Carol Penner, Author at Leading in Worship

Living for Jesus Communion Service

March 29, 2018

Let’s pray together:
God of grace, we give you thanks for this bread,
and your son Jesus Christ who came to save us.
The love of Jesus shines through the years,
his death on the cross, his broken body
has become the bread of life which sustains us.
As we eat this bread,
remind us that we are part of his body,
living for him, giving for him. Amen.
My brothers and sisters……..The body of Christ, broken for you. [eat the bread]

“It is the Lord” Congregational Prayer

March 29, 2018

God, thank you for the dawn that comes every morning,
even after our darkest nights.
We give you thanks for life resurrecting from the death of winter.
For birds singing their spring songs in the dark before the dawn;
for the ice on rivers, shattered,
for the first green spikes of spring poking up through the melting earth,
for the smell of spring air fresh when we open the door,
for the sun’s rays on our face, warming us.
For every sign of spring, we give you thanks!

We give you thanks for your son Jesus Christ,
for his sacrifice for us, for his teaching.
Help us to grasp resurrection; to understand its power,

Easter Morning Call to Worship

March 29, 2018

Early in the morning we come to you, God,
with gratefulness and wonder,
and with awe at your power to save us.
This morning we want to follow the women to the tomb.
We want to hear the surprising words, “He is not here!”
We want to kneel before Christ with joy and thankfulness.
And we want to leave here bursting with good tidings of great joy
which shall be for all people.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

God of Resurrection Prayer

March 29, 2018

God of Resurrection,
we come on this most holy of mornings,
thankful and awed by your power to save us.
Thank you for the gift of your son Jesus Christ
whose resurrection brings us life.
You know us, Lord, in our humanness.
You lived and breathed and walked among us,
you know us inside and out, every word and action;
our secret thoughts are known only to you.
You know the areas in our lives that are dead;
you are familiar with our tombs.

Shining Call to Worship

March 29, 2018

Great God of heaven and earth;
we come to sing of your mighty power this morning,
your wisdom, your goodness, your strength flaming out.
We come to give thanks for great gifts.
This morning, we ask that you would resurrect us,
opening us petal by petal, with your shining love,
warming us into life
even in the places where we feel cold and dead.
Shine in our hearts, Lord Jesus!

Journey of Love Congregational Prayer

March 29, 2018

Holy Spirit,
we need your presence here on planet earth.
Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem,
it is there he was crucified.
Today many still suffer in that same city.
Racism and oppression are rampant;
a giant dividing wall of hostility runs near it.
Jerusalem struggles to find the things that make for peace.
We need your Spirit to shine there in dark places,
and to offer hope for those who are mired in hopelessness.
Raise up peacemakers who reject hatred,
whose integrity can inspire loyalty,
whose wisdom can chart a path for peace.

Good Friday Prayer for Those Who Suffer

March 28, 2018

Jesus, you walked a dark path;
you took on the suffering of the world as your own.
And so today we pray for all who suffer.
We see your face in the face of those in captivity,
and so we pray for inmates in _________________ [our local jail]
whose pain is muffled by high walls and barbed wire.
We see your face in the face of those unjustly accused,
and so we pray for those who are being held without a trial,
who fear they will not get out alive.
We see your face in those who are tortured,
and so we pray for all who are chained,
and whose bodies flinch with every blow.

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.

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

Living for Jesus Communion Service

“It is the Lord” Congregational Prayer

Easter Morning Call to Worship

God of Resurrection Prayer

Shining Call to Worship

Journey of Love Congregational Prayer

Good Friday Prayer for Those Who Suffer

Good Friday Darkness Call to Worship

Expectations: A Maundy Thursday Prayer

About Carol Penner

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