prayer – katyandtheword

Advent Time

Advent
Because we aren’t ready
And
God is here
In the dark
In the waiting room

God is here
In the sadness
In the not quite revolution yet

There is no shame in advent
There is sanctuary in the quiet

Anticipation
Itchiness of almost
There is holiness
In the time of not quite

There is connection
In the confusion
Of complicated
Not having our
Shit together yet

There is beauty
In creating rituals
to wait together
So that we remember
…that we are not waiting
Alone

Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”

Prayers as the Storm Comes

Praying so hard for Jamaica and the Caribbean

Praying for the planet
Praying for those in the eye of the hurricane

Praying
Praying
Praying because disaster relief has to come faster
with less resources
Praying because Climate Change is Harsh
and Denial is Harsher

Praying because Paper Towels are not enough
Praying because my neighborhood is big enough
to hold anyone in need
but I do not have capacity to figure it all out

Praying
that we do more

Prayers for this storm
and the next one
Praying the storm
lets up and eases
however it can

But right now
I hope that we do the short
and long range things
needed
to help

Because
Love is what
makes us Human
in the end

Amen

Feel free to use/adapt/change with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”

A Tender Prayer: In the Aftermath

God,
I stand in prayer
for a country
where
guns are so glorified

That shooters
Think that
to go out
in a blaze of
gunfire
is better
Than getting
Care

Lord hear our prayer

Prince of Peace
We pray for all the
Victims of Violence
Those who lost
Their Beloved ones
Those who witnessed the
Devastation

Messiah Comfort them

Holy Spirit we pray
For all those who are
experiencing
and are experiencing
trauma as a result of
this tragedy
We pray
That we find a
way to change the Policies
to prevent gun violence
Before every single person
has to be touched
by Gun Violence

Come Holy Comforter, and hold us til we stop crying

Teach us to
Move beyond
Thoughts and Prayers

And how to Move and Act
With Purpose and Dfenition
of Peace
and Kin(g)dom Care
We Place ourselves
In your Tender Care
During this Time of Trouble
Amen

Another Psalm

I am tired
of starving children in wars
That we can help
in cutting aid
in efficiencies that cost
humanity

I am angry
at blatant misuse
abuses
of power
lies and misleadings
with little follow up
or repercussions
finger wagging
and learning from these
politicians for what

I am bitter from
throwing people
under the bus
the Trans
the Disabled
the Women
the Poor

I am working
to
do what I can
when I can
To remember
that it all counts

Probably not
int he ways I want
Or can see

Dang it

If God
could move
Things
in percievable
concrete
and faster
ways
we would
Appreciate it
quick

And quicker
If you please
Our minds
and hearts
and souls
are fainting for it

So we wait
Impatiently

Together

Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”

Accessible God

My God is the Immigrant God
The son of a slave
(I’m sorry do we usually translate Mary as a servant?)
The God of the found Family
the God of Queer Joseph
prancing around
in their lady’s cloak..
coat of many colors

God sees and hears the trauma
In the stories and sees the perspectives
we miss
Holding our hand
as we untangle the narrative
that we need to hear
Helping us to
get to a place of
true sanctuary
community
and Shalom: wholeness, defragmentation, peace

Our God is the accessible God
not contained to Jerusalem
Ephraim
God can be worshipped anywhere
even in
Samaria

And so God says–remember
I am the immigrant God

And when David says
Solomon says
humans say
I’ll build you a building
God says
Why would
I
EVER
Want to be
Contained in that

I’m really glad we listened to you on that one

Our God is the expanding God
The one who turns the “bad Moabites” sterotype
on it’s head with Ruth
The one who contrasts the evil people from Uz
with blameless Job
the one who shows the wholeness of personhood
Of foreigners and eunuchs
(God of immigrants)
with the magi and the baptistism of the African Eunuch
And the Samaritans, those neighbors too like the Hebrews
become “Good” in the neighbor parable of Jesus

“THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: Moabites are bad. They were not allow to dwell among God’s people (Dt. 23) BUT THEN comes the story of “Ruth the MOabit” which challenges the predjudices against Moabites. THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: People from Uz are evil (Jer. 25) BUT THEN comes the story of Job a man from Uz who was the “most blameless man on earth.” THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: No foreigners or eunuchs allowed (Dt. 23) BUT THEN comes the story of an African eunuch welcomed into the church (Acts 8). : God’s people hated Samaritans BUT THEN Jesus tells a story that show snot all Samaritans are bad. THE STORY MAY BEGIN with prejudice, discrimintaitono and animosity, but the Spirit moves God’s people towards openness, inclusion, acceptance and affirmation.

