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Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Prayer for Wisdom and Gratitude
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Prayer for Wisdom and Gratitude
by SPCK - N T Wright
Prayer for Wisdom and Gratitude Colossians 1.9-14 We watched, holding our breath, as the mother duck left the pond at the head of her brood. There were seven ducklings in all: four black ones and three yellow ones. They were lively and squeaky, scuttling to and fro. For days they…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Prayer and Peace
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Prayer and Peace
by SPCK - N T Wright
Prayer and Peace Ephesians 6.18-24 Imagine an eagle with clipped wings. Imagine a great oceangoing liner stuck in the Sahara sands. Imagine a basketball player with his ankles tied together. Imagine a railway locomotive in a ploughed field. Now imagine an ambassador wearing chain…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Praying in the Faith
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Praying in the Faith
by SPCK - N T Wright
Praying in the Faith James 5.13-20 There are many things in life which look extremely odd to someone who doesn’t know what’s going on. Imagine watching someone making a musical instrument if you’d never heard music in your life. What, you might think, can such an object possibly …
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Redeemed from the Law's Curse
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Redeemed from the Law's Curse
by SPCK - N T Wright
Redeemed from the Law’s Curse Galatians 3.10-14 I sat in the traffic jam for two hours. The road signs told me I was pointing in the right direction. From what I knew of the road it looked as though I was in the right place. But nothing was moving. The clock ticked slowly on; I w…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Scandal and Judgment
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Scandal and Judgment
by SPCK - N T Wright
Scandal and Judgment 1 Corinthians 5.1-5 When I was a boy, studying Greek and Latin classics, the texts we were given to study often had bits cut out. There were lines missing from poems, and sometimes entire sections; in one case (in the Roman writer Juvenal, I recall) a whole p…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Thanksgiving For Gospel's Work
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Thanksgiving For Gospel's Work
by SPCK - N T Wright
Thanksgiving For Gospel’s Work Colossians 1.1-8 When Susan bought the house, there wasn’t much growing in the garden. A few tatty little shrubs; a mouldy rosebush or two; a tree that had been bent sideways by a storm and left to grow crooked. It was a depressing sight. A few days…
The Pastoral Letters - The Character of a Bishop
The Pastoral Letters - The Character of a Bishop
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Character of a Bishop 1Timothy 3.1-7 A friend gave me a lift in the car the other night. He’s a politician and has been a member of parliament for 25 years. But now he’s decided to run for a new kind of public office: he’s hoping to be a candidate to be Mayor of London. ‘Sudd…
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…
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…
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…
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 …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Privileges and Tragedy of Israel
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Privileges and Tragedy of Israel
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Privileges and Tragedy of Israel ROMANS 9.1-5 This morning’s newspaper carries a whole page of correspondence about an ugly fact of modern life: anti-Semitism is on the rise again. Jews have been attacked and threatened, vilified and abused in many cities in our supposedly ci…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Priests and the Guards
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Priests and the Guards
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Priests and the Guards Matthew 28.11-15 In the world of science, there is a particular form of behaviour that occurs when a long-held belief is under attack. The most famous instance of it was when Copernicus (1473–1543) argued that Earth and the other planets go round the su…
The Pastoral Letters - The Problems in Crete
The Pastoral Letters - The Problems in Crete
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Problems in Crete Titus 1.10-16 There is a famous puzzle which young philosophers love. Imagine a postcard, blank on both sides except for a single sentence on each. You pick it up and read it. The side you’re looking at says, ‘The statement on the other side of this card is …
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Sending of Timothy
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Sending of Timothy
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sending of Timothy Thessalonians 3.1-5 The young adult daughter of some friends of ours went on a trip round the world, and was so enjoying life that, at one stage, she didn’t phone home for several weeks. Her parents had no way of getting in touch, and were beside themselves…
2 Corinthians - The Vision and the Thorn
2 Corinthians - The Vision and the Thorn
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Vision and the Thorn 2 CORINTHIANS 12.1-10 Daedalus was a legendary Greek sculptor and craftsman, famous throughout the ancient world for his many clever inventions. It’s probable that he really did exist, though many of the stories about him and his work are clearly made up …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Two Olive Trees