Folks I have a colleague who created an Election Day care kit
Election care kit
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.
Crises of Faith
God, I’m in the midst of some kind of crises of faith.
As a person who always believe in happy endings, I’m not convinced it will all turn out alright in the end.
Because God, we are still being called into your story.
Like Jonah, who first refused the call. He didn’t want to go. He wasn’t going.
Ninevah wasn’t worth it.
Or maybe Jonah wasn’t worth it.
Either way, he didn’t wanna and God couldn’t make it.
So he hopped a boat to sail away–like the runaway bunny.
And then, the storms came, the dice were rolled and the fingers were pointed to Jonah.
God, Someone said whoever needs to go to Ninevah better get going…
but I know the truth, I know why it’s a crises, because the answer is us!
We are Jonah. And my crises of faith, is I don’t know if we can right ourelves.
God, I know you are speaking, whispering, yelling in our ears. God I don’t have faith that we have the ears to hear.
You say, help those who are in trouble: the lgbtquia people who are threatened, the black people who suffer state violence every single day, the women who are losing their jobs and their rights, the children and families who are still in f—ing cages!
And see, I know I’m like Jonah, because if/when people repent, can I practice grace?
I don’t have faith that I can.
So I’ll have to rely on yours Lord.
Holy Spirit, help me to breathe into this crises of faith, I pray.
Amen
Feel free to use/adapt with permission. Did you know that I have about 100 views a day? If everyone contributed $5-$20 my fundraising would be over!
About Me: My Story & My Writing
Donations Accepted at PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail
Dropping You a Line: A Prayer
God, I’m just dropping you a line,
On behalf of all the people I haven’t been able to reach out to.
Please send Blessings.
To those having a hard day, those who can’t focus,
To those who can’t peel their eyes away from politics, grant them rest.
Wrap your wings around those who are in pain.
Rub the stress out of our backs and foreheads
Smooth the hair, and kiss the brow of all of those who mourn
Sit with the troubled, Lord, give them the gift of time that they need.
Be with us, bless us with your love we pray.
Because times are hard, and we need you.
So I’m just dropping you a line, because heaven knows–
that line to you is how we are hanging on.
Help us to hang on, we pray.
Jonah and God’s Mercy
Jonah 1:1-7; 3:1-10 [4:1-11]
Luke 18:13 Opt Psalm 88:3-7, 13
10am Drive in Worship Nov 1st
Announcements
Call to Worship
Lord God, when I am in the Pit, You are there
I will come with the voice of Thanksgivingi
When I cry out to you, you hear.
In the morning, my prayer comes before your.
The steadfast love of the Lord never changes, God’s mercies never come to an end
Deliverance is the Lord’s, Let us praise God together!
Praise Ye the the Lord, The Almighty 482
Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation
All ye who hear, Now to his temple draw near.
Join me in great adoration
Praise ye the Lord, Who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yeah so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen How thy desires e’er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
Praise ye the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come not with praises before Him!
Let the Amen, Sound from His people again;
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
Jonah 1:1-3, 7, 17, 2:1, 10, 17, 4:6-8, 10-11
(1 Finger) Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’
(2 Fingers) But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish;
(3 Fingers) so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
(4 Fingers) The sailors* said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah
(5 FingersO But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights
(6 Fingers) Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.
(Pastor Katy) Jonah went to Ninevah, and all the people repented with fasting and rending of clothes, and God saw and changed God’s mind about punishing them, and Jonah was angry at God’s mercy and said let me die!
(7 Fingers) And the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ 5Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there.
(8 Fingers) The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush.
(9 Fingers) But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’
(10 Fingers) Then the Lord said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’
Children’s Sermon
Sermon “God Among the Sinners” Pastor Katy Stenta sermon video
Communion: Invitation
The Lord be with you
And also with you
Lift up your hearts
We lift our hearts to the Lord
Let us give thanks to the Lord
It is right to give our thanks and praise ..
Dear God, you are our creator. You keep track of us when we are hot or tired or complaining. You are among us, and give us the shade from the sun, and the whale in the floods. You come to us when we are sad and bitter, you cleanse us and give us rest. You welcome each of us into the communion of saints. Send your Holy Spirit here today, so that we may celebrate this meal with you, Jesus! Help us we pray…
(prayer continues…) as your son taught us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom and Power and the Glory Forever. Amen.
For All the Saints 526
For all the saints who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesus,
be forever blest. Alleluia, Alleluia
Thou was their rock, their fortress and their might,
Thous, Lord their captain, in the well fought fight
Thou, in the darkness drear,
their one true light Alleluia, Alleluia
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
all are one in Thee,
for all are Thine, Alleluia, Alleluia
Post Election Prayer
God, you are mighty,
and I feel so small.
