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      • Psalm 6: Worn with weeping
      • Psalm 7: The fury of my enemies
      • Psalm 8: Out of the mouths of babes
      • Psalm 9: The weeds and the wheat
      • Psalm 10: Why, Lord, why??
    • Psalms 11-20 >
      • Psalm 11: The XBox Psalm
      • Psalm 12: As in the days of Noah
      • Psalm 13: How long??
      • Psalm 14: All fall short
      • Psalm 15: Be Do-ers of The Word
      • Psalm 16: Fullness of Joy
      • Psalm 17: Under attack
      • Psalm 18: Part A - In Christ
      • Psalm 18: Part B- The Volcano Psalm
      • Psalm 18: Part C- Jesus’ Resurrection Song
      • Psalm 18: Part D- The Superman Psalm
      • Psalm 19: Song of the Stars
      • Psalm 20: God bless you!
    • Psalms 21-30 >
      • Psalm 21: Honouring a godly leader
      • Psalm 22: The Crucifixion Psalm
      • Psalm 23: A Collection
      • Psalm 24: Lift up the Ancient Doors
      • Psalm 25: The Covenant Way
      • Psalm 26: True North
      • Psalm 27: Take courage, my heart!
      • Psalm 28: Are you listening?
      • Psalm 29: The Hurricane Psalm
      • Psalm 30: Joy in the morning
    • Psalms 31-40 >
      • Psalm 31: Strength in exhaustion
      • Psalm 32: The Horse-Trainer's Psalm
      • Psalm 33: Rejoice today!
      • Psalm 34: Always Praising!
      • Psalm 35: Trapped and slandered
      • Psalm 36: Far-Reaching Love
      • Psalm 37: Keep Calm and Carry On
      • Psalm 38: The Burn-out Psalm
      • Psalm 39: A crisis of purpose
      • Psalm 40: The Mud Psalm
    • Psalm 41-50 >
      • Psalm 41: Bad friends
      • Psalm 42: As a deer
      • Psalm 43: A walk of faith
      • Psalm 44: A formal complaint
      • Psalm 45: The Royal Wedding
      • Psalm 46: We will not fear!
      • Psalm 47: A Shout of Praise
      • Psalm 48: Hymn to Jerusalem
      • Psalm 49: Death and Taxes
      • Psalm 50: True Worship
    • Psalms 51-60 >
      • Psalm 51: Standing under the shower of Confession
      • Psalm 52: God sees through
      • Psalm 53: No God?
      • Psalm 54: Help me now as you’ve helped me before
      • Psalm 55: Betrayed by your best friend
      • Psalm 56: The Worrywort’s Psalm
      • Psalm 57: Wake up the day
      • Psalm 58: The Snake Psalm
      • Psalm 59: Safe in the Tower
      • Psalm 60: The Earthquake Psalm
    • Psalms 61-70 >
      • Psalm 61: Can you hear me, God?
      • Psalm 62: Wait in Silence
      • Psalm 63: Hide and Seek
      • Psalm 64: It's not OK!
      • Psalm 65: He’s got the whole world in his hands!
      • Psalm 66: Come and hear!
      • Psalm 67: All you peoples praise!
      • Psalm 68: Gifts for his people
      • Psalm 69: The Mud Psalm
      • Psalm 70: Hurry up!
    • Psalms 71-80 >
      • Psalm 71: All our lives long
      • Psalm 72: Long live the King!
      • Psalm 73: The Jealous Psalm
      • Psalm 74: Destruction and persecution
      • Psalm 75: The pillars of the earth
      • Psalm 76: Weapons of war
      • Psalm 77: The Sleepless Psalm
      • Psalm 78: Tell our story to our children
      • Psalm 79: The terrible prison
      • Psalm 80: God’s shining smile
