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Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - Warnings and Greetings
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - Warnings and Greetings
by SPCK - N T Wright
Warnings and Greetings ROMANS 16.17-24 It had been a difficult meeting. Several complex issues had been on the table, some of them involving delicate political issues, others involving money. It was right at the end of a busy university term, and everyone was tired and inclined t…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Warnings and Encouragements
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Warnings and Encouragements
by SPCK - N T Wright
Warnings and Encouragements Matthew 10.24-31 Which command is repeated most often in the Bible? You might imagine it’s something stern: Behave yourself! Smarten up! Say your prayers! Worship God more wholeheartedly! Give more money away! You’d be wrong. It’s the command we find i…
Lent for Everyone Year A - Wednesday: Third Week in lent Year A
Lent for Everyone Year A - Wednesday: Third Week in lent Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
WEEK 3: WEDNESDAY Matthew 15.21–38; focused on 15.21–28 Let’s listen in on this conversation. Stand in the crowd and see what you think. We’re up north now, away from Galilee. Jesus has already spoken of this region (‘the district of Tyre and Sidon’) in such a way as to make it…
Revelation for Everyone - Worthy is the Lamb!
Revelation for Everyone - Worthy is the Lamb!
by SPCK - N T Wright
Worthy is the Lamb! Revelation 5.8-14 Think of it as another visit to the theatre. You are sitting in the dark when the drum begins. A slow, steady rhythm. It’s telling you something. It’s going somewhere. It builds up, louder and louder. Then the voices join in. Wild, excited si…
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-I Psalm 9: 1-18 Yesterday a pastor in Florida invited me to look at his blog, where he had written about God’s renewing the church. When God renewed the church (as happened with the emergence of Pentecostalism a century ago, for instance…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Universal and the Local
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Universal and the Local
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Universal and the Local JOSHUA 22:1- 34 Like a number of denominations, the Anglican/Episcopal church to which I belong is in a mess because different parts of the world and different groups in the same parts of the world hold conflicting views about the real nature of Christ…
The Act of Prayer Year B - Day of Pentecost - Year B
The Act of Prayer Year B - Day of Pentecost - Year B
by BRF - John Birch
Day of Pentecost Year B The Act of Prayer Praying through the lectionary ACTS 2:1–21 Romans 8: 22-27 PSALM 104: 24-34, 35b JOHN 15: 26-27, 16: 4b-15; Opening prayer Loving Father, be the focus of our lives as we meet together in your name. Precious Jesus, be the cornerstone on wh…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - Palm Sunday The Liturgy of the Palms Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - Palm Sunday The Liturgy of the Palms Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Palm Sunday The Liturgy of the Palms Luke 19.28-40 Gaze on that onlooker at the back, peering over the taller people at the front of the crowds. It could be you or me. Your heart is thumping, you are so exhilarated. For once, feel ready to come out of your safe corner and move to…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Trinity Sunday John 16: 12-15 Gaze on one of the great triptychs of medieval painting. These three-panelled paintings can be seen in all the great museums and some of the old cathedrals in Europe, displayed behind the altar. The main panel is flanked on either side by another, ti…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 23 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 23 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 23 2 Kings 5.1–3, 7–15c 2 Timothy 2.8–15 Luke 17.11–19 The story of Naaman has got everything. To begin with, the hero is a thoroughly likeable character. (Well, I suppose you could argue that Elisha is the real hero of the story, and no one could call him exactly likeable…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 22 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 22 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 22 Habakkuk 1.1–4; 2.1–4 2 Timothy 1.1–14 Luke 17.5–10 This central section of Luke’s Gospel is full of very uncomfortable reading. It starts at 9.51, when Jesus ‘set his face to go to Jerusalem’, and the ministry enters a new phase. Now everything he says and does is bein…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3.14–20 Philippians 4.4–7 Luke 3.7–18 The book of Zephaniah is not, on the whole, cheerful reading, and almost everything about it is disputed by the various commentaries on it. No one is absolutely sure when it was written, despite its firm p…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Comment for the Faith
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Comment for the Faith
by SPCK - N T Wright
Contend for the Faith Judah 1-4 In my teens and my early twenties, one of my passions was rock-climbing. I wouldn’t say I was an utterly fearless climber; I had a proper respect for danger, and didn’t try to do things which were too far outside my competence. But I relished the c…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Creation Renewed and Patient Hope
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Creation Renewed and Patient Hope
by SPCK - N T Wright
Creation Renewed and Patient Hope ROMANS 8.18-25 I walked through the wood several times before I realized what the signpost meant. The wood was thick, with paths leading this way and that. I knew some of them quite well, and had my favourites among them. There was the one that l…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Boasting in the Cross
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Boasting in the Cross
by SPCK - N T Wright
Boasting in the Cross Galatians 6.11-18 At least half of all the items that come through my letter-box each day are what we loosely call ‘junk mail’. Often I receive letters which, though they may have my name at the top, have in fact been mass-produced by a computer as part of a…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Fruit of the Spirit
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Fruit of the Spirit
by SPCK - N T Wright
Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5.22-26 The Christmas decorations were spectacular. I went down the street from store to store, and in each window – and indeed in the street itself – there were pretty lights and multicoloured decorations. Every shop seemed to have sparkling trees, …
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus' Baptism