Processing with God: Narrative Lectionary, Liturgy, Prayers
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.
Themes: Lost, God is enough Holding Uncertainty Trusting that you can participate, plant seeds and that acting in Love is enough Every Story is God providing in unexpected ways
March 23 Lent 3 Lost Sheep, Coin, Son Luke 15:1-32 Psalm 119:167-176 Lost? God searches, and searches and finds you (Instead of You Finding God)
Call to Worship God, you seek us Even when we feel lost and alone You not only find us, you celebrate God, help us to find you God wants us to find each other Come let us find one another and celebrate with God
Call to Worship (based on Psalm 119:169-176( God’s hand is ready to help We long for God’s liberation Let us live, so that we can praise God When we have gone astray, seek us out God, for you are our shepherd My lips will pour forth praise, and you will give me understanding of your Word Come let us sing of God’s promises together.
Call to Worship God we may lose you But you will find us God sometimes I feel all alone God you are the shepherd, the widow who never stops searching God, you are the father who throws pride aside and runs and runs to greet his child Come let us be with a God who wants to spend time with us
Prayer of Confession: God, I confess that I find myself searching. Sometimes I am not sure if I’m the one who is lost, or if it is others. Then I realize, it doesn’t matter, for we all belong to God. You just want us to find one another and you. Whether we are the sheep, shepherd, widow, elder or younger child or the parent in the story this week; help us to find and rejoice with one another we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: God promises that if we knock, the door will open, so we know whenever we ask, God will forgive, so let us proclaim the truth In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that the last minute stories of you finding and forgiving people make us uncomfortable. We are the people who are here on Sunday, worshipping, doing due diligence. Forgive us, teach us the unbridled joy of the Widow, Shepherd and Parent who rejoice, hug and dance when they find what they have been looking for we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News: Jesus Christ loves us and give us grace to learn and be found again and again, let us rejoice together saying: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: May we go into the world continuing to seek communion with one another and God in the world wherever we go we pray. Amen.
March 16 Lent 2 Lament over Jerusalem/Fig Tree Bore No Fruit Luke 13:1-9, 31-35 Psalm 122 Lost Fruit/People? God Gives Time and Dirt (remember what humans are formed with)
Call to Worship (based on Psalm 122) I am glad, whenever I make it to God’s House We stand at the Gates of God, and sigh We are heading towards God, bind us together Peace is on our lips Put it in our hearts Come let us experience the fruit of God
Prayer of Confession
God, we are looking for the fruit of our labors, and yet, we confess that it seems to be missing. Where is it? We are frustrated! Grant us patience, fertilizer, dirt, time, all of the time we need. Grant us the peace to grow we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: God of Time, a thousand years is like a day for you, and so we know that your forgiveness is quick. We will linger in your steadfast love and the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that we long for your sanctuary and to seek your walls, but it is hard to get you. We cannot always find your peace. We can’t always get to church, find time to pray, or even remember that you are there to shout to God? Help us when we cannot find the ways to access you God, to take the time and space to do so, we pray. Remind us that you will fill the space for us. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Jesus is the Prince of Peace, therefore we can rest in the truth In Jesus Christ we are Forgiven
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God, remind us as we enter the world, that you will give us time and food that we need, grant us the gift to do the same for others we pray. Amen.
Lost Neighbors? God brings Strangers/Enemies/Immigrants
Call to Worship (based on Psalm 15)
Come let us dwell with God Come let us sit in God’s honesty Let us find our deepness here Come we want to honor imago dei in one another May we be near each other and God Come, let us dwell in God together
Call to Worship Come let us find our neighbors The big, small, near and the far Who is our neighbor? Come let us find our neighbor with God Come let us build a community with God Come let us dwell with God and neighbor today
Prayer of Confession: God we confess, sometimes we do not want to admit that those who need help are close enough to be our neighbors. However, you remind us that anyone who is helper is a neighbor. Teach us to build neighborhoods of love we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Let us dwell in the Good News of God, God is here to forgive us so we can live in community with one another, so we know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that I do not always see imago dei, your image in the eyes of those human beings around us. Sometimes we find people too annoying, different or mean to find any image of God in them. And yet you remind us, there is no one who is not made in your image. Teach us, how to see humanity in your image we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News, God loves us and calls us by name, so we know the truth, in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess we are always comparing ourselves, we are in tumult over surviving the world, like Martha. However let our anxiety not take away from the good in the world. Teach us to understand both our Mary and Martha parts we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Jesus loves us exactly as we are, so let us dwell in the grace of Christ knowing the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen
Prayer of Dedication/Day: God, may we go into the world knowing that you are inspiring us to heal, bless and find neighbors through all the gifts that we are given. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen
God I’m gonna have to be reminded of your steadfast Love once again
Because the truth is I might be grasping onto it, by threads these days
For it might be one of the few things That makes my heart sing and reminds me that there are good things to eat and that art is worth making in this world
For truly sometimes everything seems to be full consumers– you know them the dullards who for some reason want to BURN everything Down And they seem to multiply like weeds And at time Evil seems to flourish And spread Nothingness Wherever they go
And so I meditate on you God and remember How Evil fell once before
And I count my blessings And how you reach out to me.
I remember all the enemies —my enemies, but really our enemies, because they are the enemies of justice, equity and good— You have defeated on my behalf before that my eyes have seen my ears have heard internal external I have proof And I take a deep breath and remember
God I know that you grow justice blooms, fruits, flourishes It becomes mighty and beautiful solid and wondrous, Like a towering oak that I could build a treehouse in and nestle in to sleep– and that will continue to be safe even in its oldest years.