    • Psalms 81-90 >
      • Psalm 81: Honey from the rock
      • Psalm 82: The Judge’s Judgment
      • Psalm 83: The enemies of Israel
      • Psalm 84: How lovely is your house
      • Psalm 85: See what God is doing!
      • Psalm 86: An undivided heart
      • Psalm 87: The Census Psalm
      • Psalm 88: The Rejection Psalm
      • Psalm 89: The Chosen One
      • Psalm 90: A puff of dust
    • Psalms 91-100 >
      • Psalm 91: An Invitation to Deeper Prayer
      • Psalm 92: Saying thanks at bedtime
      • Psalm 93: Water rising
      • Psalm 94: Praying for a world in trouble
      • Psalm 95: Come let us sing for joy
      • Psalm 96: Words run out
      • Psalm 97: Rejoice, the Lord is King!
      • Psalm 98: Sing along a new song
      • Psalm 99: If you shake us
      • Psalm 100: The joyful parade
    • Psalms 101-110 >
      • Psalm 101: Call me loyal
      • Psalm 102: The time has come!
      • Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O my soul
      • Psalm 104: Psalm for Aotearoa
      • Psalms 105, 106 & 107: History Psalms
      • Psalm 108: A wake-up call
      • Psalm 109: SO ANGRY!!
      • Psalm 110: All about Jesus
    • Psalm 111-120 >
      • Psalm 111: Praise the Lord, now and forever!
      • Psalm 112: Welcome to the good life!
      • Psalm 113: From the rising of the sun
      • Psalm 114: Skipping mountains
      • Psalm 115: Toy gods
      • Psalm 116: Death could not hold me down
      • Psalm 117: The Shortest Psalm
      • Psalm 118: Pointing to the risen Lord
      • Psalm 119: The Longest Psalm
      • Psalm 120: Speaking peace at home
    • Psalm 121-130 >
      • Psalm 121: The Bodyguard
      • Psalm 122: The Peace of Jerusalem
      • Psalm 123: Asking for help
      • Psalm 124: Like a mouse
      • Psalm 125: Good Balance
      • Psalm 126: A harvest of joy
      • Psalm 127: The Lord builds the house
      • Psalm 128: Live long and prosper
      • Psalm 129: Attacked and whipped
      • Psalm 130: The Dawn Psalm
    • Psalms 131-140 >
      • Psalm 131: Calm and Quiet
      • Psalm 132: The Forever King
      • Psalm 133: Living in Unity
      • Psalm 134: A circle of blessing
      • Psalm 135: Come on, people, praise!
      • Psalm 136: Endless love
      • Psalm 137: By the rivers of Babylon
      • Psalm 138: Thank you for your love!
      • Psalm 139: The Omniscience Psalm
      • Psalm 140: Our God saves
    • Psalms 141-150 >
      • Psalm 141: The Goody-good’s Psalm
      • Psalm 142: Brought Low
      • Psalm 143: A Psalm for Easter Saturday
      • Psalm 144: Blessed are God’s People
      • Psalm 145: We will tell your praise
      • Psalm 146: God at Work
      • Psalm 147: The Winter Psalm
      • Psalm 148: Calling all creation!
      • Psalm 149: The Double Edged Sword
      • Psalm 150: Kiwi Praise!?
    • About Psalms >
      • Jesus and Psalms
      • Violence in Psalms
      • History Psalms, a discussion of 105 & 106
      • Brueggeman on Psalms
    • Psalms in Worship
    • Lectionary Psalms
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Resources for faith and life

