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.

In Charge: a Prayer

Holy Spirit,

Let me tell you, it’s a good thing you are in charge,

because….

whew.

I do not want to be in charge of all of this.

The things that I am in charge of are–

to put it lightly

hard.

And in a time such as this

I never know

what to do next

or what will change

(Jesus take the wheel)

So anyway back to

You being in charge

and how very VERY good that is

Because you know how to get things done–

with the eagerest of resources,

and the clumsiest of servants.

So here I am, meager and clumsy.

Ready to serve,

let me know what to do next

I pray.

Amen.

Feel Free to share/adapt/use with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

Mundane Prayers

If you find these resources useful please consider contributing to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing! 

Shots & Curses: Thank God for Vaccines!

God, This is a word of Prayer

Of Thanksgiving! For vaccines for all the elementary Schoolers

The 5-11 year olds who have had to wait, 20 long months

Without friends and with masks.

With parents who loved them, and many grownups who acted not in their best interest–

This is a prayer for the kids who had to stay cooped up

all alone, or play only with their siblings and parents until they drove their parents batty

who had to do school (or try to) at home.

This is a prayer for all those kiddos who finally get those shots

and a continued prayers for the preschoolers and babies who can’t get theirs yet.

You know God, that I don’t use curse words much.

At the tender age of 7 I saw My Left Foot

And when the Main Character cursed, frustrated by his disability–

(even though of course I had already heard those words on the bus,

as my mom’s friend pointed out when she was worried about showing me the movie)

I learned that those words should be used in very important situations.

This is why I think getting a COVID shot is the perfect time to say

Fuck.

whether it’s to withstand the pain–or to to curse out all the time this interminably long wait has been.

Fuck,

Fuck Yeah.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says 'T-Mobile 5:12 PM 34% Tweet Madiha Tariq @madihaforequity Useful parenting advice around COVID vaccines (borrowed from a friend) GruMPY D.L. The Harrowing of Hell Mayfield @d_l_mayfield my kids are scared of shots, like most kids are. but told them they could say the F word if they wanted to when getting the COVID vaccine, and now they are pretty pumped for it. Tweet your reply'

And thank God for the Vaccine!

Let’s Go Get our next round of Shots!

Fuck!

Thank you!

Amen!

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

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

If you find these resources useful please consider contributing to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing!

God Speaks to Elijah

1 Kings 19:1-18

John 12:27-28

Psalm 34:1-10

Call to Worship (based on Psalm 34)

I will bless the Lord at all times

Let the Praise of our God be continually in my mouth

My soul makes its boast in the Lord

Let the humble hear and be glad

O Come, magnify the Lord with me

Come let us exalt God’s name together

Prayer of Confession: God, I confess that sometimes I need to seek you. Sometimes my soul cries out for nourishment. The night falls and I am hungry, or lonely, or miserable. Help me when I need it, forgive me when I forget to ask, teach me what we need to learn I pray. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Taste and See that the Lord is Good, Let us tell one another the good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: May we always glorify the Lord, especially when that means taking time to listen for that still small voice, help us to focus in on what it is you are calling us to do we pray. Amen.

Hymn: Precious Lord Take My Hand, Theres a Sweet Spirit in This Place, There’s a Balm in Gilead, For All the Sands, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Children: Read Be Still and Know that I am God and ask them to try to listen for God’s voice, take away a word each time “Be Still and Know that I am God””Be Still and Know that I am” “Be Still and Know that I” Be Still and Know that” Be Still and Know” Be Still and Know” Be Still and” Be Still” “Be”

More Year 4 Narrative Lectionary Resources

If you find these resources useful please consider contributing to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing!

Here’s a Prayer for the People

God, today I’m thinking about all the stuff,

the stuff that we worry about, the money and the possessions and the taxes, and the things.

And I can imagine Jesus, whispering in our ears

Reminding us, coaxing us, murmuring to us “don’t worry about the stuff,

I didn’t put you here to worry about the stuff….

I put you here to worry about the people….

Consider the lilies of the field,

the birds and the bees,

and the cute koala bears….”

I think about how generous you are God, how you don’t mind if we give money and laws to Caesar and the government, how utterly unbothered you are by the fact.

Because that’s not what you are worried about.

Instead, you are too busy learning the name of every single being in the universe. Instead you are too busy

healing up the wounds of the forgotten

telling those who live in-between that their lives are beautiful and radical and good

you are too busy doing the real work of the world.

So, though I need the stuff God, you know, to live.

I will try to make sure everyone has enough stuff,

and worry instead, about the people.

God please help us to love and worry and serve the people, and remind us–all of us,

that you created us, not to make stuff

but to love people.

In Christ’s name we pray.

Amen.

