prayer – Page 18 – katyandtheword

Bulletin Genesis 2

God With US

Creation and Fall: Bulletin & Confessions in the Garden of Eden
Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17, 3:1-8
Luke 11:4 Opt Psalm 18:31-36

Prelude The Warrior is a Child Twila Paris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tu0vJg3RSA

Opening Prayer (1)
O Creator God,
open us to a new awakening, a new beginning,
where we look through the lens of the goodness of Your creation,
experiencing all possibilities in You.

Turn us away from the negative lens, and lead us to the light.
In the name of Jesus, who leads us into life, and the Spirit who sustains us,
we pray. Amen.

Call to Worship (from Psalm 33:6-9 Good News Version) (2)
6The Lord created the heavens by his command,    the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.
8 Worship the Lord, all the earth!    Honor him, all peoples of the world!7 He gathered all the seas into one place;    he shut up the ocean depths in storerooms.
8 Worship the Lord, all the earth!    Honor him, all peoples of the world!9 When he spoke, the world was created;    at his command everything appeared.
8Worship the Lord, all the earth!    Honor him, all peoples of the world!

Opening Hymn How Great Thou Art https://youtu.be/1NnLRMWj1Z0?t=22 (3)
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonderConsider all the worlds Thy Hands have madeI see the stars, I hear the rolling thunderThy power throughout the universe displayed

CHORUS: Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art (repeat the two lines)

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing He bled and died to take away my sin CHORUS (interlude)

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart Then I shall bow with humble adoration And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art CHORUS
God calls us to repentance and new life.
Let us confess together our need for God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Prayer of Confession (4)
Gracious God,
You are always looking out for us: finding us when we wander away, waiting for us when we are stubborn, loving us when we can’t love ourselves, welcoming us when the world has turned us away, comforting us when we are hurting.

We forget that we should live that way, too. We forget that what everyone needs most is a hand to hold, a place to belong, a word of hope. Forgive us, Lord, and remake us in your image.
(Silent Confession)

Assurance of Forgiveness
God calls us as light in the darkness, a voice for the powerless, grace in the midst of chaos, and a reminder of divine love. Thanks be to God for the Good News:
In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

Gloria Patri: (Blue #579) Glory Be to the Father https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUBxpypSblw Sharing of the Peace: The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.
Prayers of the People/Lord’s Prayer (traditional)
Celebration of Birthdays and Anniversaries

Hymn of Dedication Fight the Good Fight https://youtu.be/2oxRRxtQdaE?t=3 (5)

Doxology (Blue, #592) Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivaDXu27_IY
Prayer of Dedication (6)
Creator God,
As we are made in Your image, we give You thanks for the seed of creativity
You planted within each person. We praise you for the clean lines of the sculpture, the complexity of the concerto, the beauty of the poet’s words. We thank you also for the simple gifts of daily life: gracious words, soft hearts, impassioned actions. Make these gifts and all of our lives live up to who you create us to be. In the name of the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Amen.

Prayer for Illumination He Lives https://youtu.be/MLKGO5FzDsY?t=89 (7)
In all the world around me I see Christ’s loving care
And though my heart grow weary, I never will despair
I know that he is leading through all the stormy blast
The day of His appearing will come at last.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.

Old Testament Scripture: Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17; 3:1-8

New Testament Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Message The Run of Your Life Rev. Dr. Len Hedges-Goettl

Confession of Faith (2 Timothy 4:6-8, New Living Bible ) (8)
6 As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me— the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. Thanks be to God!

*Closing Hymn Now Thank We All Our God https://youtu.be/6g0BSC7eNXQ (9)
1 Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices,who wondrous things has done, in whom his world rejoices;who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our waywith countless gifts of love, and still is ours today
2 O may this gracious God through all our life be near us,with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us,preserve us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed,and free us from all ills till heaven we possess.
3 All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,the Son and Spirit blest, who reign in highest heaveneternal triune God, whom heaven and earth adore;for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
*Charge and Benediction

Postlude Make My Life a Prayer to You Keith Green https://youtu.be/PNww8F6G9U8?list=PLF0C522B84843C1D4

(1) Adapted. from a prayer written by Rev. Mindi, and posted on Rev-o-lution. http://rev-olution.org

(3) Tune: © 1949, 1953 The Stuart Hine Trust CIO. All rights in the USA its territories and possessions, except print rights, administered by Capitol CMG Publishing. USA, North and Central American print rights and all Canadian and South American rights administered by Hope Publishing Company. All other North and Central American rights administered by the Stuart Hine Trust CIO. Rest of the world rights administered by Integrity Music Europe. Text: © 1949, 1953 The Stuart Hine Trust CIO. All rights in the USA its territories and possessions, except print rights, administered by Capitol CMG Publishing. USA, North and Central American print rights and all Canadian and South American rights administered by Hope Publishing Company. All other North and Central American rights administered by the Stuart Hine Trust CIO. Rest of the world rights administered by Integrity Music Europe.

