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Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Reasons for Parables
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Reasons for Parables
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Reason for Parables Matthew 13.10-17 We went out one windy day to plant a row of trees. The storms of the previous winter had damaged some of the oaks that surrounded the ancient church, and we had decided to remove them and plant new ones. The actual planting was to be done …
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - The Snake on Malta
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - The Snake on Malta
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Snake on Malta Acts 28.1-10 It was only when I got back from the walk that I realized I was foolish not to have taken a stick. The hills up by the Scottish border, where I was walking by myself, were known to have plenty of adders, and the fact that the previous year they had…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Sign of Life
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Sign of Life
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sign of Life 2 John 1-6 When I was doing research on life after death, and on what people believed about it, I came across some disturbing material from the nineteenth century. People had realized that sometimes the doctors made a mistake, supposing someone to be dead when th…
Luke for Everyone - The Sign of Jonah
Luke for Everyone - The Sign of Jonah
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sign of Jonah Luke 11.29-41 The great church is completely dark. It is almost midnight, and the little crowd outside the west door shuffles round and stamps to keep warm in the chilly April air. Then, as the clock strikes, the fire is lit, with a sudden glow on all the watchi…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Thessalonians' Faith
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Thessalonians' Faith
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Thessalonians’ Faith Thessalonians 1.6-10 ‘Well,’ I said last week when my son came home from a movie, ‘did you enjoy it?’ I knew the answer as I asked the question. The movie was OK, but not that great. If he’d really enjoyed it, I wouldn’t have had to ask. He would have com…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Word that Goes to Work
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Word that Goes to Work
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Work that Goes to Work James 1.19-27 Human wisdom regularly produces proverbs. ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’ ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss.’ And so on. One of the proverbs I learned very early in life went like this: ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will n…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Two into One Will Go
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Two into One Will Go
by SPCK - N T Wright
Two into One Will Go Ephesians 2.11-16 We lived for four years by the banks of the Ottawa river, north-west of Montreal. It is a great river, already over 400 miles long by the time it passed our village. By the time it reached us it was over a mile wide. Not far downstream, howe…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - True and False Wisdom
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - True and False Wisdom
by SPCK - N T Wright
True and False Wisdom James 3.13-18 It all began with a wrong diagnosis. I came upon the obituary of a famous actress in the newspaper just the other day. She wasn’t particularly old – in her early 70s, quite young these days. Her doctor hadn’t seen the early warning signs. By th…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Warnings Against Compromise
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Warnings Against Compromise
by SPCK - N T Wright
Warnings Against Compromise Galatians 5.7-12 One of the few times I watch television is when I’m travelling, and find myself in a strange place, with my body-clock telling me I should be awake when it’s the middle of the night. Sitting in a hotel room, and wishing I could go to s…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - What is the Body For?
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - What is the Body For?
by SPCK - N T Wright
What Is the Body For? 1 Corinthians 6.12-20 I once knew a student who never bothered to buy a screwdriver. He had a couple of knives that he used instead, one larger and one smaller; and most of the things he needed to screw or unscrew he could do quite well with the point of one…
Hebrews for Everyone - What Faith Really Means
Hebrews for Everyone - What Faith Really Means
by SPCK - N T Wright
What Faith Really Means Hebrews 11.1-6 I had thought we were alone on the hillside. It had been misty for some of our walk, and at other times sharp little squalls of rain had spat in our faces. But we had kept going, knowing there would be some difficult climbing later on (a roc…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - What if the Messiah Wasn't Raised?
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - What if the Messiah Wasn't Raised?
by SPCK - N T Wright
What if the Messiah Wasn’t Raised? 1 Corinthians 15.12-19 Robert had longed to play in the school football team. He had watched every game since he had come to the school. He had idolized the players and thought about the different styles of play, the different skills that were n…
The Pastoral Letters - Women Must Be Allowed to be Learners
The Pastoral Letters - Women Must Be Allowed to be Learners
by SPCK - N T Wright
Woman Must Be Allowed to be Learners 1Timothy 2.8-15 As I write this, a short war has just finished in the Middle East. The newspapers have been full of it, and now they are picking over the details: was it really justified, who was to blame, did the invading armies fight accordi…
Luke for Everyone - Woes Against the Pharisees
Luke for Everyone - Woes Against the Pharisees
by SPCK - N T Wright
Woes Against the Pharisees Luke 11.42-54 The tennis player came grumpily into the television interview room. He had just lost a vital match in the Wimbledon men’s singles tournament, the premier tennis event of the year. He was tired and cross. Worse: in the course of the game, s…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Wives and Husbands
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Wives and Husbands
by SPCK - N T Wright
Wives and Husbands Ephesians 5.21-33 At the start of the twenty-first century, it has been remarked that it is harder than ever to be a boy. Today, in the supposedly civilized and sophisticated countries of the world, there is growing up a whole generation of young men who feel t…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Skin Disorder Removed and Exposed
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Skin Disorder Removed and Exposed
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Skin Disorder Removed and Imposed 2 Kings 5:1-6:7 Yesterday was the fourth Sunday in the month, and as usual on that Sunday we didn’t have a “proper” sermon; the rector sat on a chair and invited the congregation to tell us what they heard God saying to us out of the Scripture …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - A Summons, not a Call
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - A Summons, not a Call
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Summons, Not a Call 1 Samuel 3: 1- 4: 1a One of my friends is going through the “discernment process” whereby the Episcopal Church seeks to decide whether she is called to ordained ministry. It involves meetings with a group of people from your local church, with diocesan offic…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Story about Several Asses