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The Pastoral Letters - The Character of Deacons
The Pastoral Letters - The Character of Deacons
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Character of Deacons 1Timothy 3.8-13 We had just begun to taxi out to the runway, and I was settling back in my seat and wondering what the airline might come up with for lunch. Suddenly the plane stopped. After a short pause, the captain came on the intercom. ‘Sorry, folks,’…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Challenge of Love
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Challenge of Love
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Challenge of Love 1 John 3.11-4.6 One of my favourite stories from the Old Testament is found in the book of 2 Kings, chapter 6. The context is one of continual skirmishing, and sometimes open warfare, between Israel, the northern half of the people of God, and Syria, their n…
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 First Disciples
John for Everyone Part 1 - The First Disciples
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Disciples John 1.35-42 I was staying with my uncle in Toronto. I was nineteen at the time. He took me with him for a day on one of his hobbies: clay-pigeon shooting. I hadn’t even seen the sport before, let alone done it. Little disks of clay are propelled from a machin…
Hebrews for Everyone - The God of Peace Be With You
Hebrews for Everyone - The God of Peace Be With You
by SPCK - N T Wright
The God of Peace Be With You Hebrews 13.17-25 I was chatting with a friend who had recently become a bishop. He was and is a wonderful man, scholarly, wise, outgoing, full of ideas and devotion and love and goodness. You might have thought any church would be glad to have him as …
2 Corinthians - The God of All Comfort
2 Corinthians - The God of All Comfort
by SPCK - N T Wright
The God of All Comfort 2 CORINTHIANS 4.13-18 ‘To Carthage then I came,’ wrote T. S. Eliot in one of his famous poems. One can imagine someone picking up the poem in a bookshop and wondering what on earth he was talking about. Had he gone to the real Carthage, in North Africa? If …
2 Corinthians - The God Who Comforts the Downcast
2 Corinthians - The God Who Comforts the Downcast
by SPCK - N T Wright
The God Who Comforts the Downcast 2 CORINTHIANS 7.2-10 What is your image of what a successful Christian ought to look like? Do you have in the back of your mind a picture of a person who goes through life in perfect faith and trust, obedient to God in everything, never afraid of…
Revelation for Everyone - The Golden Censer
Revelation for Everyone - The Golden Censer
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Golden Censer Revelation 8.1-5 Bernard Levin was one of the greatest London journalists of the last generation. In his later years he wrote mostly for The Times, at one point producing three columns a week so varied, so lively, and sometimes so controversial, that for numerou…
Luke for Everyone - The Healing of the Demoniac
Luke for Everyone - The Healing of the Demoniac
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Healing of the Demoniac Luke 8.26-39 I have a photograph, framed above my mantelpiece, of the sea of Galilee seen from the top of the Golan heights. I took it on a sunny day in late autumn: the scene is tranquil and clear, with the town of Tiberias just visible on the opposit…
Luke for Everyone - The Healing of the Centurion's Servant
Luke for Everyone - The Healing of the Centurion's Servant
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Healing of the Centurion’s Servant Luke 7.1-10 The soldier walks forward slowly into the jungle. His task is to protect villagers from terrorists; every step means danger. Suddenly a command reaches him on his radio. His senior officer has seen where the enemy are hiding. He …
Luke for Everyone - The Healing of the Leper
Luke for Everyone - The Healing of the Leper
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Healing of the Leper Luke 5.12-16 Imagine a man in prison for serious fraud. When he has served his sentence, and re-emerged into the community, what will happen if he goes to his old employer and asks for his job back? What will happen, indeed, if he goes to any employer and…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Last Supper
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Last Supper
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Last Supper Matthew 26.26-35 There is an article in the newspaper today about two families locked in a highly expensive legal battle. It’s all the sadder because they are next-door neighbours. The case turns on the right of one family to keep on the premises what by most peop…
Revelation for Everyone - The Last Three Plagues
Revelation for Everyone - The Last Three Plagues
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Last Three Plagues Revelation 16.10-21 The lunch had been substantial, the meeting was tedious, the room was warm, and the speakers droned on and on. The chairman noticed that one of his colleagues was finally subsiding into slumber. With cruel timing, he waited until the poo…
Simply Jesus - The Making of a First-Century Storm
Simply Jesus - The Making of a First-Century Storm
by SPCK - N T Wright
The making of a first-century storm A really good metaphor deserves more than one outing – as Jesus himself seems to have found, using and reusing ideas and scenes in his kaleidoscopic display of parables. Let’s have another go at the perfect storm, then, but now set in the first…
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…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Lord's Coming
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Lord's Coming
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Lord’s Coming Thessalonians 4.13-18 How do you describe the colour blue to a blind person? If someone has never been able to see, how can you even convey the idea of colour, let alone the difference between colours? That difficulty faces Christians whenever we talk about the …
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The Love that Stitches It All Together