We would love to have you visit. There is a mix of people at Parklands and we seek to make people feel welcome and comfortable and included in what we do. Our main Service is at 10:30 on Sunday Mornings. The Church Office is open: Tuesday – Friday 9 am – Midday Phone: (03) 383-1356 Fax: (03) 383-1349 Email:office@parklands.org.nz 180 Queenspark Drive Parklands, Christchurch 8083
What’s that Smell ? Icebreaker – What kind of Smells can you remember ? Flowers, Freshly cut grass, ground coffee ? What memories go with those smells ? Read Luke 7:36-50. Simon : Simon has invited Jesus over, but done none of the things one would normally do for a guest. This is like bowling into a marae without a welcome. It’s rude. Why is simon inviting him over and bring rude do you think ? When the perfume is poured – Simon’s response is all facts and judgement. What does he think a prophet should do ? When Jesus tells his story about debtors, which one is Simon ? The Woman: the woman who is a sinner, cries, uses…
What do you think is a prophet ? (read Deut 8:18) Colin suggested that a prophet is someone – who speaks truth (god’s truth) to power – whose life lines up with their words. A bible dictionary described prophets as those who conveys direct and specific information from God addressing a particular situation. Do you have a better definition. Can you think of anyone that you would regard as a contemporary prophet ? If so who ? and why ? John the Baptist was prophet – Read Luke 3:2-18 We know he wore rough clothing, his disciples fasted and he ate honey and locusts. His was a harsh discipleship. What did he say about people – (Vipers ? Trees ?)…
Read Luke 6: 27-38 aloud. “If you’re listening, here’s My message: Keep loving your enemies no matter what they do. Keep doing good to those who hate you. Keep speaking blessings on those who curse you. Keep praying for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other cheek too. If someone steals your coat, offer him your shirt too. If someone begs from you, give to him. If someone robs you of your valuables, don’t demand them back. Think of the kindness you wish others would show you; do the same for them. Listen, what’s the big deal if you love people who already love you? Even scoundrels do that much! So what if…
Sermon Notes: Sabbath in a Box We have heard a lot about the Pharisees in our journey through Luke…And here they are again in todays passage. The Pharisees were all about keeping Judaism unpolluted- and all credit to them- they did not run off into the wilds to live as separated comunities like the Essenes but they stayed within society at large and attempted to keep the purity of the faith. And when it came to the Sabbath, they had it sorted. There had been years and years perfecting their model. God had said “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” and, “On it you shall not do any work”. And they had run with that. The commandment from…
How not to be that’s guy( petty) but this guy( How do you feel about change ? What words come to mind ? Read the lyrics to these two songs written by Bob Dylan – which one was written when he was young ? and which when he was old ? How can you tell ? Come gather ’round, people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’ And you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose Any…
Read Luke 10: 25-37 We’re jumping forward to involve children church. (Did you enjoy the drama ?) Many of us are familiar with this story that Jesus tells. In it there are three groups of people who react to the victim. Group 1 ) The robbers They believe “Your Stuff is My Stuff” and will use force to take it. Their T-shirts say “Here to hurt”. Most of us like to think we are not like them. We do sometimes have people we want to hurt or to have bad stuff happen to. Group 2) The Passersby. They believe that their stuff is their stuff and they stand apart wearing T-shirts saying “Here to hold”. Their goal is to…
Read Luke 5: 17-25 In the healing that happened in the story before this an individual approaches Jesus. This story is more about communal responses. The friends who bring their paralysed mate, the pharisees with a fixed view of how things should work. NT Wright says “The Pharisees were a pressure group, not an official body.” “(For Everyone NT 18 Vols.) The Pharisees’ kingdom-plan, in line with plenty of earlier Jewish aims and ideals, was to intensify observance of the Jewish law, the Torah.” Essentially that mean’t that they thought if they could just be religious enough then God would bring the messiah. Unsurprisingly they also thought they were right. We too have religious groups who believe this. The friends…
Do what I (p2) do – Making do Luke 4:31-5:11 Last week Jesus read from the book of Isaiah Luke4:18-19 and declared that he was about freedom for captives and the time of the lord’s favour. This week we watch to see how he lives and how his life stacks up with what he has said. Lurking the background for all of us is the unspoken question “How do our lives line up with what we say?”. We watched a clip from youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69hsVuxa3Jk of a bike owner confronting someone who was riding a stolen bike. How would you respond if this was you (the owner)? How do you reckon he did ? Background Information In western culture we are…
Reading : Luke 4:14-30 Ours is an age marked by cynicism. When Politicians stand and make promises to us we seldom believe them. Opposition parties make bold promises until they get into power and then we all watch to see what they actually do. In Luke 4 Jesus starts his public ministry by reading from the scroll of Isaiah. Luke 4:18-19 This is like his election manifesto, or his vision statement. Apparently it was acceptable to pick and choose what you read because he reads from Isaiah 58:6 and Isaiah 61:1-2. (for extra homework read Isaiah 61. Leviticus 25 talks about a year of Jubilee. Did the Jews ever do this ? When ? or why didn’t they ?) When…
It’s not only what we believe that changes us, What we do also changes us. We’re having a crack at doing 40 acts of generousity in the lead in to Easter and you are invited. We’ll be taking our inspiration from the book of Acts. You can sign up for a daily email with inspiration and suggestions by signing up at https://40acts.org.uk/signup/ What would our lives be like if we were all generous ?