Carol Penner

Prayer for Those Living with HIV/AIDS

December 1, 2016

Immanuel, thank you for being with us in our HIV/AIDS filled world.
We pray expecting your presence among us!
Be with all who live with the effects of this disease.
Be with those who wait to die because they have no access to medication.
Be with children who received HIV as a legacy from their parents.
Be with orphans and families who have lost loved ones.
Be with countries who have millions of citizens with HIV/AIDS.
Be with all who are stigmatized and ignored because they have this virus.
Be with researchers and scientists who work to find a cure.
Be with corporate executives who control access to affordable medications.
Be with healthcare workers and caregivers who comfort and encourage.

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A Prayer for the Stream Behind My Apartment Building

November 30, 2016

Creator God:
I am sorry for this little stream,
its banks straightened and cemented.
Graffiti decorates the culverts,
and it’s dotted with plastic bags and bottles.
But trees still grow and shelter,
dappling with shadow,
ducks and dragonflies dally,
birds swoop and the wild creatures come to drink.
Now in fall, yellow leaves sail on its dark surface,
it’s still a place that delights.
This little stream retains its beauty,,,

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Prayer for Imprisoned Sexual Offenders

November 29, 2016

Great God, hear my prayer for every person in prison
convicted of a sexual offence.
These are the people I count as enemy,
that our society counts as enemy;
rapists, abusers, child molesters.
Jesus, you are the key of David,
you walk through every locked prison door,
you look with love into the heart of each one.
You know the history of aggression,
and that when the unspeakable is done to us,
blind pain can cause us to lash out….

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The Anti-Magnificat (if I had been Mary)

November 28, 2016

Dear God:
Thank you for the invitation
you so kindly extended,
inviting me to become pregnant
with the Prince of Peace.
What an honour to be asked,
and I am so grateful for your confidence in me.
The world needs a Saviour and it is to your credit
that you have remembered your promises.
I totally support your endeavors in this regard.
Circumstances being what they are,

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A Settler Prayer for Peace

November 27, 2016

Creator God, hear our prayer for settlers everywhere;
for people living on land stolen
and traded unfairly from Indigenous peoples.
You know our cruelties, our disregard for cultures and histories,
our cavalier dismissal of treaty rights,
our personal prejudices, our institutional racism.
The colonial system is so insidious, we who benefit
often don’t even see it, even when it’s in front of our faces.
You are a God who names, and a God who hears.
You know the name of every missing and murdered indigenous woman.
You heard the cries of every child in every residential school.

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A Prayer for when Sexual Abuse is Discovered

August 31, 2016

My God, my God,
where were you?
My innocent child,
my beautiful innocent child,
a child of God, your child,
this child has been abused.
First and foremost,
protect my child, Lord.
Keep them from further harm.
Heal the hurt.
Mend the memories.
Restore what is lost….

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“Can these bones live” Easter Congregational Prayer

March 27, 2016

God of grace,
we feel your hand upon us this morning,
saving us, loving us, encouraging us.
Jesus, you lived and walked among us,
you know us through and through.
You are familiar with our tombs,
the places where we have laid loved ones to rest,
and also those places where we are dead inside.
And you know the wars we fight,
personal and on a larger scale.
You have visited the battlefields, filled with corpses.
You ask us, “Can these bones live?”
and we think it’s impossible.
Death seems so final and powerful.  
And so does racism, and sexism, and every other ism.

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Bread of Life Communion Service

February 28, 2016

I invite you to this table
in the name of the One who said, “I am the bread of life.”
This is the table of our Lord Jesus Christ;
it is here that we remember
how he gave his body and his blood to save us.

On the night he was handed over,
our Lord Jesus Christ took bread
and after giving thanks to God
broke it and gave it to his disciples
He said, “Take, eat;
this is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”

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Deepest Hunger Call to Worship

February 28, 2016

John 6:35 and
God of every good gift:
we come to worship today seeking many things.
Some of us are seeking peace,
some are seeking healing,
some are seeking answers,
and others are looking for the right questions.
We trust you, that you will give us
what we need;
food for our deepest hunger. Amen.

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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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