Paralyzed as the election approaches–a million years away, and yet it’s coming any minute.
How are we supposed to plan for post-election, for advent and for Christmas when we don’t know what is going to happen?
How are we supposed to plan?
Don’t you know God, writing our sermons and prayers would be easier if we knew what was going to happen.
I’m not a skip to the end personality; but right now I am.
Anxiety is in the air.
God! I feel so small. So here is small prayer.
To survive until the election, to do the things that need to get done, to feed the kids, take care of the church, to stay safe and connected.
Take this small prayer that is in the hearts of pastors everywhere who are preparing to preach in a divided country, where some congregations are divided, or some congregations completely disagree with their pastor.
Lord, take this small prayer, and grow it into the prayer it needs to be for post-election:
I pray. Amen.
My Story & My Writing–Katy
Hello,
I am a pre-Harry Potter Fantasy loving person. I’ve been reading my whole life. I majored in English and History (the Japanese History professor told history like a story) and minored in Philosophy at Oberlin College. I wrote so many papers, that I ended up taking a couple of math classes just to break things up! At Oberlin I co-founded the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall, a sort of co-op for ideas, and with the advent of Harry Potter my sister was able to live at the Hall 10 years later. I also did my Senior thesis on the power of story in folklore, myths and fairytales.
I then went to seminary at Princeton Theological Seminary. I ended up Dual majoring in Divinity and Christian Formation. There I helped pick out the books for “Curriculum and Methods of Teaching, Teaching the Bible in the Church, Children’s Fantasy Literature, and Moral Formation.” There, I realized how formative writers like Tolkein and Lewis and especially Madeline L’engle were to my theology.
I went into ministry, fully loving how my the job changes every single day. However something that someone said towards the end of seminary, that has stuck with me like a blessing, is that a pastor is one of those professions where you are writer who is paid very regularly to write.
When I started ministry, I started doing some twitter support for the LGBTQIA (unofficially) as a pastoral form of support. Additionally as disasters struck, I found myself wanting to share some light or hope. I shared thoughts on “Look for the Helpers” from Mr. Rogers–I wasn’t the only one, but people found it helpful, and Calvin & Hobbes “people would act differently if they looked at the stars more.”
I also missed fantasy and squeezed in being a fellow at Brainery Writers Workshop: Science Fiction Fairy Tales: A Hypoxic Style Writing Workshop – with Dr. Jilly Dreadful featuring authors Daniel José Older, Ellen Datlow and Cathrynne M. Valente. Sadly most of my 1,000s of fantasy books remained in boxes in our small rental.
I also began to be frustrated with the Revised Common Lectionary, which is a wonderful 3 year cycle of working through the Bible. Christians started practicing lectionaries together in 1969. However it carries a lot of baggage–bigotry, racism and sexism, and I was tired of rewriting the resources.
I switched to Narrative Lectionary a couple of years in, and began to write my own prayers and doing my own research. I started canvassing people to help to develop Advent & Lectionary resources. Then my mom completed her Doctorate in Liturgy and resumed church ministry so we have been writing Narrative Lectionary Seeds of Prayer Resources together.
I also started writing resources and worship to be more inclusive as my middle child, Westley, was diagnosed with Autism, ADD, anxiety and diverticulitis, and is primarily nonverbal. I co-founded TrailPraisers Inclusive Worshiping which is currently on hiatus. I’m hoping to restart, but God knows if that will fit anymore. We will see where we land post-Pandemic.
When the Pandemic hit, I was full of feelings and prayers, and I found myself writing fairly prolifically prayers relating to the Pandemic. These resources got a lot of attention and began to be used widely. I began to discern a larger call to public theology in writing.
Currently my three children are 8, 10 and 12. I love writing and I love school. A doctorate in Ministry at Pittsburgh Theology came across my social media in Creative Writing. The logistics seemed–surprisingly possible. It is only two weeks in person, you are expected to be working in ministry at the same time, and my kids have just reached the point of being able to be left for longer. This was especially a concern for my child with autism, obviously.
The only question is financial. My family suffered greatly having just graduated when the first recession took place. We know a lot of people who went back to school when the affordability came into question. We are the last generation who unquestioningly took out whatever college loans we needed to, and had that come crashing down when 9/11 happened our second week of college (we were only dating long distance then). With a disabled child and living in a city in New York, costs are high, and important to meet.
So, I am trying to fundraise. Tuition is $8,000 a year. I will probably get some financial help from my church: that looks to be $2,000 right now. So I am fundraising $2,000 through my writing, and hopefully $2,000 some other way, so that it is a four way split. Half fundraised, 1/4 from the church and 1/4 from the family funds.
