Search Results
Revelation for Everyone - Sealing God's People
Revelation for Everyone - Sealing God's People
by SPCK - N T Wright
Sealing God’s People Revelation 7.1-8 Just when you think you are nearly at the top of the mountain, you crest a ridge and there . . . is another ridge half a mile ahead, steeper than the one you’ve just climbed. That is how it feels to get to this point in the sequence of the ‘s…
Luke for Everyone - Temptation in the Wilderness
Luke for Everyone - Temptation in the Wilderness
by SPCK - N T Wright
Temptation in the Wilderness Luke 4.1-13 Jesus was not Superman. Many today, including some devout Christians, see him as a kind of Christian version of the movie character, able to do whatever he wanted, to ‘zap’ reality into any shape he liked. In the movies, Superman looks lik…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Challenge of Faith
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Challenge of Faith
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Challenge of Faith James 1.1-8 I used to think the waves had come from far away. Standing by the sea and watching the grey-green monsters roll in, it was easy to imagine that this wave, and then this one, and then the one after that, had made the journey from a distant land. …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Final Judgement is the Only One That Counts
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Final Judgement is the Only One That Counts
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Final Judgment Is the Only One that Counts ROMANS 14.7-12 As I pondered this passage, a verse from an old 1960s song came into my mind: And they argue through the night: Black is black, and white is white; Then walk away both knowing they are right. And nobody’s buying flower…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Man Born Blind
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Man Born Blind
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Man Born Blind John 9.1-12 I was just waking up, listening to the radio, when a news item caught my attention. Someone had been dismissed from their job for holding heretical views about the afterlife. I listened more intently. Who was it? What job had they been doing? Was it…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The New Way of Life
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The New Way of Life
by SPCK - N T Wright
The New Way of Life 1 Peter 3.8-16 Most of us know the feeling of getting into a car we haven’t driven before. You have a look round, see where the switch for the lights is, check the angle of the mirrors, and so on. It may take a moment to figure out, with some of today’s cars, …
Hebrews for Everyone - The Purpose of the Blood
Hebrews for Everyone - The Purpose of the Blood
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Purpose of the Blood Hebrews 9.15-22 To some, this passage is one of the most central in scripture; to others, it’s one of the most shocking. After the twentieth century, in which more human blood was spilled through war, torture and miscellaneous violence than in all previou…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Snares of the World and the Gift of God
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Snares of the World and the Gift of God
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Snares of the World and the Gift of God James 1.9-18 ‘Listen for the echo,’ said my friend. We were standing at the back of a great cathedral, and the choir was about to sing a powerful, beautiful anthem. Sure enough: the conductor knew what he was doing. As each part of the …
Luke for Everyone - The Transfiguration
Luke for Everyone - The Transfiguration
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Transfiguration Luke 9.28-45 The Oscar-winning movie Chariots of Fire tells the story of two athletes at the 1920 Paris Olympics. Harold Abrahams, after a gigantic struggle as much against himself as against the other runners, achieved the gold medal in the 100 yards. Eric Li…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Unclean Desires, Dishonoured Bodies
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Unclean Desires, Dishonoured Bodies
by SPCK - N T Wright
Unclean Desires, Dishonoured Bodies ROMANS 1.24-27 Imagine someone who knows nothing of music coming across a violin bow. It would be very puzzling. It has obviously been carefully made, they might think; but what is it for? It’s too narrow to be a kind of polishing implement; it…
Revelation for Everyone - Two Witnesses
Revelation for Everyone - Two Witnesses
by SPCK - N T Wright
Two Witnesses Revelation 11.1-14 People find many books puzzling, but the Bible is often the most puzzling of all. People find many parts of the Bible puzzling, but Revelation is often seen as the most puzzling book of all. And people find Revelation puzzling, but the first half …
Gazing on the Gospels Year A - Proper 4 Year A
Gazing on the Gospels Year A - Proper 4 Year A
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 4 - Year A Meditation on Matthew 7: 21-29 Gaze on a building project near you. First the fencing goes up, then the site is levelled and allthe rubble cleared away. Dust swirls around and covers your jeans. The land is surveyed and the plan pegged out. The rooms look so sma…
What are the gifts we would treasure most highly
What are the gifts we would treasure most highly
by Andrew Pratt
Hymn: What are the gifts we would treasure most highly Proper 12 year A 1 Kings 3: 5-12 What are the gifts we would treasure most highly: freedom or justice or money or wealth; food for the hungry or drink for the thirsty, love for our children, or power, or health? Once God had …
Such an enigmatic promise
Such an enigmatic promise
by Andrew Pratt
Fourth Sunday of Advent year A Isaiah 7: 10 – 16 Hymn: Such an enigmatic promise, Such an enigmatic promise, still we strain to understand how a girl gave birth to God-head in a distant time and land... Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.…
Symphony of song and colour
Symphony of song and colour
by Andrew Pratt
Third Sunday of Advent Year A Isaiah 35: 1 – 10Hymn: Symphony of song and colour Symphony of song and colour, mountain glories gild the globe, awesome time anticipated, God resplendent, brightly robed... Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.…
The shepherd mind had open eyes
The shepherd mind had open eyes
by Andrew Pratt
The shepherd mind had open eyes to calibrate the worth, to see beyond the poverty divine in human birth. These shepherd hands had held a lamb, had weighed* the new-born flesh. In every birth of lamb or child our hope is born afresh. Verses 3-4 follow *The older word, ‘hef…
Revelation for Everyone - Look! He is Coming
Revelation for Everyone - Look! He is Coming
by SPCK - N T Wright
Look! He Is Coming Revelation 1.1-8 The house lights went down, and the excited buzz of audience chatter quickly subsided as well. Soon it was quite dark in the theatre. Then music began, softly and mysteriously at first, but soon building up, swelling and rising. Just as it reac…
Nicodemus