You do not Proscribe Suffering But Walk, Thirsty in the desert with us
Sweet Jesus You do not make demands But call us, and listen, when we spill our whole selves to you by the well
Compassionate Friend You wait for us on the Cross And tell us, it is not too late to apologize, even then, and You will be there on the other side
How beautiful is the whole testimony of the Cross: We are not alone, We do not have to suffer, We can be our full self And we do not have to double down Because its never, ever to late to apologize
Jesus is waiting for us Our theology is not ultimately about debates But about love, and to see the humanity of each other And Jesus On the Cross
How beautiful is the Body of Christ, Thank you for being the God of the Cross Amen.
Image of Brown hammer, nails and cross of thorns on wood in a the lefthand foreground, and and a cross in the righthand background. Created on Canva
Call to Worship The Poor One Calls to The Lord God hears, and saves the poor, out of all of their Troubles Looks it is the Angel of the Lord The Angel of the Lord comes, and encamps around those who fear God, and delivers them Taste and see that God is God, Blessed is the one who takes refuge in God Come let us take refuge in God Today
Invitation to Confession: Jesus says come to me those who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest, come let us lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus.
God: We confess, we do not understand this Wedding Feast. This parable, confuses us and confounds us. Who are we to invite? How are we to dress? Is the violence good or bad? Who is even getting married in the first place? Perhaps the point is not about the invitations or being chosen, but that fact that we are here, at God’s table, together. Help us to gather at the table, whenever God invites us to we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good news, Jesus will always forgive us, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Let us proclaim that good news to one another: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God, help us to walk into the world, inspired to act not just like those invited, but as though Jesus is chasing humanity, over and over again. Let us remember that Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it, yesterday, today and tomorrow. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Hymns: On Eagle’s Wings, Jesus Our Divine Companion, Somebody’s Knocking At Your Door, We Walk By Faith and Not By Sight,
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Canva Image (created by Katy Stenta) Brown Hands welcoming a line of multicultural people, behind which is a basket of bread and wine and the Golden outline of a Middle-Eastern Couple Getting Married
Notes: the differences between invitation and belonging seem relevant
The idea of getting kicked out for not dressing right in the era of anti-Trans/Drag legislation is super ouchy. Handle with Care. But I think it’s also something that may need to be addressed. I bet this person was dressed with hate and thought that was more appropriate than the drag queens and the sec workers off the streets.
Call to Worship God, how is it your grace is so expansive Truly God, your keep calling us Come let us bless our God who calls us God calls us by name Let us keep God before us, God who is always at our right hand! God be praised, God is with us! Let us Praise God together!
Call to Confession: God is calling us to confess, Come let us confess ourselves to God
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that sometimes you have to call us more than once. Sometimes we are the ones that do not hear you until close til dusk. We confess that we envision ourselves as the early morning workers–but we do not know when it is you first called our name. God’s love is not a competition. Help us to remember that faith is always a gift, and that you are always, always calling us by name. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News: The Steadfast Love of the Lord never changes, God’s mercies never come to the end, they are new every morning, so we know that God will always love and forgive us. Let us proclaim the Good News: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: Let us go into the world refreshed by the Holy Spirit and remembering that it is God who is calling us by name. God loves us from the earliest dawn til the darkest dusk–let us go forth enveloped in that love. Amen.
Hymns: Morning has Broken, This is My Father’s World, Here I am Lord,
Call to Worship God is calling do you hear? God is calling for forgiveness God is the great accountant Look, even now God’s grace is spilling upon us Come let us drink up God’s grace Come let us gather, by the grace of God
Call to Confession: Is it not beautiful to be able to bring your full self to God? Come let us confess ourselves to God?
Prayer of Confession: God I confess that I do not always understand this forgiveness thing, how do you do it? How am I supposed to do it? Can I forgive when I am still angry? Is there such a thing as forgive and forget? Is seventy-seven times per person, or a metaphor or what? Forgiveness seems to be a complicated thing, please cover me in grace, so I might better glean the beginnings of a forgiveness practice I pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news, you are forgiven, as soon as you confess, Jesus has made it so, and hopefully, we can learn how not to make the same mistakes again: thus we can proclaim the good news to one another: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: Let us go into the world, forgiven and forgiving, ready to embody the grace that God has given us as the confessing Body of Christ. Amen.
Call to Worship God calls us, the deep from the deep God your magnificence is too great for us God you are changed from glory, into glory So you come to us, human, and walk with us Teach us again, today Come let us walk with God
Call to Confession: What is confession, but walking with God? Why don’t we let ourselves walk with God here.
Confession: God we confess that we are overwhelmed by being human. How is it then can we take in your glory of divinity? We feel like we should respond. We feel like we need to do things or say things. And yet, sometimes, stillness is grace. Sometimes we need to just sit with our own humanity. Sometimes its ok to just try to get to know ourselves better, and to remind ourselves that getting to know ourselves is to get to know you. Let us allow ourselves to do that we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Be still, and know God is with your, today, tomorrow, everyday, and feel the good news: In Jesus Christ you are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: May we walk into the world shaded by God, so that we might better be able to hear and understand the Good News God has for us today. Amen.
For all those for whom they have a tender and surrendered faith because of all they have gone through.
Because you cannot surrender until you’ve been through a battle and so for all those who have felt like Advent Christmas or just Living has been a battle this year I want to pray the prayer of thanksgiving
that you are still here you are beloved and God is with you–
And I hope you have found yourself in the Christmas story whether it is in Mary, not so meek, Joseph conflicted but quietly obedient Magi, shepherd, even if it is the donkey, the innkeeper or the star
I hope and pray that you find a corner to belong in Because this is your story too
But if you do not, know, that’s ok Maybe the space for you is in the silence or the darkness of the night or the wavering light of the candle
God I hope you know that God is here God is with you God loves you no matter what
And that is what makes Christmas Especially when you feel tender and like you have to give up May God hold you in the Palm of God’s hand Whenever and wherever that happens
Amen.
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta and if you quote the tweet be sure to credit Traci Rhoades and Rev. Jes Last
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.
God, Today, I’m imagining Joseph as the squishy parent.
Mary was the one with the justice cries And the mom look, that got Jesus into ministry Maybe Joseph was the one with the physical play
And the squishy hugs– Maybe Joseph was the one who reminded Jesus Your only human, too
Maybe Joseph was the one who showed Jesus mortality was ok, because he was (probably) the parent who died first.
God, I’m thinking of that fierce encounter with an angel where Joseph was already, heart in mouth, trying to figure out how to react full of humanity and peace
God, I’m so thankful for Joseph And today I’m hoping he was the squishy parent.
Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Please Support my Writing, I am Funding some of my Doctorate in Creative Writing as a Public Theologianthrough donations https://gofund.me/554d36e3 Thank you to all those who have donated, I have successfully completed 2 years thanks to your support.
Advent is about waiting Because we are waiting For the poor to be filled with good things For women to believed For the prisoner to be set free For healing
We don’t need practice in waiting We know Christmas is a quiet participation in the miracle that is yet still unfolding
We want to participate in the waiting, and the greed smashing, equity making, creation beauty that is Christmas
So we are an advent people. Proclaiming the Magnificat together with Mary: Until the Alleluias of Christmas Are born
feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
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