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. |
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Hi folks
My apologies, I have not updated anything for the last month or so. I have been too busy moving house. What a stressful and demanding thing moving house is! ... but after a couple of months of anxiety and huge amounts of effort we are happily settled (YAY!!) in a lovely new home, with a rather lovely view out over Christchurch and a glimpse of the Southern Alps in the distance ... and a lovely deck for sitting watching the sunset with a new glass of wine.
... and hey I am excited because more and more people keep visiting Conversations - over 800 of you each week! (sorry I know that is nothing in the big scheme of the worldwideweb but it's exciting for me)
ANYWAY enough about me. New material:
My apologies, I have not updated anything for the last month or so. I have been too busy moving house. What a stressful and demanding thing moving house is! ... but after a couple of months of anxiety and huge amounts of effort we are happily settled (YAY!!) in a lovely new home, with a rather lovely view out over Christchurch and a glimpse of the Southern Alps in the distance ... and a lovely deck for sitting watching the sunset with a new glass of wine.
... and hey I am excited because more and more people keep visiting Conversations - over 800 of you each week! (sorry I know that is nothing in the big scheme of the worldwideweb but it's exciting for me)
ANYWAY enough about me. New material:
Where is God??
I asked the children and the adults on Sunday this question. How would you answer it? The Cashmere folks answered with
a) God is everywhere
b) God is in our hearts
c) God is love and in our relating ... which as I said are all excellent true answers, but not the one I had in mind ...
OK kids I have a tough question for you today. And it is a question that has lots of right answers, but I have one particular answer in my mind and I am going to keep on asking for possible answers until I get the answer that is in my mind. So it’s a bit tricky. Are you ready? Here it is
Where is God?
A clue – how does the Lord’s prayer start: Our Father in heaven.
So one possible answer to the question ‘where is God?’ is:
God is in heaven.
Which obviously leads us to the next question – where on earth is heaven? Or maybe heaven is not on earth at all. And people have been up into the sky so we know it’s not up there. So where is it?
The answer I always give to this is that heaven is another dimension. Our bodies and everything we can see and touch is in the physical dimension and heaven is in the spiritual dimension.
Heaven is where God is, where God has no limits, where God’s power and beauty and grace and love is all there is.
Once upon a time it used to be that the human world was cut off from God’s heaven – like there was a massive wall in the road. But God sent Jesus to us from heaven, and Jesus’s main job was to break down the wall between us people and heaven … but this was easier said than done. In fact, the only way he could get this job done was to give his life, to die on the cross. It was that difficult. And because Jesus gave everything he had for us, God was able to burst through the wall between earth and heaven, and Jesus is alive both in heaven and on earth at the same time. It’s the greatest most amazing miracle of all time.
And it means that we can know heaven in our lives, just a little bit … and we believe that at the end of our lives here on earth we will step through the wall, easy as anything, into heaven, and there we will see God face to face and live for ever in his power and beauty and love.
I asked the children and the adults on Sunday this question. How would you answer it? The Cashmere folks answered with
a) God is everywhere
b) God is in our hearts
c) God is love and in our relating ... which as I said are all excellent true answers, but not the one I had in mind ...
OK kids I have a tough question for you today. And it is a question that has lots of right answers, but I have one particular answer in my mind and I am going to keep on asking for possible answers until I get the answer that is in my mind. So it’s a bit tricky. Are you ready? Here it is
Where is God?
A clue – how does the Lord’s prayer start: Our Father in heaven.
So one possible answer to the question ‘where is God?’ is:
God is in heaven.
Which obviously leads us to the next question – where on earth is heaven? Or maybe heaven is not on earth at all. And people have been up into the sky so we know it’s not up there. So where is it?
The answer I always give to this is that heaven is another dimension. Our bodies and everything we can see and touch is in the physical dimension and heaven is in the spiritual dimension.
Heaven is where God is, where God has no limits, where God’s power and beauty and grace and love is all there is.
