Pandemic Resource – katyandtheword

January 12, 2022

BURNEDOUT a prayer

This is a prayer for the BURNEDOUT

Because Loving mothering God, you know that they were ON FIRE 🔥

They did the work, they gave their all, they plugged in, they connected, they loved their job, their work & all they served

Every single breath of it.

Until one day, their oxygen suddenly gave out!

Sure they had been gasping for breath, and running on low fuel

But everything and everyone around them seemed to say just go farther and do more

And everything will be alright.

And so God this is a prayer for the BURNEDOUT

that every single one of them can claim their Sabbath

And rest, as God given, needful and right; without guilt or recrimination.

God grant them, and us Sanctuary and rest we pray.

Amen.

January 11, 2022January 11, 2022

Toddling, a Prayer

God,

You know,

that we cannot pivot anymore

because we are too dizzy.

In fact,

we are so dizzy that walking has become problematic

So we make our way like toddlers

knowing our best right now

looks nothing like two year ago

Please hold my hand God

as I toddle along,

steady my step

and murmur comforting words

into my ear, as I toddle along,

Please,

I pray.

Amen.

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

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

mage: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRgjeVrd7voU52vZ7TS56dYtaRNx5oe4XVucA&usqp=CAU

With Thanks for the inspiration from @lmcheifetz who pointed out we can’t pivot anymore.

If you find my work useful, please consider giving to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing https://gofund.me/70a114f9. It is a “working theologian’s” doctorate where I preach, write and share my work with the world all at the same time. If your church uses my work extensively and could use a receipt email me at katyandtheword at gmail and let me know!

January 9, 2022

Be With Us

God of those who still have to go to work

Be with us

God of all of those who can’t work

Be with us God of those with preexisting conditions

Be with us

God of those who can’t be vaxed/boosted yet

Be with us

God of those who are hanging on by a thread

Be with us, All we pray

Amen

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

January 8, 2022

End the Plague Prayer

Pharaoh thought
the plagues
were the problem

He wouldn’t love those at risk
Plagues resurged

He’d yell & scream about the plagues
Until his own son died

But really God
You knew
The hardened-heart of the matter

Selah

Melt our hearts

So we can end the plagues
We pray
Amen

January 5, 2022January 5, 2022

A Prayer for Healing A Brood of Vipers

God the whole world is sick

No one is safe anymore–

there is no sanctuary.

You know that we are a world in desperate need of healing.

God I don’t want to live in a world

where healthcare is on the bottom of the to do list

Where people aren on the bottom of the to do list.

And God, I want to scream like John the Baptist:

You brood of vipers, you idiots, you fools!

Turn around! Change!

Don’t you want to be on Side that has already won?!?*

Don’t you know there is another way to win?

One where we don’t fight over scraps,

but we care for everyone?

One where we don’t say, “Did they have any pre-exisitng conditions”

but instead we say “don’t worry we will protect, you, and feed you, and care for you!”

And like John the Baptist, and Desmond Tutu, and bell hooks and so many others–

I want to hold you accountable,

because in the end,

God wants us all to heal.

At the end of the long day of work,

When the sun sets and we look around to see who has healed–from hunger and racism and every single kind of bigotry, and Covid

I want to be there, and I want to see you there too.

I want to party with you in the Kin-dom.

God almighty knows it.

God you know we need this healing–

teach us how to hold each other accountable

without screaming or shaming one another,

teach us grace and forgiveness and reconciliation.

Teach us I pray,

because Lord knows, we could all use a party right now.

Amen.

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

*This is a question that the great Healer Archbishop Desmond Tutu used to reconcile and convert and people (with way less anger I’m sure than it is used here).

December 18, 2021

Tapped Out

I’m so tapped out of prayers.

I’ve been writing them for almost two years…

words have been ripped from my soul.

I’ve learned and yearned and earned

and still I find myself turning to God.

Anguished.

I think in my heart of hearts

that if I say the right words

everything will be fixed.

When instead, God….

you know.

You know God,

The right prayers do the opposite.

Cutting open the wounds,

Allowing myself to emotionally

throw up for the entire world to see…

and ironically

that helps

So here I am.

Stubbornly

Being Sick on the Page one more time.

Saying WHY GOD

WHY THE HELL WON’T WE DO THE THINGS WE NEED TO DO

to Bring a PANDEMIC to AN END.

Never in my life will I EVER use the expression

“Avoid it like the Plague”

Never will I take supply chains for granted.

And I look forward to being

a weird old lady

with tales of school from home,

when the church FINALLY got tech

after me a young-in pleaded for years with it,

Shutdowns, BLM, masks, baking

and that time when

we all learned to appreciate

science and vaccinations

(and hopefully redesigned how we

allocated ALL the national budget)

So here we are God,

just you

and me

and the world,

and a prayer

Trying to fix things.

I’m not going to stop.

Let’s go.

Amen.

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

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

Please consider supporting my 2nd year of Doctorate of Ministry in Creative Writing at https://gofund.me/aaeb4910

December 17, 2021December 18, 2021

Pandemicking, A Prayer

God,

I’m thinking about how we are all here

pandemicking,

all day everyday.

Even though we long for the day

that we have pandemicked,

we are just not there yet.

Just as you are the God

who is Justicing, Gooding, Blessinginging

(because the gerund* verb tense is the best)

the timeframe of this pandemicking

is equally ongoing, and nebulous,

and I am aware that the echoes of this

Pandemicking, will actually live on in me

forever.

In truth I will never stop Pandemicking.

Like those who were Immigrating,

never will, in some sense stop being immigrants,

and those who have survived something,

never will, in some sense, stop being survivors.

And today

I’m thankful that you, Jesus

–who fled to Egypt, lived under occupation,

grew up an outsider and were almost thrown off a cliff,

You Jesus of all people,

get that.

