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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…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 12 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 12 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 12 Hosea 1.2–10 Colossians 2.6–19 Luke 11.1–13 Part of the prophetic vocation seems to have been to carry the pain of the message in one’s own soul. Thus it was, at least, with Hosea. Married to a prostitute, he felt not only the pain of Israel but also the pain of God, …
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Ransomed by Grace
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Ransomed by Grace
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ransomed by Grace 1 Peter 1.10-21 John went into a junk-shop the other day, in a little town not far from here. He was looking for something in particular, and after wandering around for a while he thought he saw just the thing. It was a bowl, about eight inches across. Someone h…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Sower and Reaper Rejoice Together
John for Everyone Part 1 - Sower and Reaper Rejoice Together
by SPCK - N T Wright
Sower and Reaper Rejoice Together John 4.27-42 I was telephoned this morning by a colleague who was writing a piece about George Frideric Handel’s masterpiece, Messiah. We agreed that it has a unique place in the affection not only of Christians, and of serious music-lovers, but …
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…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Call to Holy Living
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - The Call to Holy Living
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Call to Holy Living ROMANS 6.12-14 We ended the last section with a picture of someone moving house, changing from one landlord to another. Let’s extend that a bit, and imagine that I am a smallholder living out in the countryside, about a thousand years ago. My little farm s…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Desolating Sacrilege
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Desolating Sacrilege
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Desolating Sacrilege Matthew 24.15-28 In many countries, one of the things children look forward to is going away to a summer camp. The weather is warm, there is swimming and boating, there are old friends and new ones, there are songs round a campfire, there are sports and g…
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…
John for Everyone part 2 - The Empty Tomb
John for Everyone part 2 - The Empty Tomb
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Empty Tomb John 20.1-10 Darkness on the face of the deep. The formless beginning, the chaos. The void. The beginning. The wind and the word. God’s breath, God’s speech, summoning things never known before. Life and light. The first day. Creation. In the beginning was the Word…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Inheritance and the Spirit
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Inheritance and the Spirit
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Inheritance and the Spirit Ephesians 1.11-14 Not far from where I was born there is an ancient castle. It stands imposingly, high above the banks of a river, defying anyone to attack it. These days, the likely attacks come from bank managers and tax-collectors rather than mar…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Identity of John the Baptist
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Identity of John the Baptist
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Identity of John the Baptist Matthew 11.7-15 One of the things that made the start of the twentieth century so dramatic was the invention of the motor car. It brought all kinds of new opportunities, new dangers, and new possibilities. But think for a moment of just one of the…
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…
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Philadelphia
Revelation for Everyone - The Letter to Philadelphia
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Letter to Philadelphia Revelation 3.7-13 I have been sitting here trying to imagine what it’s like to find yourself in an earthquake. I was once in a hotel in Los Angeles, a few dozen floors up, and was alarmed to find detailed instructions in the room on what I should do if …
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 …
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…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question about Elijah
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question about Elijah
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Question about Elijah Matthew 17.9-13 The young student nervously approached the professor after the lecture. He’d been thinking for some while about doing graduate work after his degree, and this teacher’s lectures were the ones he’d most enjoyed. Could he perhaps have a bri…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C