(4) Adapted from prayer from The Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie Village, KS 66208, found at https://www.villagepres.org/uploads/3/1/1/5/31151741/vpc_bulletin_06_05_16_readers.pdf

(5) Music © OCP.

(6) Inspired by a prayer written by Jennifer G. Brownell and posted on RevGalBlogPals.
http://revgalblogpals.org/2016/01/23/with-thanks-for-creativity-saturday-prayer/

(8) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

(9) Words and Music – ©OCP

More Narrative Lectionary Resources

Procrastination as a Spiritual Practice

Lord God, I don’t know how you built us so that we will forever do one step above the hardest task before us to avoid doing that hardest thing.

But I know that cleaning the house, so I don’t have to write a difficult email…..

Or suddenly figuring out how to pitch another really important idea when I’m supposed to be working on the one in front of me is a uniquely human quirk.

Lord, I am practicing being thankful for the laundry that gets done when I’m avoiding something else.

I am thinking of the number of times I have prayed, desperately or defiantly because I don’t have the energy to do anything else at that moment.

How about you God? Do you save the most horrible tasks for the end? Did you play with judgement for a millennia before it suddenly struck you that you could delay the apocalypse by coming down to earth with/as Jesus’s humanself?

Are you breathing life into this grace period. This moment of waiting between Christ’s ascendancy and the second coming to save every last soul you can? Could procrastinating be in all of humanity’s favor?

My favorite is when I put off a task so long, that it feels too big to ever accomplish, and then I finally must, must do it and it takes mere minutes and does not in fact wound my soul.

Were you holding your breath in heaven, hoping not to have to send your only son, only to come down and realize that you love being human and 33 years is not that long to have after all?

Dear God, procrastinating is not always the best decision, but sometimes I take in the beauty that you designed us to give ourselves time to process things emotionally, that you allowed us to fill that time with more enjoyable or other important things.

And I ponder how, in the creativity of the Holy Spirit of procrastination, we are made in the image of God.

And I offer up to God my procrastinating as a form of thanks and praise.

Thank you God.

Amen.

Image found at https://clare-ofarrell.com/2018/06/01/map-of-procrastination/

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

For More Mundane Prayers: For Surviving Day to Day Life click here

Here are Pandemic Prayers and Resources: Top Posts are “In an Abundance of Caution” “The Lord is My Shepherd: What kind of Sheep are You” and “Masks: A Prayer”

Stealing Time

God, remind me to steal some time.

To look at the clouds

to be bored

to take the scenic route…

Tell me how it is ok if the house is messier than I’d like, that it’s good to claim the smaller victories of keeping everyone fed and (at least starting out) in clean clothes…

Remind me that Jesus stole time all the time!

Napping in the storm, snuggling a fig tree, sneaking off to a lake

When you lead me beside the (sort of) still waters of a small lake beach on a stolen afternoon, help me to embrace the experience.

When the power or internet is out and I’m forced to relax…

If the best I can muster in thought is half written sentences…

When time is given, as a gift, remind me that it isn’t stolen.

Remind me that Holy Spirit herself might be intervening.

Whisper to me that I am beloved. And that my worth is not based upon my productivity.

Image: Your Work is Not Measured by your Productivity

I’ll never forget my first year in full time ministry when there was a snowstorm every single Wednesday of November, forcing me to slowdown.

Sometimes, I need that reminder God.

And if I need to take the longer way to Jerusalem, if I need to mull and mutter and forge out some time to relax before I do the next hard thing, that is okay.

Remind me, God, that you built me, and all humans to be this way.

And that Jesus knew full well that breaks for food, laughter with friends, and time with family are essential to our humanity, and Jesus was indeed fully human.

Rest is essential, Sabbath is commanded, time is precious–let me live these truths in whatever way I can, I pray.

Amen

Image of Tweet Robin Thede: We all need to expect about forty percent less productivity from each other than normal and yet somehow everyone seems to expect one hundred and forty percent right now. Working at Proffitting WAP: Chile, they are thinking because we are working reotely that we do not nothing but time since we are sitting at home. However that push for productive is affecting our mental health because there’s no boundaries to decompress

Many thanks to the continuing inspiration of the Nap Ministry: https://thenapministry.wordpress.com/ (who you can also follow on twitter)

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

More Pandemic Prayers and Resources: Top Posts are “In an Abundance of Caution” “The Lord is My Shepherd: What kind of Sheep are You” and “Masks: A Prayer”

The Lord is our Shepherd, A Sheep Scale Prayer

The Lord is our shepherd,

I shall not want.

