Blessed Holy Trauma Week

Blessed Holy Trauma Week
Where the spying
on our friends
Come out to haunt
our Wednesdays
We feel the reality
That not all of our relationships
are safe

Where the Table
when we eat together
might feel haunted
by those who are missing
the ones who have died
Or the ones we are not speaking to
(hopefully for just now, Lord hear our prayer)
The echoes of lonesome pandemic times…

We remember that Jesus ate with Judas
and are comforted (How do you do that God?)

And the washing of the feet feels too much
But right

And some people are wedding
Bibles to constitutions
And we remember that Jesus said
That he would temple down
And that what he did was
rip the curtain that was separating the
so called “holy” people from the people
into smithreens (Holy Spirit flip these tables)

Blessed Holy Trauma Week
when your Youth Group Leader
Dies of Breast cancer that she has been battling
Basically since the day you met her
She counseled, supported
Got you the hall for your wedding
Sponsored your call to ministry…

Blessed Holy Trauma Week
When Friday is supposed to be Good
But your car is in the shop
and you can’t get to worship
to cry at the cross
And you think about how trauma lives in your bones

Is not Jesus our very Sibling, who died in the cross?
Do we not say we die with him? How then do we not feel it?

And so you weep instead for the children in Gaza
Gaza–where the word gauze, the cloth for healing was made
And no hospital has any medicine for infection
And children are dying from malnutrition

Blessed Holy Trauma Week
where you have permission to be fully human
weak
pathetic
Empathetic
Sympathetic
To melt on the floor and weep
Because we are all only human
And Jesus Christ knows it
Crying utterly alone on the Cross

Does everything always happen on Holy Week?
All the ministry colleagues ask?

Yes
my soul answers

Blessed Holy Trauma Week
Where we are blessed to be fully human
Fully aware
and to breathe in and breathe out
in-between


The Key Bridge

God,
An ancient bridge*
Connecting the infrastructure
of everything

crumpled

A boat
that was huge
lost control
(investigation pending)
And hit it

And six people
who happened to be Immigrants
who were hard workers
with families
seeking a better lives

they were
fixing pothole

Instead they drowned

And I have been pondering

The metaphoric proportions
Of a ship too big to stop
out of control
Heading the wrong direction

A bridge connecting everyone
Needing repairs


the working people
stuck in the cold
dark
at 1am
almost nameless
voiceless
faceless

The insufficiency
of the boat
bridge
repairs
to meet the infrastructure needs
anyway

and God I’m
a bit flabbergasted

Thankful for the 1am
Mayday call
the quick response
The fact it wasn’t Midday
Midnight, Mayday, not Midday

And Yet
I am prayerful
Over

the Symbolism
as the Newsreel
soldiers
on

God
there seems to be
more
and I think of simple messages
that we have for one another
When we listen

God be with the families of the lost
God be with our midnight workers, immigrant and here for generations
God be with our infrastructure
God be with our emergency workers
God be with us we pray

Amen.

*According to my youngest son anything from my time or before is “ancient times”

Feel Free to use/adapt/Share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”

Peter’s Denial, Thrice

I don’t know him
God you know
The kind of denial Peter made

Sudden, unbidden, accidental
Yet complete

Peter did not mean to deny Jesus
But the words once said
Felt true in the moment

He did not know this man
Who willingly went to the cross
Spoke in parables
And left him alone in an angry mob

And Peter
God knew
Never had the gift of keeping quiet

No I do not know him

The words echoed again
As Peter felt lost and alone

Peter watched himself say the words
And thought “what am I doing”

No I do not know him
Peter said a third time
Cock—a—Doodle
Doo

And on the third Day
I will rebuild the Temple
A voice whispered

And Peter say hands breaking bread
And embracing Lazarus
And Jesus resting on a rock

And a tear trickled down
And Peter thought

Did I ever know him?
And his tongue
Finally
Stood still

Feel free to use/Share/Adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”

Palm Sunday walk

Enter Jerusalem by the back door
Be Greeted by children
Proclaim Peace
Accept Hosanna as the Call to Liberation
Scare the Powers and Principalities 
Through Healing 
And Preaching if the Good News

Do not stop the Parade 
Let us add to the pile Good things

This week, Holy Week, Human Extremis Week 

Ride on on a Neutered, Baby Horse
Towards the Temple

Instead of the Palace
Beginning an Apocalypse
The Revealing 

To turn the word upside down 

Hosanna 
Save Us 
Blessed

is the
One
(Save us)
Who comes 
In the Name of
(Hosanna, Lord knows we need saving)
the Lord

Are you coming 
Prince of Peace?
Where is the backdoor anyway?

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

Hosanna: A Dangerous Prayer https://katyandtheword.com/2023/03/28/15347/

Dissertation Time

Guess what is due this week?????? My Dissertation! Guess what happened. I went from needing $600 to less than $350 ($340 to be exact) I am going to print out the pages and try to do final final, FINAL edits and send it all in for the 15th

All the support has been amazing $10-$100 gifts are making all of the difference!

