Advent
Is the prayer
For justice
And healing
In the midst
Of impatience
And pain
It’s the cry of love
In a world of no
The grace of yes
Reaching out
To the whole of humanity
Without question
Qualifiers or pause
All Amens and Alleluias
Of Mary’s Magnificat
Feel free to share/adapt/use with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
God,
I know what it is
to love
And have nothing else.
I know what it is to be sick
for a week, a month,
a year
and pray and hope for treatment
And be stuck with nothing but waiting
And illnesses wash over you–and you are stuck with surviving
at such a time as this
I know what it is to see your beloved stuck in the throes of psychosis
Screaming for you to help them
And you are right there
But they can’t hear or see your love
at such a time as this
I know what it is to be the one talking to estranged family members
hearing both sides of the story
Knowing that both sides are right in their own way
seeing the irony of how similar they
and bearing the sadness of their loneliness and hurt during the holidays
at such a time as this
I know what it is to worry about your kids getting sick
And the dangers of gun violence that seem to be around every corner
but that society has deemed that the economy is important, so you send them
To school, to the theater, to the shopping center, to activities
at such a time as this
I know what it is to act in love
To make the best choice one can
When there is not right choice
Only the best choice at hand-
After years of “once in lifetimes” wars, violences, protests, recessions and pandemics, until we learn the truth God
at such a time as this
We are in an apocalyptic times: a great revealing of truths.
In such a time as this
I keep learning the authentic sacrifices of love:
communication, doing one’s best, forgiveness, boundaries
God, you don’t have to be Queen Esther to live in this advent world
at such a time as this
We are all holding each other’s hands
And walking each other home
In such a time as this–
God, I know you understand too
I’m hanging onto that with both hands
this advent, as I’m waiting
at such a time as this
Let’s light a candle of love,
especially at such a time as this,
light this candle with us I pray
Amen
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Please Support my Writing, I am Funding some of my Doctorate in Creative Writing as a Public Theologian through donations https://gofund.me/554d36e3 Thank you to all those who have donated, I have successfully completed 2 years thanks to your support.
Here’s a Prayer for Advent
For those are stuck in injustice for so long
they seek justice with every breath they breathe
and long for a new kind of liberation.
Here’s a prayer for those
stuck in the throes of grief
gnarled in the pain
and cannot feel those who are holding their hands in darkness.
Here is a prayer those
sick so prologuedly, they don’t remember
what health feels like, and subsist instead
on better days.
Here’s a prayer for the lonely
whose teeth ache when they see companionship
who lurk in the corners of libraries and shops
and love to converse with strangers and angels unawares.
Here’s a prayer for the victims
of violence and abuse
from microagressions to verbal, from physical to assassination
To all those who cannot be safe because where they are or who they are.
Here’s a prayer for those who just don’t know Lord
They are just so tired and confused, and stuck
They aren’t sure where to go next or what to do
But they are certain that they need to figure out the next step.
Here’s a prayer for those on the edge of death,
you know the ones God, waiting for that next family gathering
or that last visit, or the strength to let go–
Or even Christmas to pass, in order to join the rest of the Saints.
This is a prayer for all those waiting,
Maybe what we have is not yet hope, perhaps it is hoping for hope
But that is enough to light the candle together
That is enough to wait for God together, for the miracle whispers to us.
It whispers of the one who is to come:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Purveyor of Peace
And Government will rest upon their shoulders–
God, we are holding our breath, and light the candle hoping for hope.
We are praying with the world today, O Come, O Come Emmanuel we Pray. Amen.
Feel Free to Use/Share/Adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
It’s small business Saturday etc etc
If you enjoy my writing and wish to support my work feel free to donate to my writing.
I run this website pay for its fees, administrate all the things, provide doc copies to anyone who asks, write all the liturgy, etc and do everything based on donations.
I know that there are big and small churches and all kinds of people in the world all are in need of timely resources.
I started to publish after I reworked other resources one too many times to be relevant and not bogged down with sexism or bigotry (it’s an ongoing and imperfect task but I’m striving to be ever more inclusive in all that I do, you never stop learning)—and after wishing there was timely prayers for current events, so that is a bulk of what I do here.
The most common way to donate is to my gofundme for my Doctorate in Creative Writing https://gofund.me/ac35f3b5
I also have Venmo @Katy-Stenta (last four 7841), Paypal @KatyStenta, Google Pay Katyandtheword@gmail.com, Cash App $bookkats (this is what comes of having three younger siblings of assorted generational ages)
Thanks for reading, your support and
Most of all
Thanks for praying with me!
The Membership Questions: If I Wrote them
Expanded:
Do you reject Evil
Of Guns
Of White Supremacy
Of the False Gospel of Hate
Of the Nationalism
Of trying to Control Your Child’s Life
Do you reject the idolatry of Power, Greed, Imperialism, Capitalism and Control?
Do you surrender to the Loving and Searing Truth of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who opens your heart in such away that you continually examine your life and ask–am I living in a way that adhere’s to God’s Life Giving Standards?
Do I, to Love my Enemies, Are the Imprisoned? Give Food to those in Near, Somehow free myself To Not Judge those different than you and to Welcome those who are different in Gender, Race, Sexuality, Age and Ability to my House, Home, Table and Life?
Do I affirm the Apostles Creed, as far as I understand it, knowing that it is a lifelong mystery. Do I affirm what I know and commit to continual study of the Apostles Creed and God?
Feel free to use/share/adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
It’s never just
Books
Bathrooms
Pronouns
It’s not just
Marriage
Jobs
Names
It’s not just
Dancing
Sports
Scouts
“Belief”
or “policy”
It is
Mental health
Personhood
Belovedness
Anti-Violence
It is
Breathing
Existing
Always
Every Word
For or Against
Counts
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
God is crying
Rainbow Tears
God who hung
Their Rainbow
Weapon
In the Sky
Before Jesus
Tread the Earth
God who Dances
With Abandon
God
who Protects
Joseph Lady’s/Rainbow Cloak
Ruth’s Found Family
Jesus of Two Dads
Baptizing the Egyptian Eunuch
God’s weeping
rainbow tears
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Erasure
You can’t erase Queer
It doesn’t matter
How hard You try
With bullying
Hate
Guns
Bonfires
And bookbans
Shaming cultures
And evil gods
Can’t make People “Don’t say gay”
Evidence of “Roommates”
Hermaphrodites
Two Spirits (don’t appropriate)
Third genders
And Trans*
People
Go back
to the beginning
Of time
And Don’t
Get me started
On the Bible
With the Poly Trinity
David & Jonathan
Joseph’s Rainbow/Lady’s Coat
God’s pronouns
Revealed in flames
Ruth and Naomi
Song of Songs
The Eunuch
The Bible is Queer
You can’t erase
LGBTQIA
It Only
Gets clarified
As time Goes on
So YES
You have
To learn
New terms
#NotSorry
Yes we will
Have
No we will
Not shut up
Personhood
Is on the line
You can’t erase
People
It hasn’t worked
Yet
And it never
Will
I promise you
I will keep
Remembering
And Naming
And Believing
And Listening
And History shows me
I am not alone
QUEER are Beautifully
And Fiercely made
In the image
Of God
No one will
Ever erase
That
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katyandtheword 