work are clearly made up …
Luke for Everyone - The Twelve Sent Out and Feeding the Five Thousand
Luke for Everyone - The Twelve Sent Out and Feeding the Five Thousand
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Twelve Sent Out and Feeding the Five Thousand Luke 9.1-17 When a new business starts up, it’s often the dream of one person that makes it happen. But if the business succeeds, more people need to come on board. Not just to do the detailed work that the founder hasn’t got time…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Unveiling of God's Covenant Justice
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Unveiling of God's Covenant Justice
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Unveiling of God’s Covenant Justice ROMANS 3.21-24 There are many plays and movies which turn, often at the last minute, on a sudden intervention. Someone arrives, perhaps galloping in on horseback into a trial or a wedding or a lynching, bringing news of a reprieve, or a mes…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Twelve Are Sent Out
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Twelve Are Sent Out
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Twelve Are Sent Out Matthew 10.1-15 ‘But how will I know the way?’ I asked, setting off on my first solo car journey. ‘Don’t be silly,’ said my mother. ‘We’ve been going there for years! You’ll know it all right.’ But I didn’t. I recognized many parts of the road. But there i…
Mark for Everyone - The Twelve Are Appointed
Mark for Everyone - The Twelve Are Appointed
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 3.7–19 The Twelve Are Appointed... ...When I was a boy, the football team I support, Newcastle United, won the FA Cup, the world’s oldest football trophy, three years out of five. Think what it was like in Newcastle when the players came back from the match…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Two Olive Trees
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Two Olive Trees
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Two Olive Trees ROMANS 11.16-24 ‘This place isn’t big enough for both of us!’ We’ve all heard it, or perhaps even said it. Sometimes it’s in an office where two managers are both wanting their plans to go ahead. Sometimes it’s in a sports team where two players both want to b…
2 Corinthians - The Veil and The Glory
2 Corinthians - The Veil and The Glory
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Veil and the Glory 2 CORINTHIANS 3.12-18 The story is told of a time when there was to be a total eclipse of the sun. The newspapers and the radio and television stations repeatedly put out warnings, reminding people that they should not attempt to look directly at the sun. E…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Two Types of Slavery
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Two Types of Slavery
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Two Types of Slavery ROMANS 6.15-19 One of our newspaper columnists came up with a bright idea for achieving two purposes at once. British society (in common with many others in the Western world) is facing a worrying rise in youth crime. Many young people have no jobs, no pu…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Two Ways
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Two Ways
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Two Ways Matthew 7.13-23 Driving the car these days becomes more and more complicated. On any given stretch of road there are more and more warning signs. ‘Lane closed.’ ‘Mud on Road.’ ‘Slow Farm Vehicles.’ Not to mention signs telling you how fast you’re allowed to drive, wa…
Lent for Everyone Year A - Thursday after Ash Wednesday Year A
Lent for Everyone Year A - Thursday after Ash Wednesday Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
HURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Matthew 3; focused on 3.1–12 1 When a couple get married, there is so much to learn. Not so much the immediate and obvious things – favourite foods, musical tastes, good ideas for holidays, and so on. There are deeper things that make each one of us m…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - To Caesar You Shall Go
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - To Caesar You Shall Go
by SPCK - N T Wright
To Caesar You Shall Go Acts 25.1-12 There is a kind of wistfulness about the royal Psalms. We imagine them being sung in the first Temple in Jerusalem, some of the Western world’s oldest and still finest poetry. ‘Give the king your judgments, O God, and your justice to the king’s…
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B - Thursday after Ash Wednesday Year B
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B - Thursday after Ash Wednesday Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY... ...It was the organist’s night off. His deputy, fresh from college and looking even younger than he actually was, took charge of the choir. The singers – a good-hearted lot, but choirs will be choirs – were, almost ins…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - To Live or to Die?
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - To Live or to Die?
by SPCK - N T Wright
To Live or to Die? Philippians 1.18b-26 One of the great questions that people have asked throughout human history, and still address particularly to religious leaders, is this: where do we go when we die? Until recently, most people in what used to be the Christian Western world…
2 Corinthians - Time to Forgive