Once upon a time it used to be that the human world was cut off from God’s heaven – like there was a massive wall in the road. But God sent Jesus to us from heaven, and Jesus’s main job was to break down the wall between us people and heaven … but this was easier said than done. In fact, the only way he could get this job done was to give his life, to die on the cross. It was that difficult. And because Jesus gave everything he had for us, God was able to burst through the wall between earth and heaven, and Jesus is alive both in heaven and on earth at the same time. It’s the greatest most amazing miracle of all time.
And it means that we can know heaven in our lives, just a little bit … and we believe that at the end of our lives here on earth we will step through the wall, easy as anything, into heaven, and there we will see God face to face and live for ever in his power and beauty and love.
Seated at the Right Hand of the Father
One of the main claims made in our Bibles and in our Creeds about Jesus is that he is seated at the right hand of God. Not that God has hands, not even a right hand, literally - so that is this word-picture trying to tell us about Jesus and God and where does the Spirit fit in? In this sermon I explore the common understanding of this metaphor as a ThroneRoom, and argue that Jesus might have preferred the metaphor as a dinner party!
I’m still bothered about the throne thing. It just does not work for me very well as a metaphor. I can picture God the Father telling Jesus what to do and Jesus telling the Spirit what to do in a kind of military chain of command … and it just does not feel right to me. How about you?
And you know why it does not feel right to have a throne-room metaphor for the Trinity? Mainly because that simply was not how Jesus described the kingdom of heaven.
One of the main claims made in our Bibles and in our Creeds about Jesus is that he is seated at the right hand of God. Not that God has hands, not even a right hand, literally - so that is this word-picture trying to tell us about Jesus and God and where does the Spirit fit in? In this sermon I explore the common understanding of this metaphor as a ThroneRoom, and argue that Jesus might have preferred the metaphor as a dinner party!
I’m still bothered about the throne thing. It just does not work for me very well as a metaphor. I can picture God the Father telling Jesus what to do and Jesus telling the Spirit what to do in a kind of military chain of command … and it just does not feel right to me. How about you?
And you know why it does not feel right to have a throne-room metaphor for the Trinity? Mainly because that simply was not how Jesus described the kingdom of heaven.
Lord Jesus, you who came to us, born in a manger -
Bless us and keep us. Bring us to the Father.
Saviour Jesus, you who suffered and died for us
Bless us and keep us. Bring us to the Father.
Glorious Jesus, risen from the dead, seated in heaven,
ruler of heaven and earth -
Bless us and keep us. Bring us to the Father.
Gracious Jesus, pour out your spirit on us, your people -
Bless us and keep us. Bring us to the Father.
Bless us and keep us. Bring us to the Father.
Saviour Jesus, you who suffered and died for us
Bless us and keep us. Bring us to the Father.
Glorious Jesus, risen from the dead, seated in heaven,
ruler of heaven and earth -
Bless us and keep us. Bring us to the Father.
Gracious Jesus, pour out your spirit on us, your people -
Bless us and keep us. Bring us to the Father.
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Dramatic reading: Jesus walked on water John 6:16-21
The Bible is full of amazing stories about Jesus. One of the most amazing is this story; it was so amazing the disciples could hardly believe it themselves, even while it was happening. This story happens in the dead of night, in the darkest hour. This story happens on a lake. It is a dark, wet story. This drama needs no rehearsal. You need someone to act out being Jesus, a long piece of blue fabric for the lake & a couple of people to hold it, and a table on its side for the boat. It worked out far better than I expected, and created lots of laughter, especially if Jesus hams it up a bit! HERE: With a Message asking the question: Did Jesus really walk on the lake in the storm?? and if so, why?! |
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New material ...
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 |
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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.
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.
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Dedication of the offering (please stand)
We stand to give you the honour, Lord of all, in our lives and in your world. We give what we can spare knowing that so many have so little. We entrust our anxieties to you, all the troubles of the world trusting only in your great mercy and grace. In the sharing is the blessing In our love may your Kingdom come |
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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! 
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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