Carol Penner

Our New Year’s Prayer of Hope

January 1, 2012

God, we stand at the door of this New Year,
thankful for the year behind us,
a gift through which we’ve lived and moved.
At this timely threshold,
with our feet poised to walk into ____,
we turn to you with our prayer of hope.
Hope springs eternal when we walk with you.
Help us walk this year with you.
We hope that this will be a year filled
with joy, with love, with laughter,
a year filled with plenty and abundance,
with purpose and fulfillment.
But if the year brings hard times and hurt,
pain and sorrow, tears and trials,
we know that your care and comfort

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Holy Incarnation Call to Worship

December 4, 2011

Dearly beloved!
We are gathered here in the sight of God
in this time of worship
to remember the holy incarnation,
the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In a tiny town of Bethlehem
a worried father waited,
a would-be mother laboured.
The world held its breath for a Saviour.
The baby arrived,
and angels incandesecent
sang of goodwill to shepherds,
lighting up the night sky.

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Advent Communion Service

November 29, 2011

Who is invited to the Lord’s Table?
All are invited;
the young and the old,
the rich and the poor,
the lowest and the least;
sinners and saints together in communion.
Come find your place here
where there are no strangers or foreigners,
only brothers and sisters in the sight of God.

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The Year I put God on the Christmas List

November 25, 2011

It never occurred to me till this year
to put God on my Christmas list.
Heaven knows, I’ve been on the receiving end
too many times to count,
with a God whose giving knows no ending.
Maybe God would like a gift,
for a change.
What do you get Someone who has everything?
Slippers?  Does one size truly fit all?
A book?  What hasn’t God read yet?
An ipad?  Are there apps made in heaven?
Can everyone really use socks?

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Lost and Found at Christmas

November 24, 2011

This Christmas, you come as a Saviour to the lost.
We gather here, we who have lost heart,
lost hope, lost patience, lost time.
We have lost innocence, we are losing the race,
we feel like lost souls.
This Christmas, we want to be finding you–
finding you in the silence of the gray morning
and in the sweet smile of a child;
finding you in the dark starry sky
and in the warm handshake of a friend;
finding you in the familiar Christmas narrative
and in the story of a stranger;
finding you in our own hearts
and in the face of our enemies.

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Advent Prayer: The World Waits

November 22, 2011

God of grace, thank you for this season of waiting.
Thank you for the beauty of the sleeping earth  
waiting for spring’s new life.
Thank you for the joy of children
waiting for the excitement of gift giving.
Thank you for the gift of familiar carols,
whose joyful music touches waiting hearts.
Thank you for far-flung family and friends
that we can’t wait to see this season.
Thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ;
we have been waiting for a Saviour….

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Christmas Reader’s Theatre: For Unto Us a Child is Born!

November 21, 2011

A reading for up to ten people, with an optional “people” response.

Narrator:  Waiting, watching, hoping against hope,
the faithful have looked and longed for a Saviour.
Wrapped up in our own lives, in our own struggles,
consumed with our own desires and sins,
still, our hope was in God.
At long last, all generations cry out,
“For unto us a child is born”.

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Walking by Faith Offering Prayer

October 22, 2011

Before the offering:
We don’t always know how much money we have,
or how much we will need;
in precarious economic times we are tempted
to hoard our money for ourselves.
In this offering we have the opportunity to show our faith,
that our God will supply all our needs.
Let’s collect our offering

After the offering:
We walk by faith,
we live by faith,…

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God of Gardens

October 22, 2011

God of gardens,
you are the great Cultivator,
growing faith for the ages.
You aren’t picky about the size of the harvest.
You rejoice in the vast prairie field,
one crop from horizon to horizon,
just as you rejoice in the tiny plant
breaking through the inner city cement crack.
You carefully tend the tenderest of plants,
taking deep delight in burgeoning beauty.
Under the light of your gaze,
faith breaks out in different colours

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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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