And some days I’m bitter that

in some ways

I’ll always be pandemicking

and on somedays, I wonder, but do I really want to unlearn

all the things I needed to know?

About the cracks in society?

About those who we have lost!

About who are being forgotten?

About what needs to change?

After all, what is greater discipleship than that?

So, God. I’ll be here. Surviving this pandemic.

Pandemicking.

Every single day.

And thankful that I have the gerund tense to describe it.

But I’m also grateful that I have a God

Who gets it–

and gives us a knapsack of the right kind of more gerunds,

to do this pandemic thing,

and for being a pandemicking God along the way.

Here Goes God, more Pandemicking….

Come with me…

Amen.

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta and please give to my 2nd year of Doctorate of Ministry in Creative Writing at https://gofund.me/aaeb4910

*Gerund: is a verb that we have turned into a noun with ing like swimming. In ancient Hebrew gerund was a tense that can also mean present participle, it means ongoing without a definite end, when it comes to God I think of it as the inging verbs.

December 3, 2021December 1, 2021

An Advent Prayer for the World Weary

Here’s a Prayer

for anyone who is going into Advent Tired

Weary of almost two years of

pandemicking

Two years of pastoring or preaching or caring or writing prayers for people

who are ill, or caretaking,

or trying to find a bed in the hospital, or a spot for surgery.

Here’s a prayer for a timeframe where the hard things have been harder

and the loneliness has felt excruciating,

and the reassessing has hit like a hammer

and the promised whisper of the baby Jesus

is hard to hear over the to do lists,

and the worrying

and apocalyptic understanding of health/political/biogotted infrastructures and economies

of this time and space.

And Lord,

It makes us wonder if this is some of what Mary felt in tumultuous and occupied Jerusalem

when she faced the angel,

overwhelmed by it all

We too feel her determination

As she opened her mouth and

found that the words that tumbled out were

It doesn’t have to be this way!

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It doesn’t have to be this way!

Magnify the Lord!

Bring down the Mighty

Fill the Hungry with Good Things.

So as we enter this Advent, tired and hungry and lonely God.

Remind us that,Advent is a good time for these feelings, Lord.

Advent is about preparation,

and understanding that we are ready for Jesus!

Lord,

I think we need Christ right now,

And that’s ok,

Remind us that it’s ok,

It’s ok to really, truly need Jesus!

and traditional to be world weary at Advent.

And help us to sit with that a bit I pray.

Amen.

Here’s a Prayer

for anyone who is going into Advent Tired

Weary of almost two years of

pandemicking

Two years of pastoring or preaching or caring or writing prayers for people

who are ill, or caretaking,

or trying to find a bed in the hospital, or a spot for surgery.

Here’s a prayer for a timeframe where the hard things have been harder

and the loneliness has felt excruciating,

and the reassessing has hit like a hammer

and the promised whisper of the baby Jesus

is hard to hear over the to do lists,

and the worrying

and apocalyptic understanding of health/political/biogotted infrastructures and economies

of this time and space.

And Lord,

It makes us wonder if this is some of what Mary felt in tumultuous and occupied Jerusalem

when she faced the angel,

overwhelmed by it all

We too feel her determination

As she opened her mouth and

found that the words that tumbled out were

It doesn’t have to be this way!

It doesn’t have to be this way!

Magnify the Lord!

Bring down the Mighty

Fill the Hungry with Good Things.

So as we enter this Advent, tired and hungry and lonely God.

Remind us that,Advent is a good time for these feelings, Lord.

Advent is about preparation,

and understanding that we are ready for Jesus!

Lord,

I think we need Christ right now,

And that’s ok,

Remind us that it’s ok,

It’s ok to really, truly need Jesus!

and traditional to be world weary at Advent.

And help us to sit with that a bit I pray.

Amen.

Complete List of Pandemic Prayers and Resources

With Thanks to April Fiet, Andre Henry, David Hogg and Kevin Miguel Garcia for the Inspirational Tweets

Originally Published at RevGalBlogPals https://revgalblogpals.org/2021/12/03/an-advent-prayer-for-the-world-weary/

If you enjoy my prayers please consider giving to my Doctorate in Creative Writing. I write extensive prayers and resources for free and usually have over 100 views a day. If everyone gave $10 I’d be done in two weeks! https://gofund.me/70a114f9

Please feel free to share/adapt/use with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

November 30, 2021December 18, 2021

Omicron Prayer

O God, O God, O God

I know I’m theory I’m actually already family with the Greek alphabet

Because that’s what the New Testament was written in—despite the fact that Jesus spoke Aramaic.

And now O God, the short letter O

not the long one, not the Omega at the end of the alphabet with it’s satisfying finality.

Nope,

But Omicron with its ominous almost transformers sounding nuance

(After skipping over the homophone of nu that sounded too much like new and xi that is way too common a last name) we had to land on omicron.

God. Let me be the first to remind you

That we humans actually suck at variations.

We hate change, use deviant as an insult and use normal as a compliment

I’m just telling you that we do this (not because it’s right or good)

I’m telling you this because it has been a very long almost-two-years-and-frankly-it’s-felt-like-longer and we need help right now

So here’s my o, omicron prayer.

Help us with this variant.

Help us to

Adapt, change, pivot, endure, vaccinate, boost, mask and all those other good words we need to do.

But mostly, help us NOT to give up—and to remember that coronavirus is not the alpha and the omega.

You are.

Thank abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzGOD for that.

Amen

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta and Please consider supporting my Doctorate of Ministry at https://gofund.me/aaeb4910

Jesus depicted with Alpha and Omega in the catacombs of Rome 4th Century

November 6, 2021

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!