God is a protest God
who sends yelling Prophets
and Fighting Judges of Justice
and Well Endowed Women to back
Jesus and his disciples

God is many things
a mover
a shaker
a creator
an artist
someone helping those
in the corner of your eye

Affirming the full personhood
of all those you meet

What God is not is
a Kingmaker
A wealthproducer
An institution creator
a power propper

The Divine has no interest in
human machinations
they are but
wisps
and string
Unimportant

God is interested in
how people
and relationships will flourish
Giving life and personhood
to all….
Moving in
Unexpected ways
(Which is probably why
we think the Divine is so mystery)

Thank God
for that!

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

*with thanks to Aemina Razzina for her book and discussions about “Healing Together” to help inspire this prayer https://www.everand.com/book/813879316/Healing-Together-Trauma-Informed-Care-for-Spiritually-Integrated-Communities

God of Chosen Names

God of Chosen Names
Jesus
Yesu
El Shaddai
God of Many Breasts;
Y/Know the God of Many Mountains-Able to be Worshiped anywhere
Otherwise translated as Almighty
Abundant God
Merciful God
Purveyor of Peace
Everlasting Guardian
King of Kings
Ruler of All
Kin-dom Creator

God of Chosen Fam
Sibling Maker
Creator of Heirs
The One who makes us all Heirs
of Love

Creator of Peace
the one who faces
Trauma
Hard Family Dynamics
Gossip
Rocky Friendships
And walks with people
With dirt between your toes
and washes our feet
dries our tears
Sits with us

In silence
Waits
And calls us
By our Chosen name

God of Compassion
Empathy
God of the in-between
God of Grays
Twilights
Sunrises
Sunsets
Dragonflies
Amphibians
Marsupials
Fungi
Duck-Billed Platypi

God of the Blackholes
Stardust
God the quarks and leptons
You are inst and amongst the rainbows
Encouraging personification of self
Co-creation, Naming
You celebrate our being
the Imago Dei
and the DEI
Diversity
Equity
and Inclusion

You are proud of all of your children
You oo and ahh and shout with joy
Proclaiming the fullness of
your Trans*
Queer
Lesbian
Gay
Ace
Nonbinary
Intersex
and Pansexual Children

You send angels
before them
(canonically nonbinary
themselves)
Proclaiming
That they are
Fierce
And Wonderfully Made
Saying
Make way
for them
For they
are Children of God

May the world
Have ears to Hear
And Hearts to Understand
The beauty of your Creation
Amen
Amen!

Feel free to use/share adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”

Psalm 119, God’s Justice is Grace

God
I think of the blessings
Integral
Individuals
of Integrity
Hearts
without Splintering
Uapologitically
Following God
of Empathy
and Love

The Walking
Working
Stay Awake
Disciples

Always
Looking
of the Prodigal
–Which means
the lost, marginal
not yet accounted for
Among us. One
Might say
Those
Who need to be
still included in
the covenant

The ones
God is calling
To their
imago
DEI*

Your Precepts
Are Alive
In them

Even when
So-called Princes
Techno-crats
Billinonaires
“The Powerful”
Plot

My soul clings
To the Word of God
Which feeds me

Even when I confess to
Fading Away With
Being Broken By
The Sorrow of the World
I remember
Your Word
God

Which Established
All
And

(Thank God
Almighty)

Existed
Before humanity

And our fights
Over politics
Governances
And even the concept of money

Then I meditate
On
The
Wondrous
Pieces Of
God

Teach me your ways God
Deep than
Human definitions
Divine
Love
Liberation
Tzadik**

If comforts me, Jesus
Especially when I am hot
with indignation from evil
–which is often these days
Because there is a lot
of stupid evil in the world

But you are my
Sweet inheritance
Please hurry
To put your Sweet
Holy Spirit Honey
tasting Good News
in My mouth

Tasting
the Path
Of the Precepts
That I eternally
Follow
I Pray

Piecing my
way
To a
Promised
Peace
That
Proclaims
Amen
From
Sunday
to Sunday

Amen
Amen

*DEI can also stand for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

*justice, equity, loving-kindness: covenantal care for others especially the marginal