(1) The Good Shepherd reminds me that the silly sheep belong to him, and that Jesus probably stuck his tongue out to his disciples and friends.

(2) God leadeth me beside still waters, so that, at times, I am a contented sheep.

(3) When I am a frazzled sheep, overwhelmed and tired, God restoreth my soul.

(4) Even when I want to hide my meager sheep’s head in a bucket, or wander away from the fold–God sends the Holy Spirit to lead me back on the path of righteousness.

(5) And when the path wearies, God gives us a deep and uncompromising sleep, for The Good Shepherd’s name’s sake.

(6) Like a sheep, I am clothed in the beauty your mercy; your rod and your staff comfort me. You surround me with love.

(7) Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, half hiding half jumping at shadows, you are with me.

(8) You anoint my head with oil, my cup overfloweth, and I pant in anticipation of the feast awaiting all of your sheep in heaven. Even in the presence of my enemies, you bless food so it somehow still tastes good.

(9) Some days I leap for joy, remembering that goodness and mercy will chase after me, and someday I will be able to gambol in the house of the Lord, my shepherd, til the end of my life.

So we give thanks to you our Lord and Shepherd, the silly sheep, the resting sheep, the frazzled sheep, the hidden sheep, the exhausted sheep. Help us to see the sheep who are clothed in grace and the sheep who are jumping at shadows, the sheep who hunger for the kingdom and the sheep who remember to leap in joy. Remind us that there is no wrong kind of sheep, and that we, each and every one of us, belong to the shepherd.

In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Permission to use or adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

I’m Tired of Being Part of a Major Historical Event

God, I never realized that historic events aren’t really one thing. Instead they are the combination of humanity’s foibles boiling over to the point of historicity.

I didn’t even know historicity was a real word until today.

And what will bubble up next? Australian Fires, Hurricanes, Derechos, Post Offices. Lord I’m only human, how can I process all this? Or maybe I can’t.

Did racism cause the Black Lives Matter marches and sometime riots? What ingredients meshed exactly right to finally give people the exact things they needed to get out and protest: racism, yes, but also poverty and pandemics, boredom and bereavement, time and trouble.

These sort of things come from the perfect balance, so that the risk you are taking is the best risk possible.

God, I’ve been thinking a lot about risk. Of Hagar the enslaved who risked raising her son in the desert, about Joseph the imprisoned who risked interpreting dreams of his cellmates, of Rahab of Canaan who defied expectations to help Joshua.

What is the perfect risk for us as Christians right now? As we look at this particularly moment in history, how do we decided how to risk, and who to risk, and why?

And how do we risk for ourselves and our community, and yet still practice grace towards all the rest of humanity–who are having to make the same decisions in different circumstances.

Truly we are all weathering the same storm: but in different boats, with different tools and different gifts.

Really God, is now the time to discern gifts? I mean, really and truly God, I want you to know that now is a truly risky time to discern our gifts.

Selah!

Remind us, it’s worth the time.

Black Lives Matter

Remind us, We are worth the time.

Safety first

Remind us, You are worth the time.

God of the poor, the sick and the marginal.

And teach us how to risk in this historic moment, in the best, kindest most gracious way we can.

I pray this with all those who are risking right now. Help me stand with them I pray.

Amen.

Permission to Use or Adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Pandemic Prayers & Resources

Decision Fatigue

Lord God Almighty, Can’t you just make the decision for me?

Image xkcd comic

In a time when every single decision seems to carry weight. Do we go to the grocery store, or do take out? Am I appropriately spaced from the person nearby? Do I go to bed or spend 5 more minutes on this moment of free time?

Reopening sucks. Are we even reopening? How much can we reopen? Should we even try when we know that it’s still not safe?

Lord, decision making is not safe right now.

Do I send my kids to some kind of camp or school? Do I accede to digital learning, should i just homeschool (please God let the answer not be that I should be homeschooling, because i just can’t)

Lord, usually we make decisions in a split second, in a culture where immediacy is the primary value–I valued the swiftness over the efficacy.

God, Lord, Jesus, Holy Ghost. How do you–with three people make any decisions.

Do you have any hints for me?

