Thank you, God, for this congregation.
You have been with us since day one.
Your presence guiding us,
your light leading us even in difficult times
when the path was hard to find.
Bless our annual general meeting this year.
We want to give thanks to those who served,
and empower those who take on new positions….
In this sermon I focus on the pregnant Mary, and how the physical act of pregnancy teaches us how to love our nieghbour as ourselves. Remarkably, the phenomenon of fetal microchimerism teaches us about loving another person at a molecular level too. Our bodies from the very inception of life teach us the main messages of what it means to be human. I use artwork to illustrate why thinking about pregnant Mary is important.
Now the Lord said to Abram
“Go from your country and your kindred
and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
A journey; a far journey
to see lands he had never seen,
to meet people he had never known.
Imagine Abram packing his donkey, saying farewell to his family,
leaving behind everything that was dear to him and going forward,
forward into God`s invitation, “to the land that I will show you.”
Abram, the journey-man was the first of a long-line of travellers.
Hagar and Esau unwillingly sent into the wilderness,
Isaac trekking to find a wife.
Remember with clear eyes the uncountable cost of war.
Remember with deep sorrow those who killed and were killed.
Remember with grief the blood-stained battlefields.
Remember with horror the destroyed neighbourhoods.
Remember with tears the trail of people fleeing their homeland.
Remember with compassion the bereaved and the wounded.
We stand at the threshold of the year…
some of us stand solidly on two feet, ready to take a bold step forward.
Some of us are more tentative–
we have one foot still lingering in the summer break,
reluctant to put that foot forward in the new season.
God of Grace,
everywhere we look in Niagara, there is bounty.
Orchards brimming with red cherries.
Vineyards heavy with purple grapes.
Fields carpeted in golden grain.
Green vegetables, row on row,
and bushes laden with blueberries.
And the good earth
hiding its white potatoes till harvest.
A feast for the eye and body,
all gifts from your hands.
The deeds are done,
the crimes are committed,
and many people continue to suffer.
How do we make things right
in the aftermath of great wrongs?
How do we do this when the wrongs
took place across centuries and continents,
and are still continuing today?
We have a long history
and you know it all.
From week one something in us
grasping forbidden things,
walking away from others.
Humanity or our ancestors
ranging for food, shelter, warmth.
Taking it where we could find it,
wresting it away from others.
On this May morning
as the very ground around us
is resurrected from winter’s death,
we are filled with thankfulness.
New colours blaze around us:
crowds of golden daffodils,
flotillas of white blossoming trees
and every possible shade of green.
I am a Mennonite pastor currently teaching theology at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario. I’ve served congregations in Ontario and most recently, Alberta.
I love to write and to lead worship! If you are finding my writing helpful, I would love to hear from you! Feel free to use or adapt the material here, it is all written by me. If printing material, please credit “Copyright Carol Penner www.leadinginworship.com” (and say whether you modified it). If publishing, please contact me for permission. Contact me at carol@leadinginworship.com
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