God of the Brokenhearted

Based on Psalm 147

God
Who is not too busy counting the stars
to know the hearts that are broken
for God is abundant in power
And what you mean by that
is that you measure understanding
by sitting by children who whisper their fears

and you somehow pay attention to the droning
politicians who make up nonsensical arguments
against humanity
and you hold the hands of those who have to listen too

You wrap your wings around those
in never ending warzones
knowing that Jesus was borne in an occupied country

You stand with all the women who write poems
for justice, magnifying your creative work
lifting the downtrodden

God you are the one who casts the wicked to the ground
Telling amazing stories of misunderstood witches
and reminding or hearts that the songs of hope
that we sing in the middle of the night
count as hymns of praise to your ears

Peace is sown, bit by bit, in every act of community
and solidarity
with the mutual aids
and signatures
But also through the real listening
the space to let one another rest
and all those who do the small things to get through
mundane days

God you do not bother with shows of strength
Strongmen do not impress or bother you
God you do not worry about human displays of greed or power
You instead take delight in cute animals
beautiful flashes of nature: a pretty cloud, snowflake or flower
Because you know what love is
and you grant peace
True peace, through love

It is love and peace you desire
And I will hold this in my right and left hand
especially when my palms feel empty
in these advent days.
Amen

Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”

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Author: katyandtheword

Pastor Katy has enjoyed ministry at New Covenant since 2010, where the church has solidified its community focus. She now works at Capital CFO plus as the Non Profit Director. All opinions expressed on this blog are her own and do not reflect those of Capital CFO plus. 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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