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Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Beginnings of the Birth Pangs
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Beginnings of the Birth Pangs
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Beginnings of the Birth Pangs Matthew 24.1-14 We went together to see the doctor, one rainy day in the autumn. We were excited but also very apprehensive. We had a sense of going down a road we’d often heard about but had never quite believed we would travel ourselves. He tal…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Evidence of John
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Evidence of John
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Evidence of John John 1.19-28 ‘I want to make it quite clear that I’m not a candidate.’ You hear that said over and over as politicians jostle for position before a major election. No, they aren’t going to stand. No, they have no intention of running for office. No, they are …
John for Everyone part 2 - The King of the Jews
John for Everyone part 2 - The King of the Jews
by SPCK - N T Wright
The King of the Jews John 19.16b-24 There was a shocking photograph in the newspaper the other day. A cart was being driven through the streets of a city in the Far East. On the cart were standing fifteen or twenty men. Round the neck of each, hanging from a string, was a notice.…
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Sardis
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Sardis
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Letter to Sardis Revelation 3.1-6 You might be surprised to know that, in some parts of England, ‘The Wars of the Roses’ still live on. These wars were fought between the Houses of York (the white rose) and Lancaster (the red rose) in the fifteenth century. But, ever since, t…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Living Stone
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - The Living Stone
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Living Stone 1 Peter 2.4-10 I have never been a great gardener. Among many other reasons – lack of patience, moving house too often – I would name the problem I met the very first time I tried to take control of the small garden outside our first house. It was overgrown and n…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Persecuted Church
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Persecuted Church
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Persecuted Church Thessalonians 2.13-16 The day started clear and bright, with not a cloud in the sky. My son and I set off to climb in the mountains with every hope that the weather would hold. But as we reached the top of our first peak, a shock awaited us. We were climbing…
John for Everyone part 2 - Washing the Disciples' Feet
John for Everyone part 2 - Washing the Disciples' Feet
by SPCK - N T Wright
Washing the Disciples’ Feet John 13.1-11 I had never washed anyone else’s feet (bathing my own children doesn’t really count) until I went to work in a church where they acted out this scene every Holy Week. On the Thursday, the day before Good Friday, many churches arrange a ser…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - As Far as this Yahweh Has Helped Us
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - As Far as this Yahweh Has Helped Us
by SPCK - John Goldingay
As Far as This Yahweh Has Helped Us 1 Samuel 7: 2- 14 “Helping” can have a variety of connotations. On one occasion a tire came off my wife’s wheelchair when we were on our way to church. As I was bending down trying to get the tire back on, with Ann still in the chair, a car dri…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church II
Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church II
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Build a Church 2 EXODUS 26: 31- 27: 21 When I was a toddler in the latter part of the Second World War, family lore says that I used to watch the “fireworks” and the “bonfires” from my second-floor bedroom. These were actually bombs falling on the RAF airstrip that is now …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Moses' Last Song
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Moses' Last Song
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Moses’ Last Song Deuteronomy 31: 1- 32: 47 In commenting on Deuteronomy 1, I referred to a service of contrition in our Episcopal diocese concerning the way we had treated African Americans. In the early decades of the twentieth century, in different parts of greater Los Angeles …
Job for Everyone - On Accepting Your Ignorance
Job for Everyone - On Accepting Your Ignorance
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Accepting Your Ignorance Job 38 16-38 In my seminary in England we once produced a dramatic version of the story of Job; I was the screenwriter, and one of my colleagues was the director. She wanted to have God appearing on stage during the dialogues between Job and his friend…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Watching Your Son Die
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Watching Your Son Die
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Watching Your Son Die Genesis 21: 15-32 Today I read about the death of the young son of the leader of the opposition party in the U.K. parliament. The boy had been born with cerebral palsy and a severe form of epilepsy, and in a sense his parents had been watching him die all…
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II
Psalms for Everyone - Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Praise and Thanksgiving as a Key to Prayer-II Psalm 40 As usual we had a time of sharing praise and prayer concerns in church yesterday, and as usual I had more success getting people to share prayer concerns than to share reasons for thanksgiving. As far as I remember the only t…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The First Sunday of Advent Luke 21.25-36 Gaze on all the climate change nightmares we read about – mountains sliding into rivers, icebergs breaking off from the Antarctic mass; rising sea levels and waves breaching sea defences, and winds that upend ancient oaks. Is this the fina…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday Before Lent - Year A Genesis 1.1–23 Romans 8.18–25 Matthew 6.25–34 Today’s Gospel reading reminds us how important it is not simply to take all passages of Scripture and apply them directly to ourselves, as though they had no original context and no intervening …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Sour Hour of Prayer
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Sour Hour of Prayer
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Sour Hour of Prayer 1 Samuel 1: 9-11 For Hannah, too, the hour of prayer was initially sour, though eventually sweet. Presumably she prayed when she was at home in the village, as other Israelites did, but the occasion when the family went to Shiloh would be a natural time for sp…
Isaiah for Everyone - Stand Firm, Or You Won't Stand At All
Isaiah for Everyone - Stand Firm, Or You Won't Stand At All
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Stand Firm, Or You Won’t Stand At All I mentioned in an early volume of The Old Testament for Everyone receiving a call from a Jewish lawyer in Los Angeles who had self-published a book titled Twenty-six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus and wanted me to make sure that his …
Job for Everyone - Sovereignty without Principle?