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

Full of Justice, A Radical Advent Calendar for Narrative Lectionary

One is plain and one has the line drawing, I would send both.

For a pdf version of this that you can overlay and fold to open, please email me at Katyandtheword at gmail.com and I will happily send you a copy! (Subject Line: Advent Calendar)

More Advent Year 4 Resources

If find these resources useful please consider contributing to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing!

A Disappointed Prayer

It happened again God,

A person I admired,

let hate and errors spew from their mouth

accusing other of not being humans

refusing to understand.

I know what you mean when you

say their ears were closed

and their hearts were hardened.

And it hurts, God, when the chinks in the armor

turn out to be pieces of hatred,

Screw TERFism

–and White Fragility

And Sexism

And Heternormativity

And Colonialism

And Exceptionalism

And Ableism–

when people who you hoped could imagine worlds

Of openness, people who helped you to see a better kingdom of God,

turned out to be as human as everyone else.

I guess we all need Jesus in the end–but it’s timeslike these

I really need the Holy Spirit,

to come down and protect my marginalized beloved ones–transgendered, black and brown, poor and disabled.

It’s times like these I need the Holy Spirit to come down and inspire and comfort me,

because I really don’t know what to do with the pieces of my heart when they lie shattered by the people who I trusted to care for it.

And of course, still, always, none of us are Jesus

I guess this is why the Kin-dom God can never, ever

ever

be the vision of one person

No one person is ever going to get all the pieces–

help us to keep imagining it,

together,

encourage us,

especially in times like this we pray.

Amen.

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

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

If you find these resources useful please consider contributing to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing! 

Oct 31 Solomon’s Temple

1 Kings 5:1-5; 8:1-3

John 2:19-21

Psalm 148

Call to Worship

Praise the Lord from the heavens and in the heights

Praise God, all his anger, all his host!

Praise God, sun and moon and all of the shining stars!

Let us praise the name of the Lord, for God commanded and they were created!

Let us praise God, men and women, young and old together!

Come, Let us praise the name of the Lord together!

Prayer of Confession: God we confess that we sometimes are searching for wholeness, sometimes we want to build a temple or find a special spot, when the truth is, you are with us the whole way. Show us how you have the whole world in you hands we pray . (Silent Confession) Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon: God is with us, guiding us and forgiving us. Let us proclaim the truth to one another: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication: God, that you are always holy, and that holiness does not need to be trapped or contained. Help us to share your holiness with the world we pray. Amen. 

Hymns: Holy, Holy, Holy, Immortal Invisible God Only Wise, Jesus Thy Boundless Love to Me O Christ the Great Foundation

Children: Here is the church, Here is the Steeple Open the door and see all the people but change it to Here is the church, here is the church here is the church

More Year 4 Narrative Lectionary Resources

If you find these resources useful please consider contributing to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing! I have already Successfully funded year 1, and am now working on Year 2!

A Scattered Prayer

God, this is a prayer

For the pieces of my brain

That don’t fit

Or make sense to me right now.

You know, God, that I do not like to be confused.

And I hate when my body does things without telling me.

I feel tattered, and frayed around the edges

And my thoughts are frayed bits of something, that I still can’t catch ahold of—

In truth my thoughts still want to fly apart

And so I’m scattering a prayer, like seeds

To grow into something,

Can you please tend it?

In the in-between?

And I will try not to worry, about what is lining up, and what isn’t,

And instead just trust,

That scattered prayers are ok today.

Take them off my hearts, and hold them in the palm of your hand

And remind me

That every scattering helps and counts

Take each scattered prayer, I pray.

Amen.

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

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

If you find these resources useful please consider contributing to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing! 

My Columbus Day Confessional

God, I’m contemplating today–

in an age of Columbus day, and Capitalism and Cancel Culture.

God I’m thinking of the slow spread of Indigenous Peoples’ Day,

Where we try to slowly acknowledge a heritage

we cannot claim,

and a past of slavery and disease and Colonialism, we must confess.

God, I’m thinking hard today about my white bloodstained past

My Pilgrim heritage–my ancestors physically came over with them —

My Imperialistic Roots–after the revolution we disappeared in shame for a while

My Religious anxiety–we pushed our white God onto everyone with the best of them

I’m thinking hard God, because Indigenious history is my history, even as it isn’t my heritage.

And I know (and you know God) that no land acknowledgment is going to fix that.

There is work to be done–that isn’t cancel culture or capitalism or Columbus Day.

But it is confessional and listening closely and doing the hard work of the day.

God help me to do the hard work of Decolonizations today,

and everyday, but especially today,

I pray.

In the name of Jesus Christ–refugee of his time, friend of the marginal and victim of Imperial violence, in the name of that Jesus Christ I pray.

Amen.