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2 Corinthians - The Battle for the Mind
2 Corinthians - The Battle for the Mind
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Battle for the Mind It was pitch dark, and the prickles from the bush I was hiding behind were sticking through my clothes and into my skin. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear, very faintly, someone coming along the path. All chance of reaching my own goal had disappea…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The "Rights" of an Apostle
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The "Rights" of an Apostle
by SPCK - N T Wright
The “Rights” of an Apostle 1 Corinthians 9.1-12a One of the great moral gains of the second half of the twentieth century is the belief, shared by most people around the world, that all people are to be respected and valued. All people, not just some. Weak people, poor people, li…
The Pastoral Letters - The First Rule: Prayer fo the World
The Pastoral Letters - The First Rule: Prayer fo the World
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Rule: Prayer for the World 1Timothy 2.1-7 When did you last make a list of people you wanted to pray for? Whose were the first names you wrote down? Most of us would start with the people we know and love best: our spouse, our children, our parents; other close relative…
Revelation for Everyone - The First Four Plagues
Revelation for Everyone - The First Four Plagues
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Four Plagues Revelation 16.1-9 I was cycling down the road one day when I came up beside my former tutor. I had studied the New Testament with him some years before, and was now engaged on some early work towards my doctorate. ‘How are you getting on?’ he asked. ‘How’s …
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Gospel Comes to Thessalonica
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - The Gospel Comes to Thessalonica
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Gospel Comes to Thessalonica Thessalonians 1.1-5 I hesitated long over the decision. I had to make up my mind whether to admit to the university a student whose grades were not quite as high as we would normally require. She was clearly intelligent, and capable of hard work, …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Hidden Secret
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Hidden Secret
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Hidden Secret Philippians 4.10-13 It was very dark and gloomy that March. There was still snow in the air, and sometimes on the ground, until mid-way through the month. The sun seemed hardly to peer out from behind grey clouds, and a sharp north-easterly wind blew in off the …
Luke for Everyone - The Miraculous Catch of Fish
Luke for Everyone - The Miraculous Catch of Fish
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Miraculous Catch of Fish Luke 5.1-11 ‘When Christ calls a person,’ declared Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ‘he tells them to come and die.’ Bonhoeffer, of course, did exactly that, hanged by the Nazis for resistance to Hitler. But when Simon Peter first met Jesus, he didn’t realize thi…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Parable of the Sower
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Parable of the Sower
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Sower Matthew 13.1-9 We stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee on a spring morning. The bus was up by the road, and we had walked down, several dozen of us, to where the lake was glistening in the sunshine. It was peaceful and still. The ground slopes up stee…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Prodigal Son (part1)
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Prodigal Son (part1)
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parables of the Prodigal: The Father and the Younger Son Luke 15.11-24 We might think that the parable of the prodigal son, as it’s usually known, hardly needs an introduction. It has inspired artists and writers down the years. Rembrandt’s famous painting, with the younger s…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager Luke 16.1-9 She came up to me after the service and demanded to know what it meant. This passage had been read as the second lesson, while the first had been a prophetic denunciation (from Ezekiel 18, I think) of all kinds of sins, including the …
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question of the Resurrection
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question of the Resurrection
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Question of the Resurrection Matthew 22.23-33 I once sat on a college committee where two older members had a regular tactic for stopping any change that might have been proposed. When one of the younger members (myself, for instance) proposed doing something that would reall…
The Pastoral Letters - The Purpose of the Law
The Pastoral Letters - The Purpose of the Law
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Purpose of the Law 1Timothy 1.8-11 We stood by the stream, looking across to the other side of the valley. It was a perfect spring day: gentle breeze, high cloud, bright sunshine, the hills around us at their best. Somewhere in the distance we could hear a sheep calling to it…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Transfiguration
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Transfiguration
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Transfiguration Matthew 17.1-8 Mount Tabor is a large, round hill in central Galilee. When you go there today with a party of pilgrims, you have to get out of your bus and take a taxi to the top. They say that God is especially pleased with the Mount Tabor taxi-drivers, becau…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Woman of Samaria
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Woman of Samaria
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Woman of Samaria John 4.1-15 ‘Have you heard about Simon?’ a friend asked me. ‘He’s become a Samaritan!’ I knew what he meant. I did not think for a minute that our mutual friend had gone off to the Middle East to join the tiny sect who still live in the middle of ancient Sam…
John for Everyone part 2 - The Way, the Truth, the Life
John for Everyone part 2 - The Way, the Truth, the Life
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Way, the Truth, the Life John 14.1-11 ‘Are you sure there’ll be room for us all?’ We were on our way back to a friend’s house. There were two carloads of us, relaxed and happy after a football match which we’d won. The match had been at another school several miles away, and …
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - To Rome at Last
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - To Rome at Last
by SPCK - N T Wright
To Rome at Last Acts 28.11-22 It has been a long voyage, and the biblical commentator, in this, one of the three longest books of the New Testament (Matthew, Luke and Acts are more or less the same length), may well feel on arrival at Puteoli, Appian Forum and Three Taverns that …
clouds and glory - Proper 20 - Year A
clouds and glory - Proper 20 - Year A
by SPCK - David Adam
Proper 20 Year A Lord, teach us to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, Let us not be intimidated by opposition or criticism. Keep us firm in the faith you have set before us; Through Christ who has triumphed and reigns with you in your Holy Spirit for ever and ever A…
It seems preposterous arrogance