Carol Penner, Author at Leading in Worship

Good Friday Darkness Call to Worship

March 28, 2018

God of grace,
we have dragged ourselves to church with heavy hearts.
We are reluctant to hear this story of Jesus’ suffering,
and his death on the cross.
We would rather skip this somber day and go straight to Easter.
We long for happy hymns that speak of your victory over death.
But that is not for today.
Help us, today, to stay with Jesus,
to watch as he is handed over and condemned,
to not turn away as he is tortured and killed.
He will love us to the end.
On this day where the sins of the world are gathered,
and the sorrow of a Saviour breaks our hearts,

Expectations: A Maundy Thursday Prayer

March 28, 2018

When you arrived in Jerusalem
and the crowds gathered and cheered,
you gathered your followers in an upper room.
Were they expecting to hear a plan of attack
for the takeover of Jerusalem?
Were they expecting your master plan
for unveiling your power in the temple?
A holy reckoning where the wicked fall,
and the lowly are lifted up?

Whatever their expectations,
it didn’t have anything to do with dirty feet.

When Family Violence Devastates a Community…

February 11, 2018

God of hope, hear our lament.
Since we heard the news of ____________________
our minds are reeling.
This is violence happening in our own neighbourhood.
Some of us knew the victims,
some know people who knew them.
Our community is grieving.
We pray for family and friends of the victims.
We pray for police officers who responded.
We pray for counsellors called in,
and everyone touched by this crime.
We need your help because this crime is not singular.
Every year women are murdered by their partners,

Leaving Marriage: A Survivor’s Prayer

February 11, 2018

For richer, for poorer, for better, for worse.
I made these vows, God, before you and witnesses.
You know I meant them.
But how worse is worse?
What does faithfulness mean when he hurls his dinner at the wall?
What does honour mean when he throws me to the ground by my hair?
What does love mean when sex is always about what he wants?
You know I’m not perfect.
My words, my thoughts, my actions have been far from loving.
But this situation is impossible.
I lie down in fear, and I wake in fear….

Prayer Against Patriarchy

February 11, 2018

God, you see our world.
The girl baby told she is sweet and lovely,
the boy baby praised for strength and power.
The little girl told to be quiet and sit still,
the boy allowed to run and play because boys will be boys.
The adolescent girl not giving the answer in school,
because the boys make fun if she stands out.
The teenage girl crossing her arms over her breasts,
after the boys comment and reach out to touch.
The young woman watching where she walks,
noticing in every room if there is a threat,

Psalm at a Women’s Shelter

February 11, 2018

od, you are my rock and my redeemer,
you are my shelter, an ever present help in times of trouble.
You know that violence has been my diet, day and night.
I called to you from the depths, “God, save my life.”
It is not my enemy that attacks me, but it is my partner,
the one I love who assails me.
My body is black and blue,
my mind is reeling from insults thrown at me.
The love that I gave is thrown back in my teeth.
In this storm of trouble, I looked for help;
you led me to this women’s shelter.
When I needed a safe place to protect my children,

Prayer for a Battered Woman

February 11, 2018

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
When I think I can change another person,
remind me that I can change only myself.
When I think that being hurt is your will,
remind me of your exodus call to flee from oppression.
When I think I should sacrifice myself unto death,
remind me that you died for our sins, so I don’t have to.

O Lord grant that I may not so much seek to endure abuse,
as to escape it entirely;
that I may not so much seek to model victimization,
as to model being a faithful survivor.
For it is in new beginnings that we find your grace,
it is in standing on our own two feet that we find your strength,
it is in leading our family to safety, that we find peace.

Empowered Benediction

January 21, 2018

Go into your week
knowing you are
loved perfectly,
saved eternally,
and empowered
as a disciple of Jesus
to share God’s love
with everyone you meet.

Prayer for Those Addicted to Drugs

January 20, 2018

Lord, we are praying for those we love
whose lives are chained by the power of drugs.
They have sacrificed everything to this cruel master :
work, home, relationships, honesty,
even love seems barely to matter.
And still more is demanded of them:
we fear it will take their very life.
We need a miracle
because we’ve done everything we can think of.
Where there is recklessness, bring caution,
where there is compulsion, bring freedom,
where there is desperation, bring hope,
where death looms,

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

Carol Penner

Good Friday Darkness Call to Worship

Expectations: A Maundy Thursday Prayer

When Family Violence Devastates a Community…

Leaving Marriage: A Survivor’s Prayer

Prayer Against Patriarchy

Psalm at a Women’s Shelter

Prayer for a Battered Woman

Empowered Benediction

Prayer for Those Addicted to Drugs

About Carol Penner

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