So I got to work compiling some more extensive advent resources (thanks to a 1,001 Worshipping Communities grant for a 24hr retreat at home I was able to take the time to do the bulk of the work)–and since I like to start advent early, they start Nov 22nd.
Typically my prayers and resources get hundreds of views a week. If everyone who regularly used my resources put forth $20, math says (yay math) I only need 100 people at that level to reach my first goal. Any help $5-$25 is greatly appreciated. As always all resources can be used and adapted with credit to Katy Stenta
Donate to PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail
Thanks!
Katy Stenta
God & Pivoting
Someone on social media today–I don’t remember who or where, said that she is super sick of the word pivot. That in the grand variety of our language, that we only use pivot.
I, too am sick of the word pivot and the pivoting itself.
God, let’s talk about how it is that you don’t need to Pivot! Because it’s amazing.
You exist in these sketchy, hard, uncertain thin places.
You already know who you are. And you remain you even as you exist in the mystery.
You don’t need to pivot, because you embody the liminal God. You exist in the in-betweens.
The gray areas are God.
The sun and the rain together (rainbows anyone?) are God.
You are in the the thin, thin air between the mountain and the sky. The squishy ground where the sand changes from shore to ocean, the moments of complete indecision–Lord, God, this is where you dwell.
So while summer is letting go into fall, while we hover over the places that are between rebuilding and destruction, while we wait between illness and health, and while we in the United States are in the already and not yet of election but not yet elected, God you are here.
You are in the grays.
Thank God you don’t need to pivot.
And if when we need to, help us.
And we don’t, when we need to spend time in the in-between, remind us that this is where you dwell, we pray.
Amen.
Pandemic Prayers, Narrative Lectionary Advent Resources, Mundane Prayer Resources
Please Share/Adapt with Credit to Katy Stenta and Please Support my writing! Contribute to my Doctorate of Ministry with a Donation I have PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail
Seeds of Prayer: Extended Advent Resources Directory
Advent Hymns to Christmas Carol Tunes
Bulletin Prayers: Hymn & Children book suggestions
Kairos Calendar (for full calendar and activities email katyandtheword at gmail)
Additonal Resources: Advent 2 Bulletin by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl
Advent 4 Bulletin & Sermon by Rev Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl
Christmas Eve Bulletin: Short, no singing, Candlelighting!
About Me: My Story & My Writing
Please Share/Adapt with Credit to Katy Stenta and Please contribute to my Doctorate of Ministry with a Donation I have PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail
I’m trying to get $2,000 by June.
Devotional Calendar
To get a google link and downloadable link to this calendar (Which includes the daily reading texts and details of each activity) to share the best way is to email me at katyandtheword at gmail. Just make sure the subject says Advent somewhere in it and I will send it to you.
Devotional Calendar, for a google calendar ics version email katyandtheword at gmail Subject: Devotional Calendar and a copy of the file will be sent to you including the details of each activity
About Me: My Story & My Writing
Please Share/Adapt with Credit to Katy Stenta and Please contribute to my Doctorate of Ministry with a Donation I have PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail
About Me: My Story & My Writing
I have a goal to raise $2,000 this year to offset Tuition–Thanks
This is not the character development I wanted.
Dear God,
How many people in the Bible said no to you? Jacob, the actual heel, Noah who didn’t want to get mocked, Moses who had a speech impediment
As I sit in the car as a part of my daily 3hr drop off and pick up run to avoid the bus and do what I can to limit exposure…emphasis on what I can….I am thinking that this is not the character development I wanted.
I did not, after an agonizingly and traumatically lonely Middle School experience and a long and tough climb into adulthood starting with 9/11 and then peaking with job hunting at the height of a recession, want to go in for more. I feel like I’ve done enough character development. Thanks for asking God.
I remember my Grandmother who helped every single person she met and also could not throw anything away if her life depended on it. I don’t think I realized those went together for her as a child of the depression, until now.
What am I learning right now God?!? And why oh why haven’t I learnt it already?
Probably the real question is what is it we have to learn and why haven’t we learned it yet?
God, I know we are living in the space of a grace note. I know you have already won and are going to win. And every second we have to learn is gravy
But gravy is messy! Grace is messy! And I really didn’t count on spending hours in the car and at home and on zoom relearning you’re grace.
Teach us what we need to learn about your grace, we pray.
Amen
Pandemic Prayers, Narrative Lectionary Advent Resources, Mundane Prayer Resources
Please Share/Adapt with Credit to Katy Stenta and Please Support my writing! Contribute to my Doctorate of Ministry with a Donation I have PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail
katyandtheword 