Can you just make the decision for me? No?……

Well then, help me to weigh, to quiet my voice enough to give some room for yours–

Help me to make the best decision I can in the moment, remind me that nothing has to be written in stone.

Help me to make the right risky decisions: About who to help, who to be in relationship with, how to donate & protest in all the needful ways.

Give me the strength I need face the things I have to continue to say no to…give me the support I need to carry on in the midst of it all.

and

Grant me your grace, as I make the hard decisions I pray.

And please help every single human who is making all of the decisions. Kyrie Elesion.

Send your Holy Spirit, nudge us (or shove us) in the right direction, build consensus, Soften the hard-hearted so they can hear the facts they need to make the right decisions.

In Jesus Holy Name, please hear our prayer

Amen

A Prayer for the Protestor

A prayer for the protestor, who left the safety of their house to make their outrage known.

May you be blessed with the strength of your message

May the Holy Spirit protect you, and your body and your face. Keeping you safe from abuse or identification.

May the food & water be plentiful for your journey, as well as the masks and the hand sanitizer.

Bless your hands, your voice, your feet that carry your message; blessings for all those being the hands and feet of Christ.

May you move the hardened hearts and open up the stopped ears.

May your outcomes be worth the risks.

May the language of marching, blocking traffic, graffiti, destruction of private property and riots be made clear.

Let all injustice end.

May your anger be righteous, and may your prayers be able to flip the tables of the greedy and move the mountains of authority.

Let justice roll down like water: keeping violence out of the hands of the powers & principalities, turning the power structures upside-down so the marginalized can finally be heard and saved.

Lord hear your prayer, Lord hear our prayer, Amen!

Feel free to use or Adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Black Lives Matter

Psalm 73: Plea for Relief from the Oppressors Rewritten

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter

Jesus said and Jesus says.

Black Lives Matter Jesus breathes through the black families having the difficult talk about the dangers of having a different color skin

Black Lives Matter Jesus states on the wind, blowing the truth into the ears of the black mothers and fathers who are worried about their children,

Black Lives Matter Jesus murmurs inside the black children trying to walk, talk and play in a world where their existence can be seen as dangerous.

Black Lives MatterJesus assured the black prisoners in jail, disproportionately arrested and abused.

Black Lives Matter Jesus screams with the black man and woman murdered by cops or white supremacist, or both, Jesus says this as they scream for help, scream for breath, and scream for their mother.

Black Lives Matter Jesus coaxes to the Trans black woman as she negotiates walking the streets, trying to stay safe.

Black Lives Matter, Jesus’s never-ending sigh finally filters through to the world of whiteness and privelege

Black Lives Matter Jesus is whispering it in the ears of white women who were afraid of “the unidentified black man”

Black Lives Matter Jesus is chanting in the subconscious of the average white man trying to go about his business as normal

Black Lives Matter Jesus is singing it to the ears of white children, trying to sleep as they really realize that their friends of color were in danger

Black Lives Matter Jesus prays in the churches, raising his voice to the heavens.

Black Lives Matter Jesus says, all day every day.

Do you hear him?

A Prayer for the Protestors

Psalm 73: A Plea for Relief from Oppressors Rewritten

Feel free to use/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy

Too Tired

Pandemic Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Lord God Almighty, I am on my knees, with my arms outstretched to you, because I am in need of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit

I need encouragement as a parent of a child who has been faking their online schooling for the last two weeks.

Patience as I wait for more information, so that my job can make the next decision about how we are running things this week.

Courage as I realize that every single person has their own idea about what is and isn’t safe and we have to navigate relationships together.

Inspiration as I try to figure out how to connect with the people in my lives in new and not discouraging/draining ways.

Hope as death after death, sick after sick case comes in and the solution seems no closer than it was two months ago.

Breath as I am working too many hours of too many days and don’t know when it’s all going to end.

Love as all of my imperfections have been laid bare in this time where self-examination is unavoidable and all the things I’m carrying have been stuck in quarantine with me.

Lord remind me that I am more than my job or my role in my family or my material worth.

Lord, remind me that I am God-breathed, gifted by the Holy Spirit, and sibling of Jesus Christ.

In this time of crises–when every way I function is under a microscope and every emotion I am having is magnified–allow me to full discern and differentiate myself as a child of God.

And even if these aren’t exactly the things I need, and I am too mired to know what it is I really need.

Please grant me the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I pray.

And if I can’t pray to the Holy Spirit, help me to breathe:

out

and in

and out again

until the Holy Spirit prays me, instead.

In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Meme found here by KC Green

More Mundane Prayers Here, Here is the Link for Pandemic Prayers and Resources

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