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John for Everyone Part 1 - Before Abraham, "I Am"
John for Everyone Part 1 - Before Abraham, "I Am"
by SPCK - N T Wright
Before Abraham, “I Am” John 8.48-59 Abraham lived roughly as long before Jesus as Jesus did before us. Speaking of them as in any sense contemporaries conjures up images of time travel, such as has been made famous in the world of science fiction since at least H. G. Wells and Ju…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - A Stumble with a Purpose
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - A Stumble with a Purpose
by SPCK - N T Wright
A Stumble with a Purpose ROMANS 11.7-15 When Jesus told a story about an older and a younger brother, he was picking up echoes from several powerful stories in the book of Genesis. In Jesus’ own parable in Luke 15, the younger son takes his share of the inheritance, goes off and …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Abraham's Faith - and Ours
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Abraham's Faith - and Ours
by SPCK - N T Wright
Abraham’s Faith – and Ours ROMANS 4.18-25 When my family and I emigrated to Canada in the early 1980s, we frequently thought about the early pioneers, arriving in a new and unknown country with no idea what they would find, what the weather would be like, what crops might grow, o…
John for Everyone part 2 - Blood and Water
John for Everyone part 2 - Blood and Water
by SPCK - N T Wright
Blood and Water John 19.31-37 He came up at the end of the service and shook me warmly by the hand. ‘I didn’t really know why I was coming here this morning,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t normally have made the effort. I’d have gone somewhere closer to home. But something made me come. A…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - God's Light and our Darkness
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - God's Light and our Darkness
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Light and Our Darkness 1 John 1. 5-2.2 Elizabeth faced a difficult choice. She had moved into her new home a few weeks before, and her parents, who had been overjoyed when she got the new job and so could set up on her own, had been determined to do something special for he…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Good News, Salvation and the Justice of God
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Good News, Salvation and the Justice of God
by SPCK - N T Wright
Good News, Salvation and the Justice of God ROMANS 1.14-17 When I was a boy, one of my regular holiday occupations was making plastic model aeroplanes. I remember the excitement of getting the parts out of the box, carefully cutting them off the stem which held them together, and…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Cleanses the Temple
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Cleanses the Temple At last it is Jesus’ turn to cry. Earlier in the gospel we find other people in tears: the widow at Nain, Jairus’s family, and others in distress coming to him for healing and new life. The women of Jerusalem will shortly be weeping for Jesus himself (23…
2 Corinthians - Our Boasting Proved True
2 Corinthians - Our Boasting Proved True
by SPCK - N T Wright
Our Boasting Proved True! 2 CORINTHIANS 7.11-16 The first time I stayed with my friends in Germany I explained to them just how beautiful the north of England was. They had never seen it, and they had only heard a little about the hills and woods, the mountains, the ancient castl…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 21 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 21 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 21 Jeremiah 32.1–15 1 Timothy 6.6–19 Luke 16.19–end Among the many symbolic actions Jeremiah was commanded to perform, this one stands out as a sign, not of judgement, but of hope: hope for God’s restoration the other side of judgement. Resurrection hope, if you like. He i…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Rivers of Living Water
John for Everyone Part 1 - Rivers of Living Water
by SPCK - N T Wright
Rivers of Living Water John 7.31-39 ‘A pint of water every hour, and don’t forget!’ I was setting off into the desert, and my host was understandably anxious. Coming as I did from a cool and damp climate, I might easily forget how important it was to keep drinking plenty of water…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Badge, the Name and the Meaning
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Badge, the Name and the Meaning
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Badge, the Name and the Meaning ROMANS 2.25-29 From time to time one of the big supermarket chains decides to try to pass off its own products as though they were made by one of the regular manufacturers. I remember one store a while ago which sold breakfast cereal with a pac…
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Ephesus
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Ephesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Letter to Ephesus Revelation 2.1-7 The first time I visited Ephesus, I was overwhelmed with the size and scale of the place. Massive buildings still stand, dating back to the first century and beyond. The amphitheatre alone takes your breath away. Streets, houses, shops: it’s…
Revelation for Everyone - The Monster Defeated
Revelation for Everyone - The Monster Defeated
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Monster Defeated Revelation 19.11-21 People used to write books and articles about ‘the messianic expectation’ in the time of Jesus. Ancient Jewish sources were combed and sifted to yield every fragment of information about what Jesus’ contemporaries were waiting for when the…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Prodigal (part 2)
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Prodigal (part 2)
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Prodigal: The Father and the Older Son Luke 15.25-32 A vivid phrase from a schoolboy poem, written by a classmate of mine over thirty years ago, remains with me to this day. He described a park-keeper whose job was to pick up litter on a spiked pole. Surrounded…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The Table of the Lord and the Table of Demons
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The Table of the Lord and the Table of Demons
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Table of the Lord and the Table of Demons 1 Corinthians 10.14-22 ‘Christianity’, declared the great Archbishop William Temple, ‘is the most materialistic of all religions.’ He had in mind the commitment of genuine Christianity to the faith that God really became human in Jesu…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The Transformed Resurrection Body
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The Transformed Resurrection Body
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Transformed Resurrection Body 1 Corinthians 15.35-49 Imagine standing outside a car showroom, a hundred or more years from now. An advertisement has brought you and lots of others to see a new type of car. Different from all that went before, the slogan had said. ‘Looks prett…
2 Corinthians - Treasure in Earthenware Pots
2 Corinthians - Treasure in Earthenware Pots
by SPCK - N T Wright
Treasure in Earthenware Pots 2 CORINTHIANS 4.7-12 Sir Oliver Franks was one of the most distinguished men in Oxford during my time as an undergraduate. He had been a professor of philosophy at an early age; he had been head of an Oxford college, still very young; he had been chai…
Job for Everyone - I Know That My Restorer Lives