SPCK - N T Wright
Revelation for Everyone - In the Throne Room
Revelation for Everyone - In the Throne Room
by SPCK - N T Wright
In the Throne Room Revelation 4.1-6a We were walking into the cathedral as part of a great procession. My companion, a senior clergyman, was looking at the service paper we had been given. ‘Ah!’ he said. ‘I see we have Revelation chapter 4 as the second reading.’ He smiled. ‘One …
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Laodicea
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Laodicea
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Letter to Laodicea Revelation 3.14-22 At the beginning of the year 2011, there were extraordinary floods in Australia. To begin with it was part of Queensland, the vast state in the north-east of the country. Then it was more of the state, and still more. Then the floodwaters…
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Philadelphia
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Philadelphia
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Letter to Philadelphia Revelation 3.7-13 I have been sitting here trying to imagine what it’s like to find yourself in an earthquake. I was once in a hotel in Los Angeles, a few dozen floors up, and was alarmed to find detailed instructions in the room on what I should do if …
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Sardis
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Sardis
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Letter to Sardis Revelation 3.1-6 You might be surprised to know that, in some parts of England, ‘The Wars of the Roses’ still live on. These wars were fought between the Houses of York (the white rose) and Lancaster (the red rose) in the fifteenth century. But, ever since, t…
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.…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Sunday after Ascension Day) Acts 16.16–34 Revelation 22.12–14, 16–17, 20–21 John 17.20–end If Luke had wanted to play down the trouble caused by the gospel, he would quietly have omitted the Philippi story. Healing for one person means loss of money …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 16.9–15 Revelation 21.10, 22—22.5 John 14.23–29 No Temple, no sun or moon, and no uncleanness either. A world without evil is, to us, as inconceivable as a world without sun and moon – or, for first-century Jews, a holy city without a Temple. In th…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 11.1–18 Revelation 21.1–6 John 13.31–35 You only discover the flavour of today’s Gospel if you remember that it comes immediately after Judas’s departure, and immediately before Peter’s rash promise to lay down his life for Jesus – and Jesus’ sorro…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 9.36–43 Revelation 7.9–17 John 10.22–30 Within the Easter kaleidoscope, the Lamb becomes the Shepherd. John 10 is already complex enough, with Jesus as both ‘shepherd’ and ‘door’, but Revelation characteristically twists the imagery round once mor…
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 Second Sunday of Easter Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Easter Acts 5.27–32 Revelation 1.4–8 John 20.19–end The report of Jesus’ resurrection strikes the chief priests as a threat of God’s judgement. Yes and no, reply the apostles: your guilt is swallowed up in the message of forgiveness, of new Spirit-given life.…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Easter Sunday Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Easter Sunday Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Easter Day Isaiah 65.17–25 1 Corinthians 15.19–26 Luke 24.1–12 ‘It seemed to them an idle tale.’ In Jesus’ world, nobody thought of ‘resurrection’ as happening to one person within ongoing history. It would happen at the very end, when God would raise all his people to share in…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Palm Sunday The Liturgy of the Passion Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Palm Sunday The Liturgy of the Passion Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Palm Sunday (Liturgy of the Passion) Isaiah 50.4–9a Philippians 2.5–11 Luke 22.14—23.56 Isaiah 50 strikes a jarring note in the Palm Sunday celebrations. Which is just as well: we know the end of the story, the fickleness of the crowd, the turning of cheers to jeers. The only Hos…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Passiontide begins) Isaiah 43.16–21 Philippians 3.4b–14 John 12.1–8 Two stark characterizations from John: the full-blown devotion of Mary and the brooding cynicism of Judas. (On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I think this may perhaps be the same story …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday of Lent Joshua 5.9–12 2 Corinthians 5.16–end Luke 15.1–3, 11b–end At Gilgal the Israelites, like the prodigal, exchanged the food of the wilderness for the food of home. In a dense little scene, explicable only in its wider context, the covenant signs come rushi…
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…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Lent Genesis 15.1–12, 17–18 Philippians 3.17—4.1 Luke 13.31–end The question raised by Philippians 3.17 is: how on earth can the Philippian church, Gentile Christians mostly, ‘join in imitating’ Paul? The chapter so far describes how Paul came to regard his o…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Lent Year C