Search Results
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Christmas 1 Samuel 2.18–20, 26 Colossians 3.12–17 Luke 2.41–52 The boyhood stories of Jesus and Samuel jar slightly with one another. Samuel’s mother deliberately takes him to the Temple in order to leave him there; Jesus’ parents intend to take him home, but …
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Identity of John the Baptist
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Identity of John the Baptist
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Identity of John the Baptist Matthew 11.7-15 One of the things that made the start of the twentieth century so dramatic was the invention of the motor car. It brought all kinds of new opportunities, new dangers, and new possibilities. But think for a moment of just one of the…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question about Elijah
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question about Elijah
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Question about Elijah Matthew 17.9-13 The young student nervously approached the professor after the lecture. He’d been thinking for some while about doing graduate work after his degree, and this teacher’s lectures were the ones he’d most enjoyed. Could he perhaps have a bri…
Luke for Everyone - The Question About Jesus' Authority
Luke for Everyone - The Question About Jesus' Authority
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Question about Jesus’ Authority Luke 20.1-8 There is a debate today in Britain about how loud soldiers should shout while on parade. The army is anxious, it seems, that sooner or later a soldier will suffer damaged hearing because a sergeant-major has bellowed an order at hig…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Advent Malachi 3.1–4 Philippians 1.3–11 Luke 3.1–6 I must have sung Handel’s Messiah dozens of times before I asked myself what its first chorus actually meant. ‘And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.’ It makes what …
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Truth Will Make You Free
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Truth Will Make You Free
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Truth Will Make You Free John 8.30-36 The square was crowded. Indeed, it was more than crowded: it was packed to overflowing. People were leaning from windows in the beautifully sculpted office blocks around the square. It was lunchtime, but nobody was thinking of eating. The…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Word Made Flesh
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Word Made Flesh
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Word Made Flesh John 1.1-18 ‘It’s on the right just beyond the end of the village,’ my friend had said. ‘You’ll see where to turn – it’s got the name on the gate.’ It sounded straightforward. Here was the village. I drove slowly past the pretty cottages, the small shops and t…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Few More
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Few More
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Few More 1 Kings 8:41-66 I can still picture myself sitting in Sunday School as a little boy of nine or ten, and I can still hear the voice of the stern Sunday School superintendent exhorting us to bow our heads, put our hands together, and close our eyes to pray. I suspect I c…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Few Things You Could Pray For
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - A Few Things You Could Pray For
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Few Things You Can Pray For 1 Kings 8:31-40 I just had a phone call from the rector of the church where I am to preach on Sunday. It will be Pentecost, and I thought they were asking me just because they wanted a guest preacher for that festival, but she had apparently forgotte…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Better with Abraham and Sarah than in Egypt
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Better with Abraham and Sarah than in Egypt
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Better with Abraham and Sarah than in Egypt Genesis 16: 8-16 Toward the last years of my time as a seminary principal in England, the demands of the job took a toll on me. One reason you get paid more if you are the boss of anything is that you are the person who lies awake at ni…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Bigamy, Music, Technology, Murder
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Bigamy, Music, Technology, Murder
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Bigamy, Music, Technology, Murder Genesis 4: 18-22 A few weeks ago my wife and I were in an Italian restaurant and jazz club, listening to jazz or blues, and a woman came up and said she was a nurse and was glad to see that I took Ann there, silent and immobile in her wheelchair.…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Come Blow Your Horn
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Come Blow Your Horn
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Come Blow Your Horn JOSHUA 6: 1-21 In New Orleans over the weekend for a meeting (I have such a hard job) I talked with Tom Wright, author of The New Testament for Everyone series, and with staff from the publishers. I remarked that the most demanding aspect of this project is ha…
Job for Everyone - Eliphaz Tries Again
Job for Everyone - Eliphaz Tries Again
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Eliphaz Tries Again Job 15: 1-35 Today’s newspaper contains a long excerpt from a book about a gigantic fraud that brought about the collapse of a Wall Street financial empire during the financial crisis of the first decade of the twenty-first century. The head of the business in…
Exodus and Leviticus - Enjoying Fellowship and Gaining Cleansing
Exodus and Leviticus - Enjoying Fellowship and Gaining Cleansing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Enjoying Fellowship and Gaining Cleansing LEVITICUS 3: 1- 4: 35 I just had an invitation to a Thanksgiving dinner and was in a quandary about how to respond. Our first one or two Thanksgivings were very meaningful because we were thankful for God’s goodness in connection with our…
Isaiah for Everyone - Egypt My People
Isaiah for Everyone - Egypt My People
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Egypt My People Yesterday I had dinner with two people home from working in the Middle East, one in a Christian university to the north of Israel, the other in a seminary to the south. In both countries the Christian community is a minority in a tough context where increasing num…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Far Be It from Me to Sin by Not Praying for You
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Far Be It from Me to Sin by Not Praying for You
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Far Be it from Me to Sin by Not Praying for You 1 Samuel 11: 14- 12: 25 The day of my wife’s memorial service was also the day I received the page proofs for a writing project. Someone who was reading those proofs, when he heard that Ann had died after living with multiple sclero…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - False Prophets
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - False Prophets
by SPCK - John Goldingay
False Prophets Deuteronomy 13: 1- 18 I received an e-mail this morning from a friend troubled by the evil in the world, as we often are, and wondering why God bothered to create it “if he is all-knowing and so on, and knew that there would be evil, genocide, starvation, dictators…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How Naomi's Life Falls Apart