Resources for faith and life |
Welcome to 'Conversations' ...
Worship, prayer, poetry, passion and inspiration 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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New Easter resources ...
My apologies. I quite failed to get any Easter resources up online beforehand. But I'm working on it now. I've created 3 new pages in the 'God' section of worship resources: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day. ... I hope they might be useful to you NEXT YEAR! lol
My apologies. I quite failed to get any Easter resources up online beforehand. But I'm working on it now. I've created 3 new pages in the 'God' section of worship resources: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day. ... I hope they might be useful to you NEXT YEAR! lol
After Easter ... The Acts of the Apostles
The book of Acts is the story of the early church. It tells in many ways and in many places this same story; of ordinary people participating in extraordinary events in the name of Jesus.
The book of Acts begins in Jerusalem, here with Peter and John and the crippled beggar in the Temple, and it ends in Rome. It covers nearly 3 decades.
It begins here in the Temple but most of the action in the book of Acts happens in private homes … as well as a few public places, roadsides and court rooms. But as I said before, home is the most important, for people learning about fellowship and family and belonging and worship and the breaking of bread. God moves house.
It is the story of women and men who discover that they can do and be so much more than they believed possible.
It’s about strong personalities trying to work together in team, sometimes succeeding and sometimes splitting. It’s about leadership and arguments and surprises and disappointments. It is always about prayer. It is always about the risen Jesus at work through his Spirit.
Part One: Acts chapters 3 & 4 and the healing of the crippled beggar guy
Acts 3
... a narrative sermon about the healing and what happened next.
... concluding with a reflection inviting you to enter into his experience
His story is a leaping and jumping one, moving from being stuck, stationary, sitting on the Temple steps day after day, never entering into the presence of God, always outside … to going right into the Temple, and then finding the presence of God even more powerfully, not in the Temple but in the home of the church.
He went from a life-long bone-deep weight of shame, being under God’s curse, to a utterly unexpected body-hurling declaration of God’s grace and favour.
The book of Acts is the story of the early church. It tells in many ways and in many places this same story; of ordinary people participating in extraordinary events in the name of Jesus.
The book of Acts begins in Jerusalem, here with Peter and John and the crippled beggar in the Temple, and it ends in Rome. It covers nearly 3 decades.
It begins here in the Temple but most of the action in the book of Acts happens in private homes … as well as a few public places, roadsides and court rooms. But as I said before, home is the most important, for people learning about fellowship and family and belonging and worship and the breaking of bread. God moves house.
It is the story of women and men who discover that they can do and be so much more than they believed possible.
It’s about strong personalities trying to work together in team, sometimes succeeding and sometimes splitting. It’s about leadership and arguments and surprises and disappointments. It is always about prayer. It is always about the risen Jesus at work through his Spirit.
Part One: Acts chapters 3 & 4 and the healing of the crippled beggar guy
Acts 3
... a narrative sermon about the healing and what happened next.
... concluding with a reflection inviting you to enter into his experience
His story is a leaping and jumping one, moving from being stuck, stationary, sitting on the Temple steps day after day, never entering into the presence of God, always outside … to going right into the Temple, and then finding the presence of God even more powerfully, not in the Temple but in the home of the church.
He went from a life-long bone-deep weight of shame, being under God’s curse, to a utterly unexpected body-hurling declaration of God’s grace and favour.
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A new song ... with video even!
We lift you up, up, up Written by Silvia Purdie for Cashmere Presbyterian Church Based on Ephesians 1 & 3 (to be done with actions!) We lift you up, up, up to the praise of your glory We’re going down, down, down to the depths of your love We’re walking step by step as we’re following Jesus We’re moving out, out, out to serve you in the world Grace and peace to you from God and Jesus Christ the Lord of all. Blessings fall upon us, fill us till we overflow! We are chosen, and forgiven, Jesus lives within our hearts. All things come to unity in the great love of Christ! We are able to do so much more than we can even ask through your power working in us – more than we can dream! Glory be to God the Father, Glory be to Christ the Son Glory to the Spirit, ever-living Three in One! |
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Blogs and articles
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A series of reflections on God and life.
New Year Musings |
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Preaching article:Silvia's 'Pastoral Preaching' approach,
on the Kiwimade Preaching website |
New Sermons
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.
New resources for Funerals, including for farewell gatherings around a bedside, and some evocative poems.
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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 ... 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. 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. |
