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Hymn: Only with God will the building, the loving
Hymn: Only with God will the building, the loving
by Andrew Pratt
Only with God will the building, the loving, praying and praising bear fruit, or make sense. When we align with divine revelation heaven draws near and love has no pretence. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: STEWARDSHIP Metre: 11.10.11.10 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 19/10/2012 Stain…
Revelation for Everyone - God's Victory
Revelation for Everyone - God's Victory
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Victory Revelation 19.1-10 In the strange new world of postmodern Britain, weddings are still highly popular, but they are also highly expensive. So much so, in fact, that it is now the norm rather than the exception for couples to live together for some years, intending to…
Hebrews for Everyone - God's Unchangeable Promise
Hebrews for Everyone - God's Unchangeable Promise
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Unchangeable Promise Hebrews 6.13-20 ‘What’s that, then?’ The little boy tugged at my hand and pointed to a large, ugly metal object prominently displayed near the front of the ship which was gliding by. I took him a little further along the quay, and we came to another shi…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Humble Shepherds
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Humble Shepherds
by SPCK - N T Wright
Humble Shepherds 1 Peter 5.1-7 From time to time the television or the newspapers tell us that there is a crisis of ‘leadership’. What that means, often enough, is that the media disapprove of the actual political leaders we happen to have at the moment, but even without that rat…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and the Woman
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and the Woman
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and the Woman John 4.16-26 A friend of mine described the reaction when he went home, as a young teenager, and announced to his mother that he’d become a Christian. Alarmed, she thought he’d joined some kind of cult. ‘They’ve brainwashed you!’ she said. He was ready with th…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus' Promise and Ascension
Luke for Everyone - Jesus' Promise and Ascension
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus’ Promise and Ascension Luke 24.36-53 Luke’s closing scene, for all its joy and excitement, brings into focus for us the real problem of what happened at Easter. What sort of a body did Jesus have? How could it at the same time be solid and real, with flesh and bones, able t…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Peter's Vision
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Peter's Vision
by SPCK - N T Wright
Peter’s Vision Acts 10.1-16 When I went off to university it was much more of an awesome experience than it is for many today. I had scraped into Oxford by the skin of my teeth, having spent too much of my teenage years doing everything else, particularly sport and music, rather …
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Peter's Rescue and Rhoda's Mistake
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Peter's Rescue and Rhoda's Mistake
by SPCK - N T Wright
Peter’s Rescue and Rhoda’s Mistake Acts 12.6-19 One of the sure touches of a master writer is knowing how to create a seriously funny scene in the middle of an extremely serious one. Think of Shakespeare’s subplots, with the gravedigger scene in Hamlet providing dark humour when …
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Stephen Becomes a Target
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Stephen Becomes a Target
by SPCK - N T Wright
Stephen Becomes a Target Acts 6.8-15 Without in any way wishing to complain, I do have a fellow feeling with Stephen in this passage. He has only just been appointed a ‘deacon’, with particular responsibility for helping organize the daily distribution of food to the community …
Acts for Everyone part 1 - The Conversion of Saul
Acts for Everyone part 1 - The Conversion of Saul
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Conversion of Saul Acts 9.1-9 When I was young, nobody much in the culture I knew practised yoga. It was regarded as peculiar, a bit too exotic, and probably likely to lead to dislocation of your joints. There was a suspicion, as well, that you might find yourself getting int…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Feeding of the Five Thousand
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Feeding of the Five Thousand
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Feeding of the Five Thousand Matthew 14.13-22 Come and be a character in this story. There’s plenty of room, and there’s a lot to learn. To begin with, cast your mind back to the last time you were really, really sad. After the death of a parent, perhaps, or a close friend. A…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Light of the World
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Light of the World
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Light of the World John 8.12-20 As we turned the corner, we saw a large yellow sign beside the road. The two words that jumped out at us were ‘ACCIDENT’ and ‘WITNESS’. It appeared there had been a road accident at that dangerous corner the previous Friday night. Some people h…
Luke for Everyone - The Nature of Discipleship
Luke for Everyone - The Nature of Discipleship
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Nature of Discipleship Luke 9.46-62 The most famous work of early English literature is Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. As we read it today, we get a sudden and vivid picture of life in the fourteenth century, and of the rich and diverse human characters of the time, with their j…
Revelation for Everyone - The Plagues Begin
Revelation for Everyone - The Plagues Begin
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Plagues Begin Revelation 8.6-13 ‘Many people want to serve God,’ said the sign outside the church, ‘but only in an advisory capacity.’ And this is one of the moments in Revelation when some at least would give rather firm advice to the one who sits on the throne: ‘Don’t do it…
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 …
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…
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 The Prison Letters - Citizens of Heaven