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Answered prayer
Answered prayer
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection - Answered prayer Proper 18 Year A Matthew 18: 15 – 20 The room was quiet. We had gathered to talk about the future of our church – its building and its fellowship. Only a handful of people had bothered to turn up. Perhaps most of the others were beginning to think of …
Poem: The time has come
Poem: The time has come
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: The time has come As John had said, ‘the time has come.’ So Jesus, bowing to the Jordan’s waves and rising to the words ‘beloved Son’ and ‘well pleased,’ was willing to be made ready, by desert trial, to take his place in the unfolding story of God’s love. Continues... ©Mar…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday of Advent Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday of Advent Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Advent - Year A Isaiah 11:1-10 Romans 15:4–13 Matthew 3:1–12 ‘His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord’ (Isaiah 11.3).Yes, no doubt, but the Hebrew word for ‘delight’ actually means ‘smell’. This may be just a metaphor, borrowed perhaps from the cultic co…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Bearing One Another's Burdens
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Bearing One Another's Burdens
by SPCK - N T Wright
Bearing One Another’s Burdens Galatians 6.1-5 I was reading the autobiography of a world-famous cricketer. He described how for his first ten years in the game the team he played for never succeeded in winning a major trophy. They had star players, many of them of much better qua…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Address in Antioch
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Address in Antioch
by SPCK - N T Wright
Address in Antioch Acts 13.13-25 I sat in the small meeting room, intrigued at what I was hearing. I had been invited to a presentation organized by local councillors and businessmen in a particular area. They had a project, and they wanted support for it. There was an old factor…
John for Everyone part 2 - Ask, and You Will Receive
John for Everyone part 2 - Ask, and You Will Receive
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ask, and You Will Receive John 16.23-33 In the world of business you can often tell how important someone is by finding out how many people you have to ‘go through’, as we say, in order to speak to them. You telephone, hoping for a word with the chairman of the company. You get t…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Epiphany - Year A Isaiah 9: 1-4 1 Corinthians 1: 10-18 Matthew 4: 12-23 Was Jesus waiting for a signal? The Gospels agree that he didn’t begin to announce the Kingdom until he heard that John had been arrested. Something about that sinister moment told him tha…
Luke for Everyone - Entering through the Narrow Door
Luke for Everyone - Entering through the Narrow Door
by SPCK - N T Wright
Entering through the Narrow Door Luke 13.22-30 I sat in the airport for two hours, waiting for my onward flight. I had come in to New York on a flight from England, and I was tired and eager to catch the connection to Washington, to get to where I was staying, and to rest for the…
Revelation for Everyone - Four Horsemen
Revelation for Everyone - Four Horsemen
by SPCK - N T Wright
Four Horsemen Revelation 6.1-8 All doctors, and all pastors, know that when someone comes to them with a problem, the problem they talk about may not be the only problem they have. The pain that gets someone into the doctor’s surgery may well be only a symptom of much deeper ills…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - God's Love, God's Power - In Us
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - God's Love, God's Power - In Us
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Love, God’s Power – In Us Ephesians 3.14-21 Love and power, power and love: these are the themes of perhaps two-thirds of the novels, plays and poems ever written. The love of power has laid waste continents and empires. The power of love has driven weak people to do powerf…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Greetings and Thanksgiving
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Greetings and Thanksgiving
by SPCK - N T Wright
Greetings and Thanksgiving 2 Thessalonians 1.1-7a When our four children were younger, we had to spend Christmas Day taking notes. Once the four of them began to open presents from friends and relatives, there was so much paper and string around, and so many toys, books and games…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Humility and Danger
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Humility and Danger
by SPCK - N T Wright
Humility and Danger Matthew 18.1-7 Among the saddest sights in our world, some of the worst, I think, are the glimpses we get of children in need. I think of three children grubbing around in a stinking, smouldering garbage heap on the edge of a South American city. They are bare…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus and John the Baptist
Luke for Everyone - Jesus and John the Baptist
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and John the Baptist Luke 7.18-35 Pull a coin out of your pocket and look at it. What does it tell you? I don’t mean, how rich does it say you are. Nor am I thinking about the actual words that are engraved on it. I’m referring to the pictures, the symbols. The last two cou…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus and Beelzebul
Luke for Everyone - Jesus and Beelzebul
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and Beelzebul Luke 11.14-28 A friend was telling me about the first years in which she had been a schoolteacher. ‘It was very strange,’ she said. ‘Sometimes a pupil would be doing just fine, and then suddenly their work would get much worse. We wouldn’t find out why until t…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Calls the Disciples
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Calls the Disciples
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Calls the Disciples Matthew 4.18-25 If you go to Galilee today they will show you a boat that might have belonged to Andrew and Peter, or perhaps the Zebedee family. In one of the most remarkable archaeological finds anywhere in the Holy Land (which is full of them), a boat…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Condemns the Cities
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Condemns the Cities
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Condemns the Cities Matthew 11.16-24 A bright red sports car swept by me in the street, with a roar of exhaust and a swish of tyres. As it slowed momentarily to take the corner, I caught a glimpse of the young man driving it: dark glasses, long hair, the hint of a beard. Ro…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus Mocked and Crucified