True Home Call to Worship

August 1, 2012

“Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore?
But even if mothers forget,  I’d never forget you—never.
Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands.
The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight.”

Thank you, God, that worship is always our true home.
Thank you that it is here that we are welcomed,
here that we can show our true selves
and be truly accepted and loved for who we are.
Help us in this hour to rest in your love,
in the presence of our church family,
children of God, together.

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Ambassadors of Life Congregational Prayer

July 27, 2012

Lord you give life to life!
From day one, your Spirit brooding over the deep,
your wind rushing, your breath filling.
As creatures of the earth we rejoice in life
using our breath, our being,
to raise this hymn of praise:
Hallelujah to the sun’s hot passion
embracing the ground’s great shoulders.
Hallelujahs for the growth from seed to plant
greening the earth;  its fruit—beauty and food!
Hallelujahs for generations of life
tumbling one after another.
Life creeping, swimming, flying, running,
below, above, upon, within.

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Faith, Hope, Love Call to Worship

July 26, 2012

Our call to worship is from I Corinthians 13:3
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.  

God of Gods:
We come to worship today to hear your good news,
to hear stories of faith, hope and love.
We know that doubt, fear and hatred are everywhere
and can shake even the strongest.
Shape us into faithful, hopeful people:
fill us with your love that passes all understanding.
We pray this together in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Graceful Life Congregational Prayer

July 25, 2012

Grace us, God, with your presence,
because sometimes things can be such a mess.
We try to live ordered organized lives
with good principles and lofty goals,
but then there we stand at the end of it;
our days scattered with broken dreams,
words that should not have been spoken,
actions we wish we could take back,
and many many things we did not do.
In the shattered life, in the fractured family,
in the falling apart world,

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Canada Day Prayer

June 30, 2012

Thank you, God, for this piece of the world called Canada, 
a slice of land broad and wide,
blessed with rivers and great lakes,
wide skies and great forests,
high mountains and gracious plains,
beautiful from sea to sea to sea.
Thank you for letting us live in this land,
even though we do not own it;
this land is your land,
which we use in trust for future generations.
Thank you for its rich history,
which includes the Inuit and Aboriginal and Metis peoples.

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Gentle Shepherd Congregational Prayer

May 2, 2012

Gentle Shepherd:
Thank you for the way you have led us to green pastures and still water;
you’ve shown us beauty this week that has fed our souls.
The brilliant green of the trees glowing in the morning sun,
the delicate symphony the birds sing each morning,
the caress of the warm sun on our upraised cheeks,
the fragrance of honeysuckle in the evening.
Some of us have walked through dark valleys this week,
and all of us know someone in a dark valley,
valleys of sickness, grief, uncertainty, fear.
You meet us there in the darkness, you protect us.

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Your Presence Call to Worship

April 26, 2012

Here we are Lord!
We come from the busy-ness of our daily lives
from the hubbub of our work and play
from the hue and cry of the world around us,
we come to worship you.
In this hour, we long to meet you,
to feel your presence surrounding us,
enveloping us, loving us.
We long to settle into silence,
laying aside our worries and our cares,
aware of your presence around us,
before us, behind us, within us.
Come, Lord Jesus.

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Kindred Spirits

April 26, 2012

Thank you God for the quick connection,
for the interest in another’s eyes
and sympathy that is not forced.
Thank you for simultaneous laughter
and a quiet moment,
for interests that connect,
and the spontaneous invitation, “We should…”
and the quick reply of “Let’s”.
Thank you for the light giddiness that comes
from encountering a kindred spirit.
In a world where friends seem few and far between,
God of friends,
thank you for finding me new friends
on the long journey.

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Jesus Makes Breakfast: A Poem about John 21:1-14

April 20, 2012

I could smell that charcoal fire a long way off
while we were still rowing far from shore.
As we got closer I could smell the fish cooking,
I imagined I could hear it sizzling.
When you’re hungry, your mind works that way.

When the man by the fire called out asking us about our catch,
we held up the empty nets.
And his advice to throw the nets in once more
is something we might have ignored,
except for the smell of cooking fish…
this guy must know something  about catching fish!

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About Carol Penner

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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