I am down to the last 10% of my FINAL year goal. It is amazing. Thank you so much

Donations accepted at my go fund me https://gofund.me/554d36e3 and also
(I’ve been lowering the goal for all other donations)

Venmo @Katy-Stenta (last four 7841), Paypal @KatyStenta, Google Pay Katyandtheword at gmail, Cash App $bookkats

THANK YOU!

Daylight Savings

Daylight Savings Blessing
Blessings on everyone. ESPECIALLY every single person who works through Daylight Savings.

Blessings on overnight who get to skip an hour of work.

Blessings on the parents who will have their schedules thrown into chaos forever.

Blessings on pet owners who don’t speak dog and cat.

Blessings on sanitation workers, nurses, teachers and ever other early morning worker who even have to get up earlier.

Curses on capitalism that cannot let us just work an hour less in the winter without having us pay for things on productivity.

Blessings on the children, sweet and innocent, grumpy and yet still full of energy—how do they do that? We were that and yet it remains a mystery.

Blessings on the sunshine, returning to us, may we appreciate it and treat the earth with respect.

Blessings on coffee, tea, milk, water, fruit juice, our favorite breakfast—whatever it is that keeps us fueled and going through the day. Only God would provide such beautiful variety for us.

Blessings on the coming evening, full of respite and relief.

Blessings on this change, may we transition as best we can, though we are only human. Give us the life-giving practices we need to sustain and grow through it we pray.
Amen

Feel free to change/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta KatyandtheWord

Life Breath

Breathe in: God you are with Me
Breathe out: Be with me God

It is a serious thing
Oliver
Comma
Mary says
To be alive
On this fresh morning

Is a serious thing

Because we know the world
is still broken
But listen a bird is singing
the sun breaks through the cloud
And the children are asking
Impertinent
and true questions
that break through the mire

Startling a laugh
because evil is ridiculous
and life is breathlessnessly

wonderful

We are seriously alive
taking in the pneuma
That refills our souls

As I remind myself that
asking for help
is a hope-filled
Community affirming act

And that repair
Respair
Resurrection
is what I believe after all

Most days

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

sun rising over the mountains art by Shelby Thane “It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world.” Mary Oliver

How Many Times Lord

CW: Violent images

When I say,
How many times Lord?

I am not talking about some
nebulous math problem
that I want solved

I am more pointing to the fact
that the human brain
is incapable
of processing more
than a certain amount

of sensory
input

And the battering
of an apartheid
is so True
that my brain
has trouble processing the

Fact of the Matter
I know it, I see it, I say it

But I know
I have not processed it
the images, numbers and facts

the screams, blood and children

lie strewn across my brain
And all I can think is
How many times Lord?

It is a variation
But not the same
prayer I pray
about Gun Violence

The angry tears that clench my jaw
and make me a bleeding heart
That believes this time we will all figure out
how souls will out weigh the capitalism of violence

A rainbow in the sky promises

How Many Times?
Nonbinary Kids
Trans Women on Sports Teams
Trans Men trying to Dance

To Kill a Mockingbird is Banned

A White Woman in a Kitchen calls a Human Being Illegal
And calls for everyone to be scared

How Many Times Lord?

The Math of Getting it,
Doesn’t seem to be getting through

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

Peace, on the Bread Lines

Feed my sheep
Jesus said

When the world was ending
when everything was changing

When the intrigue was thick
And you didn’t know who to trust

Again Jesus said, Feed my sheep

And although the end seemed near
And war seemed to be everywhere

And things were apocalyptic
A word that means opening, uncovering
Things that are opening up
As well as everything that is collapsing

Jesus leaned in close to his beloved ones
and remind them
In a quiet, whisper

That their focus should be
not on…all the other things

He just said,
when they thought he might say something else

He repeated for the third time
As though he really meant it
That this should be what we
all should be doing

—Feed My Sheep

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

Almost May…

It is so close to my graduation date
I have written so many prayers and poems
40 for my disseration
80+ pages
a number of updates
Attending countless beautiful classes
Met 34 heartfilled colleagues

and it is all possible because of the support of my readers
and I am so thankful

now I am abut $700 away from being fully funded
Every gift from $5, $10, $25 to $100 has helped me to get there

If you are able to give towards my graduation so I cross the finish line
I would be grateful
If you can’t give, please send your good wishes and support
I have hopes that I can publish and continue to write

Venmo @Katy-Stenta (last four 7841), Paypal @KatyStenta, Google Pay Katyandtheword at gmail.com, Cash App $bookkats 
GoFundMe

Email KatyandtheWord at Gmail for Mailing Address to Send a Check or to request a Receipt

Thank you
Katy
“KatyandtheWord”