Mundane Prayers – katyandtheword

God, a prayer

God,
I’m tired
Of praying
For peace.

God,
I’m tired
Of praying.

God,
I’m tired.

God.

Amen.

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

Affirming Prayer

I want to pray for you and affirm

As the ashes have just been smudged

On your forehead

And we feel a little fragile these days

With war, and pandemic and climate change

And racism

And transphobia and homophobia

And all the Ableism

And all the hate—

So much hate that it’s bitter on our tongues

And it polluted the air we breathe

And we can feel it—

trying to X us out of existence

Because hate hurts all of us;

Even as it tricks the hater into feeling powerful.

But anyway I’m praying that you..

Yes you, know that you

Are created in the image of God

Exactly as you are.

With all of your so called flaw

And imperfections

And differences,

Remember that our God is

Manifold, and that they

Love multiplicity and variety

And invented rainbows

And galaxies

And microbes we can’t even see—

So trust me, and be affirmed

Even in, especially in your fragility

That you are known, created and beloved

By God, exactly as your are

And take their blessings I’m your heart I pray.

Amen.

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

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

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#BreakBlessBuild prayer (inspired by #NextChurch)

Lord, we confess we are Breaking. Shards of our personality lie upon the floor, mixed with the pieces of relationships we are trying to pick up and maintain.

It’s hard to see what parts of me are missing, because everything is so messy. I’m a mess, my house is a mess, and what is time in this mess anyway?

And we want to build so fast, God, but we don’t know the landscape yet.

How many things have to break before we start to rebuild? So far we’ve lost a dishwasher, an oven, an HVAC system, 3 phones, 2 tablets and a computer.

And they are nothing compared to the families we have broken, the healthcare system that is broken, the minimum wage is broken, education is broken, and whiteness breaks everything else along the way.

Is this how your people felt, when they lost their Temple?

Is this how Mary felt when she broke the perfume over your feet?

Is this how your disciples felt when they left you to die on the cross?

God, we are broken. Teach us to build. Help us to build peace, build hope, build relationships. Stop our hands from building structures, edifices and properties. Teach us instead to build up each other.

Bless us Jesus, with your abudant blessings that neither depend upon our brokenness or our building. Instead it is your binding–magnitizing us with love, encouraging us to love and serve one another.

Bless us, Because…

Just Because.

Break us, Bless us, Build us through our binding to you we pray.

Amen.

Ducks & Wild Geese

Lord God, I know that my ducks aren’t in a row,

because I don’t even know what my ducks are anymore.

How do I prioritize when everything is important? How do I do self care when my hours are chunked in weird ways and the schedule remains nebulous and to the wind.

Even when I breathe sighs of relief, or take moments of joy…I know that the ducks are waiting.

Sometimes they quack at me in the middle of the night, awakening me with all the things I’ve forgotten, or all the problems I’m not sure how to solve.

Lord knows, (that’s you God) that I don’t have my ducks in a row.

My work is never perfect no matter how much I try, my kids need more attention than ever (not to mention socialization) and I can’t seem to find a minute for myself.

Plus everything is different, still! Again! Always!

And ignoring the fact we can’t keep the house clean anymore isn’t really working either.

Are these even the duckies I should be worried about? What ducks am I missing? I’m sure I’m missing some, somewhere.

And I wonder if this is how Jesus felt, as he was chasing down that Wild Goose of the Holy Spirit.

Did he look around at the ducks and said, one of these is the goose, but I just can’t find the one I’m supposed to chase down and catch first.

But maybe, hopefully, the chase is enough. Hopefully between the chasing and the quacking, I have a moment to reflect on what I have completed, or what has gone right.

Or perhaps I will give myself one of those adulting prizes: for sleeping or eating or drinking water or moving around or taking medication. Those all count as important things done.

God, maybe my ducks have never been in a row–after all they are all your ducks and geese anyway. But help me to organize myself in such a way that I can let go of the ducks I can let go of and chase the right things to pursue the Holy Spirit of inspiration, comfort, energy and hope.

Maybe it isn’t about ducks at all, maybe it’s really about the Wild Goose of the Holy Spirit. Remind me to chase down the Wild Goose, and that this Wild Goose Chase is surely worth it.

God will help us to flourish, even at such a time that we don’t know where our ducks are.

Remind us of this we pray. Amen.

Feel free to use/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy

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