Carol Penner

Sermon: Jonah in the Whale–Praying When you are Down – Jonah 1:17-2:10

May 13, 2021

A sermon that uses slides of artwork to illustrate the story of Jonah: Jonah descends to the depths in this story, but he arrives, by the end of chapter two, at the surface alive again, by the grace of God. Going to the depths and coming up again…that’s something all human beings can relate to, even today. The translatability of this story to today’s world, combined with the vivid imagery may explain why this story has had such lasting power in our culture.

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Sermon: Jonah…Journeying with a Man on a Journey – Jonah 1:1-16

May 13, 2021

I hope we can approach the story with curiosity and an open mind. In our reading of this book in the coming weeks, I hope that we don’t try to reduce Jonah to a pithy little nugget that we can put in our pocket. It’s polyvalent…it has many meanings; it’s a story that can journey with us, because it’s a story about a journey. A journey that involves storms and amazing creatures and amazing conversions in foreign lands. It’s a big picture story that points to God and the nature of creation. I hope you are as excited as I am to be taking flight with Jonah. What does a man named Dove have to tell us?

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Sermon: Creating Sanctuaries–Abuse in the Church – Psalm 32, Exodus 25:3-9

May 13, 2021

Schools, businesses and professional organizations of all kinds have safe place policies. Now I know that we have high hopes for the church. As followers of Jesus, shouldn’t we have a lower percentage of bad behavior? We strive not just for civility and not killing each other, we strive for love in the church. Shouldn’t the church be a safer place than other places?  Yes, there is love and caring in the church but unfortunately, people bring every part of their humanness to the church, and that includes the humanness that leads to hurting each other.

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Sermon: Praying for Hope in Gaza – Matthew 2:1-23, Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

May 13, 2021

Jesus was a child refugee in Gaza. We can see Jesus’ face in the many children in Gaza today. And the weeping of the parents in Bethlehem described in our scripture resonates with so many images we’ve seen in the last few weeks of Israeli and Arab parents wailing. “A voice was heard in Rama, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

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A Shepherd Watches: A Dramatic Monologue – Luke 2:1-14

May 13, 2021

I am always watching.  My life is watching.  When I was little, I used to walk with my grandfather everywhere, and he used to say, “You have eyes to see, use them!”  He asked me to describe to him everything I saw.  The clouds building on the horizon on a spring evening.   I watched and described it, but he told me what it meant, that the rain would come tomorrow.  The bird suddenly flying up from the bushes…I watched and described it, he told me that birds have reasons for what they do.  Together we watched and saw a wolf creeping.  “Watch the sky, watch the birds,” he told me…

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Sermon: A Light in the World–Faith Made Visible – Ephesians 5:1-20, 2:8-10

May 12, 2021

On January 21, 1525 a tall man with a big head of black hair knelt down. They called him “Strong George”. He asked his friend Conrad to baptize him, even though he had already been baptized as a baby. Conrad Grebel baptized “Strong George”. Strong George then baptized all of the others present…Conrad  Felix, and all the other men and women. It was their way of being a light in the world for Jesus…they formed a church that day in 1525. They came to be known as Anabaptists…rebaptizer

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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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