Resources for faith and life
Welcome to 'Conversations' ...

Worship, prayer, poetry, passion and inspiration

from Aotearoa New Zealand




Brought to you by Silvia Purdie

from Christchurch, New  Zealand

Silvia is the Minister at
​Cashmere Presbyterian Church.
​Check out their website.
I'm made it!!!
My Psalms work has been getting lots of attention lately (at the expensive of the housework!) ... and I am not delighted to report that I have finished a full set of all 150 yay!!!
This is in my work for children, family devotions and all-age worship. Here it is. Please have a read, tell me what you think. What I especially want is for kids to have a go at reading them out loud. I want it all to flow easily off the tongue, so I need to know which bits catch you up.
Here's some new ones:
​Psalm 96: Words run out
 
What words can we find?
How can we describe our mind-blowing God?
We have heard words in church:
worship and praise
glory and majesty,
honour and awe …
but what are our words
to tell of God’s greatness?
 
Maybe we need to shut up
and let the trees say it better …
the waves and the flowers,
the rocks under our feet
and the stars over our head,
they all know how to praise the Lord!
 
What words will you choose
to be your truth this day?
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Psalm 81: Honey from the rock
(a Psalm for busy families)
​
Come, let me feed you
with honey from the rock.
Come, let me love you
and never never stop!
 
Hear the Lord, he’s calling you,
listen to his voice:
People, O my people –
Don’t you know? I carried you!
Remember how I rescued you.
You were trapped in slavery
until I came and set you free.
 
But now your lives are crowded
there’s little space for me.
I long to bless you every day
and fill you with good things
but I need room to be your God!
You can’t have lots of others.
I’m not a bonus add-on.
 
Turn to me, my people!
Let me in and let me lead.
Come, let me feed you
with honey from the rock.
Come, let me love you
and never never stop!
 
(Revelation 3:20)
Psalm 68: Gifts for his people
(Ephesians 4:1-16)
Paul was reading Psalm 68 when he wrote Ephesians.
He was thinking about how the Holy Spirit is poured out on people in ways never seen before, and how God gives different gifts to build up the whole community.
Rain in abundance O God you showered on us.
In your goodness you’ve provided for those in need.
Paul liked the bit in Psalm 68 where the Lord climbs up to the highest place and is given gifts to celebrate his victory. But Paul turns it around. Instead of the Lord taking the gifts, Paul says, the Lord hands out gifts! And before the Lord was raised up, Paul says, the Lord had to first go deep,
down into death and there he won the battle
and won for us the new life of the Spirit.
Blessed be the Lord who each day lifts us up.
His is the escape from death! Awesome is our God
who gives power and strength to his people.

​Psalm 80: God’s shining smile
 
We’re here, Lord, calling to you -
Shine out, God of love!
How long, O Lord,
how long will your people suffer in the dark?
Our only food is the bread of tears.
We have become a laughing stock.
Are you angry with us?
May your light break through!
May your smile shine on us!
 
Remember how you carried us
and planted us in the land
like a vine, brought from far away.
It grew strong and deep and wide
but now it has been cut down!
May your light break through!
May your smile shine on us!
 
Open our eyes to new possibilities.
Give us new hope, Lord!
Give us strength from your right hand
and we praise you for ever more.
May your light break through!
May your smile shine on us!
 
Psalm 99: If you shake us
(as a prayer of confession)
 
O God, how incredible you are!
How ordinary we are.
The earth shakes with your power
and we tremble, afraid
that if you shake us we’d fall apart.
We see your brilliance
and we hide in the dark.
We know how pure you are, pure love,
and we know that we are a mess.
Forgive us, God.
We stuff up.
We forget to live in your light.
 
All the prophets told us about Christ,
that all our failing would be forgiven
in his name.
Come, Spirit of God, come.
(Acts 10:42-44)
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New preaching article:

Silvia's 'Pastoral Preaching' approach, on the Kiwimade Preaching website

What's new??

"Joshua fought the battle of Jericho ..."
But is it true? Did God promise Joshua and his people exclusive rights to the land of Israel? How victorious were they? What does it matter today?
... these and all your questions about the historicity of scripture and the application of the Bible to modern-day politics in the Middle East - answered! (yeah right!!)
​Sermon on Jericho and Victory

Trip Report:

During May 2017 I was off exploring the world and church history, particularly Israel. Come over to the TRIP section to explore with me. Here you will find:
- 'Tough Questions' about Israel and how we read scripture and understand current conflicts
- 'Stories in Place': come with me as I visit key sites in Israelin all their complexity. Imagine yourself there.
- 'Theological Alleyways', questions that intrigued me as I travelled
- 'Lovely ladies', explorations of gender and faith through the eyes of artists I encountered
- photos and stories of Italy, England and other places I visited.

New Sermons!

Recently added:

Read about the Turkish barmaid who became Empress of the World and radically changed church history:
St Helena

What is God made of? A 10 minute sermon on God and the whole 3-in-1 thing

Springs of living water, with a photo gallery of Jacobs Well to bring alive for you the encounter of Jesus with the woman of Samaria at the well

Other Resources added:

A new Communion Liturgy written for including young children in the communion service. I'd love your feedback about this. 

New resources for Funerals, including for farewell gatherings around a bedside, and some evocative poems.
Poems for Weddings

Baptism with a splash, and praying through the laughter!
Also in 'Conversations.net.nz' is a presentation encouraging churches to promote themselves better, and engage with their local communities. Includes some of the stuff we did at Milson.

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

... and lots of lovely photos!


​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.



A practical word about this website:

I am in the process of changing all my file attachments over to PDF with a simple 'click' link format. Bear with me, might take me a while.

The menu bars work by you 'hovering' your mouse over the key word on the menu, then where there is an arrow moving over to the side and then down till you select the page you want.

(If you are using an old Safari browser you may find that the scrolling is a bit glitchy, and the menus freeze up; if so 'refresh' the page.)

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.

Sorry but the settings on the website automatically insert extra line spacing 'willynilly' so when you do copy and paste you'll have to take all the spare lines out again!
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