Wrong Turns

CW: Gun Violence, Racism

God,
I am praying for the young adults, the teens, the kids
who take the wrong turns
Sweet Resurrected Jesus
You and I know, that I have no sense of direction–
How many times have I been
lost and alone in the car
Making my way across the country
(Pre-cell phone directions even)
–Luckily I am a white girl
But the shooting mere miles from my house
In upstate NY
proves that
it’s the guns
the guns
the guns.
And Lord save all the Black Boys, The beloved
Beautiful, made in your image
Black Brothers
My soul keens for them

God, you hung up your weapon,
your bow, your version of a gun
in the sky–way before Jesus
In the time of Noah–so that every single time we see it

We might, maybe possibly remember
That you are a Disarmed God
A Weaponless God
A God who refuses to Destroy anymore

A God of Peace

And when we refused to believe it
You sent your Son
What-His-Name
The Prince of Peace

Down to Earth
You don’t bring the Weapons
I’ll bring the Revolution
“Drop your swords” He says
When he is being arrested–
By the Empire no less
“And I’ll heal your ears, so you can hear
my words of peace”

And when you were resurrect Jesus
Among the huddled and fearful disciples
Did they raise arms against you
in “defense” and fright
(Its a question I don’t want to think about)

You replied to the fervor of frightened humans
“Peace be with you”

When we are lost
or feel invaded
or scared
or alone

“Peace be with you”

Disarm yourselves
God demonstrated
coaxes
whispers

If you really trust God,
I promise, you won’t need any guns
the end of the world won’t be with a bang

It will be with the whisper
“Peace be with you”

I’m still praying for the kin(g)dom
come

Peace be with you
Amen.

Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Rainbow and clouds with an orange car heading towards it, created on canva by Katy Stenta, feel free to use

Gun Violence Prevention Prayers

Author: katyandtheword

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. View all posts by katyandtheword

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