Welcome to 'Conversations' ...

Worship, prayer, preaching, inspiration and song

from Aotearoa New Zealand
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Brought to you by Silvia Purdie

from Christchurch, New  Zealand

Silvia is the Minister at
​Cashmere Presbyterian Church.
​Check out their website.
Cashmere Presbyterian Church
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An Open-Eyes Prayer

​As we come to church this morning, we look around
We see this beautiful place, the solid beams of wood above us
the colour of the glass, the light shining through
the strong walls, each stone cut and laid exactly square.
May this place draw us into you, loving God.
 
As we come to church this morning, we look around
We see these people, each so precious, each unique
little ones, older ones, busy ones, tired ones
each come to be part of something bigger than just ‘me’
May this community draw us into you, loving God.
 
As we come to church this morning, we look inward
We close our eyes, we rest a moment
breathe in and out
You, O God, are within us, beneath us, above us and around
in the motes of dust that float in the air
in the stillness that rests under all the noise
In this place and in every place, draw us into you, loving God. Amen.

I promised you new photos from Kenepuru Sound, at the top of the South Island, NZ ... some perfect dawn moments from an amazingly beautiful place:
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Announcing, hot off the press, new for Lent 2019 .... (drum roll please!) 
For God so loved the world 
study about Christian faith and our environment
8 weeks of reflections, with personal and practical ways to pray, exploring the Bible and critical current issues. 

Also I'm adding in lots more stuff into the Creation page in the God menu, including links to major websites.
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STRESSFUL SITUATIONS in ministry
A word of advice for newbies and old hands in ministry
on dealing with crises.
Sooner or later in your ministry, things will get ugly. Shit happens. People get hurt. People get mad. And the underbelly of your coping strategies gets dragged out into the light. When that happens, how you respond as a church leader will make a huge impact on the outcomes.

Wedding Resources
Updated material on weddings, and some work-in-progress about the Commitments of marriage. 

​The blessing of God be upon you and go with you
The authority of God be over you and around you
The grace of God be in you and freely given by you
The peace of God be yours, this day and every day. Amen


Fresh work on the Psalms ...
Looking for ideas about how to use Psalms more in a worship service? New page in my Psalms section: HERE
Enriching Worship with Psalms
(a workshop for the Canterbury Lay Preachers Association) 

How does the Revised Common Lectionary use Psalms?
I've been right through the 3 year cycle of the Lectionary and drawn up an index of which Psalms are used for which seasons in which years. This has highlighted for me how the Lectionary chooses Psalms and verses within Psalms. I find the results troubling. If you use the Lectionary, check out my new pages & analysis HERE.

Let's Say a Psalm
The Psalms in a fresh voice for kids, families and worship
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    Order a hard copy of
    'Let's Say a Psalm'.

Submit

Family Tree: Material about my family tree, ancestry, where my ancestors came from in England  ...
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In 'Conversations.net.nz' you will find:

GOD ... resources for worship, especially 'Calls to worship' and confession
- prayers and home-grown 'psalms'
- sermons
- Communion liturgies
- all-age worship ideas & reflections for children's ministry

PSALMS ... reflections on Biblical Psalms
interpreted and reworked for prayer and for use in worship

LOVE ... poetry, discussions on marriage & intimacy
and dramatic explorations of Biblical love stories
... reflections on grief and death

​SONG ... original music, for worship and for kids
... and lots of lovely photos!

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​Because I believe ...

that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true!
that growing to maturity in Christ takes work
that courageous honesty of heart and soul is required
that worship is wonderful
that each person is a taonga, a treasure, 

no matter the age, assets or abilities
that the local church is the hope of the world.

In conversation ...

... chatting with friends over coffee

... finding words for the moments and movements 

of mind & body, 
my spirit alive with God-Spirit

... getting to know Jesus Christ, 

ever curious as to what he would say and do

... bringing every fibre and phrase into the eternal conversation of Father Spirit Son

... conversations with children and elders, 

with church as it is and as it might be

... with my people in my place and offered to everyplace

... with pain and with celebration, 

with beauty and with scars, 
with the sacred and the ordinary, 

with scripture, song and silence.


All material here is copy-right free; you are free to copy and paste to your heart's content. I just ask that you acknowledge the source and help promote my website.​
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www.conversations.net.nz
Written by Silvia Purdie 

Resources for life and faith
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