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

Peace and Sanctuary: Psalm 122

I admit
I was relieved
When someone said
Let’s go
to a sanctuary
Come
Let us God
And Seek God

For I need to rest
my weary
soles
soul
something
somewhere

And my house
is way too messy

And before I knew it
My soles
soul
were standing at your gates

And we were knocking on heavens door
And I realized

that God’s Kin-dom
is unlike any other

Binding together people
who I had never seen
or known

And my heart leapt
To my throat
and I wanted
to scream
cry
and lay down
and rest
and never get up again
For here is a place
where everyone
would come up
and be welcomed

There are no locks
in heaven

and as I put my hand
On your door
my soles
felt the ground
itself
welcome me
And gratitude
Spilled from my lips
Unbeckoned

And Judgement Came
And it sounded like this
“Peace will radiate from you,
It will be part and parcel
of your homes, your walls,
your cities

It is promised
Even in our messy
houses
cities
churches
governances
countries
and streets

And that peace
will hum from our throats
And we will sing
greet
and radiate to one another
“Peace be within you”

And so
We will go
And seek
Good and Sanctuary

For the sake
of this
needed
Sanctuary
That my soul
and the itchy
Soles of my feet
ache for
I will
keep seeking it

And catch moments
of respite, whenever I can

Because God knows
We need it.

Image

Iconic Black Lives Matter DC Mural Is ...

Tears roll down the face of Starlette Thomas, of Bowie, Md., as she holds a chunk of pavement from the Black Lives Matter mural, Monday, March 10, 2025, as the mural begins to be demolished in Washington. “I needed to be here to bear witness,” says Thomas, who was present at the 2020 George Floyd protests. “For me the Black Lives Matter sign etched in stone was a declaration of somebodyness and to watch it be undone in this way was very hurtful. To walk away with a piece of that, it means it’s not gone. It’s more than brick and mortar.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Image

Transfiguration

When faced
with Divinity
We find
your Equity
it has
ranges
upon ranges
like mountains
covering all
heights
and elevations-
and yet somehow
accessible to all

Confession:
Your Justice
contains
so much Mercy
It cuts
into me
with a Deepness
that I
cannot
comprehend it

There is no word
For your
Kind of Love
It Overshadows
all else

Sometimes I feel like
I need protection
From
the holiness
That I will
be blotted out
in your Presence

Glory
Spills out
and Touches me

And
I am
in Awe

And Realize
all
the Systems
of Injustice
and Hopelessness
that surround me

And I know
In that
Deepness
of My
Very Self
That I cannot Touch you

Without being
Tranformed
Transfigured

Changed

(And God do you know
how much we humans
Love change?
Not much)

But then..
You come
and protect
me
From your own Glory

And Divinity
With ..

Your very Self
Offering Divine

Shadow

Protection

Shade

A moment to collect
and Be
My
Self

And whilst
You Shadow
me
From You

I can see
God’s Loving-Kindness-Mercy-CovenantalParentalLoveFromtheWomb
And
the Whisper Comes
All Will Be Well
Listen
AllWillBeWell

Based on Psalm 36 and Luke 9

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

Haloed Jesus in a white outfit surrounded by Haloed two figures in Red robes, with three kneeling disciples. All Figures are brown skinned, the painting rendered is older and somewhat chipped. It is credited to Solomon Raj in India and can be found here https://globalworship.tumblr.com/post/110604805435/transfiguration-global-art

Nebulous Prayers

And this morning God
All I can think about
is the passage

What forbids me from being baptized Philip?
asks the Ethiopian Eunuch
and I’m sure
Philip thinks
of all of the ramifications
that this person
is of nebulous rank
nebulous gender*
nebulous status
from another country

what authority does Philip have?
But Philip was sent by an angel
to say yes

And I feel like Philip
running alongside chariots
not knowing
what authority
we have

We are in a nebulous
time

knowing things are in flux
being asked hard questions

and I hope
we say
yes
as often
as we can

Because God knows
God is not preventing us
from loving
and including
each other

God’s yes
is strong
even when
we don’t know

And it’s ok
not to know

I don’t know God
that’s my prayer
I just don’t know
Amen

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

*Though to be clear that individual, the Ethiopian Eunuch, may have known exactly who they were and what their gender status was, the LBTQIA breadth and depth is beautiful in all of it’s multiplicities