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Luke for Everyone - On Paying Taxes to Caesar
Luke for Everyone - On Paying Taxes to Caesar
by SPCK - N T Wright
On Paying Taxes to Caesar Luke 20.20-26 We went a few weeks ago to see the longest-running stage play in history. Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap has now been performed continuously for almost my entire lifetime. At the time of writing it has had over 20,000 performances. An…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - On Epaphroditus
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - On Epaphroditus
by SPCK - N T Wright
On Epaphroditus Philippians 2.25-30 When I was at school a first-year physics teacher once asked us the question in an examination: What are the advantages of having two eyes? The correct answer, of course, was that with two eyes you can see things in three dimensions, and learn …
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - On Following Jesus
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - On Following Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
On Following Jesus Matthew 8.14-22 What do you always do first thing in the morning? For some, it will be shaving. For others, it will be making a cup of tea. For some, it will be vigorous exercise. For others, it will be reading the newspaper. Put it the other way: if someone fo…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Paul's Appeal
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Paul's Appeal
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Appeal Philemon 1.8-14 There was once a leading bishop in the Church of England who took a strong line on several of the major issues facing the church and the society of his day. Many times he went to see the Archbishop of Canterbury to put pressure on him to steer the ch…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul Confronts Peter in Antioch
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul Confronts Peter in Antioch
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul Confronts Peter in Antioch Galatians 2.11-14 When my brother was at school, he took part in a performance of ‘Noye’s Fludde’ by Benjamin Britten. Actually, he took the part of Noah himself. His costume and make-up were superb. Though he was only 17, he looked like a really o…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Agreement with Peter and James
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Agreement with Peter and James
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Agreement with Peter and James Galatians 2.6-10 One of the most famous walks in England is along a high ridge in the Lake District called Striding Edge. It runs to the east of the mountain called Helvellyn, one of the highest mountains in England, and, particularly in bad …
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Philip and the Ethiopian
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Philip and the Ethiopian
by SPCK - N T Wright
Philip and the Ethiopian Acts 8.26-40 I was once visiting Cambridge (the English Cambridge, not the American one) to do some lectures. One afternoon I was working on the themes for the lectures still to come, when I found to my surprise an urgent thought in my head: Go to Evenson…
Luke for Everyone - Pilate Pressured by the Crowd
Luke for Everyone - Pilate Pressured by the Crowd
by SPCK - N T Wright
Pilate Pressured by the Crowds Luke 23.13-26 Shakespeare peopled his plays, as Charles Dickens did his novels, with fascinating minor characters. Each has his or her own tale to tell; none is a mere cardboard figure. Even the bear in A Winter’s Tale is important. Among the Evange…
2 Corinthians - Please Have the Gift Ready!
2 Corinthians - Please Have the Gift Ready!
by SPCK - N T Wright
Please Have a Gift ready! 2 CORINTHIANS 9.1-5 I knew there was something wrong the moment I walked into the shop. I used to go in two or three times every week, and knew the regular assistants quite well. But this morning the one I saw behind the counter looked as though she was,…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Piety in Secret
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Piety in Secret
by SPCK - N T Wright
Piety in Secret Matthew 6.1-6 Once, when living in the Middle East, I went out for a walk in the afternoon. On my way home, feeling slightly hungry, I bought a bar of chocolate at a wayside stall. I got back home, went to my room, made a cup of tea, unwrapped the chocolate and br…
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 …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 24 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 24 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 24 Jeremiah 31.27–34 2 Timothy 3.14—4.5 Luke 18.1–8 The passages from 2 Timothy and Luke 18 both envisage God’s people hanging on, sustaining their energy and sense of direction, even though things seem to go from bad to worse. By contrast, Jeremiah 31 sees through the lon…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Recognizing the Body
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Recognizing the Body
by SPCK - N T Wright
Recognizing the Body 1 Corinthians 11.23-34 I once witnessed a moving reconciliation scene, and the most moving thing about it was that no words were necessary. A lay minister had been storing up resentments against the clergyman who was the senior pastor in the church where they…
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: Galatians and Thessalonians - Requests for Prayer
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Requests for Prayer
by SPCK - N T Wright
Requests for Prayer 2 Thessalonians 3.1-5 Among all the strange dreams that visit us at night, one of the most frustrating – which happens to me quite frequently – is the dream of trying to run and discovering that it’s impossible to do so. My legs feel like lead: they become hop…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Roman Citizenship Comes in Useful