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Imagining the Lectionary: Come Advent Spirit and enlighten our imaginations (Advent 1B)
Imagining the Lectionary: Come Advent Spirit and enlighten our imaginations (Advent 1B)
by David Perry
Imagining the Lectionary: Come Advent Spirit and enlighten our imaginations (Advent 1B) Reflection accompanying images “street performer with hoop of fire” "Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come" (Mark 13:33) As night falls in the centre of Nottingham a …
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Exhortation to Steadfastness
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Exhortation to Steadfastness
by SPCK - N T Wright
Exhortation to Steadfastness 2 Thessalonians 2.13-17 ‘Stand firm and hold on tight.’ When did you last hear those words? On an airport bus, perhaps, taking you from the terminal building to the plane. On a boat ferrying passengers across a busy river. On a narrow mountain ledge w…
The Pastoral Letters - Foes and Friends
The Pastoral Letters - Foes and Friends
by SPCK - N T Wright
Foes and Friends 2Timothy 1.15-18 The most difficult thing I have found in Christian ministry is opposition from people I thought were friends, or at least colleagues, fellow-workers. One of the hardest parts, of course, is the nagging thought that people who disagree with me mig…
The Pastoral Letters - God's Kingdom and Generosity - and Ours
The Pastoral Letters - God's Kingdom and Generosity - and Ours
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Kindness and Generosity – and Ours Titus 3.1-8a I went to a spectacular birthday party last weekend. Our host, who was turning 70, had laid on a lavish evening. Nothing had been spared to make his guests comfortable and happy. The food was terrific; the wine of the highest …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Grace, not Works
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Grace, not Works
by SPCK - N T Wright
Grace, not Works Ephesians 2.8-10 In the mid-1970s a country vet in a small town in northern England suddenly became world-famous. James Herriot, quite suddenly and in mid-life, wrote books that sold in huge quantities around the world. Herriot (whose real name was Alfred Wight) …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Live Up to Your Calling
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Live Up to Your Calling
by SPCK - N T Wright
Live Up to Your Calling Ephesians 4.1-10 If you buy a new car, what’s the first thing you do? Do you sit down for an hour and read through the manual, to make sure you know every little detail about it before you take to the road? Or do you at once get behind the wheel and go for…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Love, Peace and Thanksgiving
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Love, Peace and Thanksgiving
by SPCK - N T Wright
Love, Peace and Thanksgiving Colossians 3.12-17 Here’s the acid test for whether Paul is talking sense or not. Read again through the list of sexual and speech-related misbehaviour in verses 5–9. Then read through verses 12–17. Ask yourself this: supposing there was a town in whi…
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…
2 Corinthians - Paul's Plans and God's "Yes"
2 Corinthians - Paul's Plans and God's "Yes"
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Plan and God’s “Yes” 2 CORINTHIANS 1.15-22 One of my students once arrived very late for a tutorial. I was working on an extremely tight schedule, and I wasn’t amused at having the day disrupted. I thought the student needed to know how far out of line his behaviour was. I…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Fatherly Concern
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Fatherly Concern
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Fatherly Concern Thessalonians 2.9-12 Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Paul’s missionary work is that when he arrived in a new town the people there had quite literally never seen anything of the sort before. They had seen other travelling teachers, but none like th…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Death of Judas
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Death of Judas
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Death of Judas Matthew 27.1-10 Perhaps the most interesting thing about this story is the people who do not show remorse. In many countries, a feature of the criminal justice system is that people who have been jailed for serious crimes often become eligible for parole, or po…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Lawless One
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Lawless One
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Lawless One 2 Thessalonians 2.1-12 Horatio Nelson (1758–1805), England’s most famous naval commander, is remembered for many things; but one of the best-known incidents in his life occurred when he was leading the siege at Copenhagen in 1801. He was informed of a signal instr…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Law and the Spirit
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Law and the Spirit
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Law and the Spirit Galatians 5.13-21 In the middle of Oxford University there stands a wonderful building, surrounded by well-kept grass. The building is a library, circular in shape, topped by a great dome. It is beautiful inside and out. People photograph it, paint it, admi…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Mind of the Messiah
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Mind of the Messiah
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Mind of the Messiah When people in the ancient world thought of heroic leaders, rulers and kings they often thought of Alexander the Great (356–323 BC). At the age of 20 he succeeded his father Philip to the throne of Macedonia, quickly made himself master of all Greece, and …
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The True God and the False Gods
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The True God and the False Gods
by SPCK - N T Wright
The True God and the False Gods Galatians 4.8-11 The whale is one of the greatest sights in the animal kingdom. To go out on a small boat, to wait perhaps for hours, and then to see one of these magnificent creatures come to the surface, or even leap from the water – few can resi…
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…
The Pastoral Letters - Vessels for God's Use
The Pastoral Letters - Vessels for God's Use
by SPCK - N T Wright
Vessels for God’s Use 2Timothy 2.20-26 ‘My wife and I are about to move house again. We’ve done it quite often enough already, but I have a new job to go to, and there it is. And so, once more, we’ve had to think about all the things we own – the clutter of old china and furnitur…
LWPT Meditations - Third Sunday of Lent - Year B