Processing with God: Narrative Lectionary, Liturgy, Prayers
Tantrum Prayer
As my child is screaming Lord, I say a quick prayer.
Because really, I want to scream too.
On this day when we found a way to safely see our friends, we got lost.
And we are almost there, but the child is screaming, it’s pitch black out, and the roads are unfamiliar. And the other one is whimpering too.
And I’m trying to drive.
The third time we make a U-Turn and finally get through to our friends…
we can not longer hear the directions she is trying to tell, because the screaming is too loud, or the road is too dark, or the pandemic is too much.
God, this is my prayer to you, because in my heart I’m screaming. I’m screaming, lost in the dark.
And so we turn around, and go home–all of us crying, some of us out loud.
And truthfully, like a child I just want to scream,
until you pick me up,
put me to bed,
And Let me start again in the morning.
I am grateful that you are a God I can tantrum to, You are a place where I can admit that I am lost, you are the parent whom I can admit that I’m not hearing or seeing or processing well anymore.
Pastor Katy has enjoyed ministry at New Covenant since 2010, where the church has solidified its community focus. Prior to that she studied both Theology and Christian Formation at Princeton Theological Seminary. She also served as an Assistant Chaplain at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and as the Christian Educational Coordinator at Bethany Presbyterian at Bloomfield, NJ.
She is an writer and is published in Enfleshed, Sermonsuite, Presbyterian's today and Outlook. She writes prayers, liturgy, poems and public theology and is pursuing her doctorate in ministry in Creative Write and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
She enjoys working within and connecting to the community, is known to laugh a lot during service, and tells as many stories as possible. Pastor Katy loves reading Science Fiction and Fantasy, theater, arts and crafts, music, playing with children and sunshine, and continues to try to be as (w)holistically Christian as possible.
"Publisher after publisher turned down A Wrinkle in Time," L'Engle wrote, "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adult's book, anyhow?" The next year it won the prestigious John Newbery Medal.
Tolkien states in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings that he disliked allegories and that the story was not one.[66] Instead he preferred what he termed "applicability", the freedom of the reader to interpret the work in the light of his or her own life and times.
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Oh Katy, sending hugs and prayers. I relate so strongly to your words in so many ways. I’m often jealous at the unfiltered emotions allowed in our small people, and yearn for that same freedom. I hope you find a space for genuine screaming, genuine tears and genuine release of all that rests upon your heart. Much Love, Susan
Not so infrequently I think it would be ok to be 2 or 3 years old where when everything is wrong and we are screaming someone else will pick us up and fix it.
katyandtheword 
Oh Katy, sending hugs and prayers. I relate so strongly to your words in so many ways. I’m often jealous at the unfiltered emotions allowed in our small people, and yearn for that same freedom. I hope you find a space for genuine screaming, genuine tears and genuine release of all that rests upon your heart. Much Love, Susan
Not so infrequently I think it would be ok to be 2 or 3 years old where when everything is wrong and we are screaming someone else will pick us up and fix it.