About | Preaching Today
Rev Dr Terry Wall's sermon on Christ and Culture
He cannot be the Messiah, can he?
One of the very positive things about life at St. Paul’s, Orakei Methodist Parish, is the mix of cultures. It is something that has happened in Auckland over the last thirty years. Here at St. Paul’s every Sunday people from Britain and Europe, Asia and the Pacific worship together. We meet and come to know each other. We learn to value the cultures and traditions that we represent. More...
Rev Dr Alan Webster wrote this for AIM in 2005 - relevant for our times?
Fire on the Earth, Luke 12:49-56
I bring you a contradiction. Nothing could be more contradictory than the image so gloriously shown today of the Olympic symbol, with the thrilling story of the gift of Greece to world civilization, and the image in the Gospel, of Jesus announcing terrible fire upon the earth. The President of the Olympic Association had stated in a fine message that we need peace. And here, in today’s Scripture, Jesus declared conflict and division. What sort of sense does it make, especially perhaps for those who have studied and valued Greek philosophy, science and mathematics, to have to hear Jesus pronouncing fire and destruction upon the whole scene? Is Christianity so out of touch with the times? More...
Rev A K Webster sermon on Embodied Prayer
The dance that hasn't limbs | Embodied prayer
At an art gallery we look at the paintings, but it doesn’t take too long to start thinking about what’s not there as well as what is there. Someone watched a famous ballerina dancing … and at the end of it asked her, “What did you mean by that dance?” She replied, “If I could put it into words, I wouldn’t need to dance it.” More...
Rev Norman Goreham on Wesleyan spirituality
Whatever Happened to Inner Religion?
Historically‚ Methodism came into existence on a ticket of inner religion‚ a religion of the heart.
The prevailing religious climate was marked by Deism‚ which‚ together with Latitudinarianism‚ represented the spirit of the Enlightenment on the English scene.
Deism was both philosophical and religious in origin‚ stressing the need for the clear light of reason to act as a guide‚ the only trustworthy guide‚ in matters of science and in matters of belief. The religious antecedents of Deism are of interest to us here and may be said to be found in the Calvinism of the Genevan Reformation.
Mike Stachurski's zine/sermons Prophets
Here are insights into the heart of the prophetic message,
based on passages from from Numbers, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah. Mike preached these sermons to the Auckland Rainbow Community Church, and the sermon on Ezekiel to a Roman Catholic congregation. congregation. Click the graphic to go to the collection.
Music resources
The following link givse you access to significant music resource collections
Bill Wallace | Songs for Download from Progesssive Christianity website
Resources for Faith Communities
Worship Resources for the Christian Year. There is a page for each season of the Lectionary calendar and includes a page Explaining the Christian Calendar by Rev Dr Lynne Wall.
The Art and Craft of Telling the Christian Story
The Art and Craft of Telling the Christian Story. The pages in this collection are:
- Videos from Far Country Tall Tales and True. This page in the collection is a video index of David Bell's sermons broadcast on YouTube.
- Creativity and Imagination in Ministry. This highlights the work of preachers and community theologians, including Lavinia Elder, Manoa Havea, Philip Garside, David Hill, Stuart Macadam, Stuart Manins, Rachael Masterton, Melema’u Molitika, Neti Petaia, Ann Pritchard, Rosalie Sugrue, and Dorothy Willis.
- The Art and Craft of Shaping a Sermon. On this page there is a free guide on how to research and write sermons using the hidden and ignored resources of congregational involvement.
Kids Packs
Dorothy and Earnest Willis have a great range of Kids Packs which can be used for various activities in church or at home
Lectionary Readings and Reflective images
Vanderbilt Divinity Library Resources
The Library states, "The slideshow files contain selected texts from each of the Sunday Lectionary readings along with reflective images. Each is available in PowerPoint and PDF format. Since the images have copyright release for non-commercial use, the slideshows may be freely used in worship and educational settings. To download, click on either of the icons to save the file to your computer."
These slides are well-designed, compared to most church Powerpoints. They look very, very good and will communicate various interpretations of the message in a strong way. They can form the basis for active thinking about sermons, reflections, prayers for worship.