And God as I nestle, may I remember you are always full of justice even when all else fails You will always stand for equity. I can sleep knowing that.
Call to Worship Still Again, let us declare God’s steadfast Love, with songs, instruments and praise For God makes our hearts glad by your work, by the works of God’s very hand, we sing for joy! God’s works are great, and God’s thoughts are too deep to even know; destruction and nothingness have nothing to do with you God of the Covenant, we will rest with you Come, let us seek sanctuary and Sabbath with God Come, let us rest with Jesus
Prayer of Confession: (All) God we admit that we long for wholeness, and healing and peace and all of that, but confess that we feel like it is something that we need to achieve instead of seek. Help us to find Sabbath, to sit and be with the Lord of the Sabbath with Pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news, Jesus is walking with us, teaching us and healing us, thus we know the good news: (All) In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen
Offering/Dedication Prayer: God, may we use these and all our gifts for rest, healing and wholeness as we go into the world we pray. Amen.
Children’s Sermon: Remember that God rested on the 7th Day, so it is not surprising that Jesus wanted to honor resting/healing with the disciples even before he chose them/got to work with them
Breathe in: God I am overwhelmed Breathe out: God sit with me
God, I confess that I have been cursed with your Holy Spirit I have your empathy in spades
Her whispers echo in my ear I feel worry for the children for my trans* and nonbinary family for all those who are black and brown
whose birth, citizenship and being are being tossed about and trying to be erased like words on a page
Holy Spirit How is it that the same Spirit that comes and teaches us to witness also encourages, inspires and consoles?
God almighty I confess my breath catches when I feel our relationships with other nations disintegrating when I see signs of hate shrugged off or joked about
Pneuma– I confess, I need your help to breathe in to breathe out because I confess that sometimes remembering to breathe freely is an act of rebellion
Jesus Christ I remember all of your short actions that were so disruptive most of them were listening and calling people by their chosen name
Walk with me walk with us as we do the same help us to listen closely to one another and to call one another by name
God of empathy breath listening and Name
Be with us in this time of Trial I pray Amen
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
And this morning God All I can think about is the passage
What forbids me from being baptized Philip? asks the Ethiopian Eunuch and I’m sure Philip thinks of all of the ramifications that this person is of nebulous rank nebulous gender* nebulous status from another country
what authority does Philip have? But Philip was sent by an angel to say yes
And I feel like Philip running alongside chariots not knowing what authority we have
We are in a nebulous time
knowing things are in flux being asked hard questions
and I hope we say yes as often as we can
Because God knows God is not preventing us from loving and including each other
God’s yes is strong even when we don’t know
And it’s ok not to know
I don’t know God that’s my prayer I just don’t know Amen
Feel Free to share/adapt/use with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
*Though to be clear that individual, the Ethiopian Eunuch, may have known exactly who they were and what their gender status was, the LBTQIA breadth and depth is beautiful in all of it’s multiplicities
Practice focusing on God practice community practice honesty exercise everyday–not because you will win any races But because walking together is the journey
And some days I too want to throw Jesus off the cliff Because it’s clear I still don’t get it
And then Jesus floats back and hugs me Because it never was about perfection in the first place
But the moments of beauty community laughter still count
Thank God for that
Amen
Feel free to use/share Adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka KatyandtheWord
God, the world continues to burn and people continue to give dare I say hot takes while people flee breathe in smoke or wait, bags packed, for the evacuation order
And we can feel the insurance structure heavily burdened crumble even more
And God, for the rest of us we feel climate change breathing on the back of our necks
As we still have to plan dinner again a solitary action in our household units in what used to be a village action
The mundane things of going to work or school seem so trite in comparison to what is going on in world Is this how we respond to tragedy God? Jesus Christ how do we go about our lives in the midst of all of this? (This is a serious question–as my teen would say)
And we look at the snow in the South the Fire in the West the bare mountains the mounting costs of insurance
And yet, Divine one You remind as the World Turns That there is other news too We see films of the heliocopters making the exact water shots to put out the fires Of people waiting hours in line to pay their respects to Jimmy Carter– Of all of the living Presidents sitting together at the funeral speaking of good seeds sown that are recognized years later…
We see the pictures of of the Mexican and Canadian Firefighters who come to help and we hear the voices of the undocumented Californians who could not sleep safely in their own homes So instead who journey to the fireline to fight for their unknown neighbors
The Good News does not fix the Bad News But it reminds us to be the Mr. Rogers Helpers God may we be the Helpers May we find substantive ways To listen closely to the need for help
So that we me do just love mercy and walk humbly with God i.e. not for show, but because We have this ache to make the world a place to dwell that is are prayer today. Amen
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
Here is a blog post from my colleague and friend “about where to donate ““We are still fine.
-Winds changed last night, and new evacuations were called in the Palisades fire. Bel Air Pres building is under mandatory evac as are many people’s homes. Teams are fighting their hardest to keep it from spreading any further.
-Air quality in Culver City is still not great. The winds have calmed down here, but there is still ash falling from the sky.
-We live across from the street from the fire station, and we’ve just heard siren after siren. God bless them, and all the reinforcements that have come from far and wide.
In the midst of everything, I put away our Christmas decorations last night. I couldn’t help but look at every ornament and think what it would be like to lose them all and have to start again.
Here’s a short blog I wrote last night. Please pray for these fires to end.”
Please give to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance – all funds go to help victims and will be shared with communities affected by the Eaton fire as well
katyandtheword 