Category: prayer

Grinding Teeth, A Prayer

Sometimes I wonder
If Jesus ground his teeth

Did you wake up in the middle of the night
Feeling like you were about to fall?
From some inexplicable nightmare?

When you got through a harrowing encounter
with the officially officials—you know the ones that had been in the building
Did you come home with a headache?

Did you practice breathing techniques, and peaceable responses, and politeness and smiles
like most of the women, disabled people and marginalized around you…
All of us knowing—this is how we make it

Did you preach the Good News as a survival technique
Not as a toxic positivity to push on people

But the Bare Bones to give those hungry for scraps of answers of

“Why am I Here? And “Does this even Matter?” And “How Do I face tomorrow?”

And did you sit and look at the stars—Christ—and evaluate your day, and try to comfort yourself:
With the little things that went right; and the good things you saw, and the big picture you were working towards.

Did you ache with the work of it all Jesus? And roll your jaw, and take a deep breath to relax your shoulders, before you faced another fully human day?

Thank you for being human with us Jesus.

Amen.

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

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Justice, A Prayer.

God,

I long for justice
I ache for it so much
that when I go to bed at night
I am convinced that it whispers to me
In a language too complicated for human ears.

And when I wake up and hear
of courts
and punishments
and other things

My soul sits confused
unable to responds to these paltry efforts.

I want justice that feeds the hungry,
frees the prisoner
and yes breaks the teeth of my enemy–but
in such a way that I am too busy partying to notice.

Jesus, did every meal with you taste like justice
or hope
comfort and freedom?

Or was it enough to just sit with you?

Holy Spirit, I find that this longing for justice is really something.
It is not the gift I asked for, and yet it was given to me–unasked
and so here I am

Not waiting for justice, Because we all know, justice does not allow one to wait.
But still,
Walking,
Running,
Resting
towards justice, because I do not know any other way to be.

And that’s why I talk, yell and cry to you God.
It’s this justice hole in my soul.
You poke it and prod it with me, like the great physician you are.

And say, where does it hurt?

And confirm.

Yes.
Yes, We should work on that.

Here we go again God.

Amen.

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

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Not Oppressed, A Prayer

God
How stupid are humans
That we have to claim
Christians are oppressed
To get attention

Is it bc we know
Your the God of the oppressed?

Oh Jesus
Who weeps
Who wants to protect
The broken under your wings

Tell the Pharaohs,
Street Corner Prayers,
Herods & Warmongers

To shut up
(a word we gloss
Differently in the Bible)

And if they don’t listen
Shut them up
Anyway

Do your thing God
For the oppressed,
Enslaved, orphaned,
Widowed
Care for the children.

Do your Prince of Peace thing
Because surely
That is the way
To help the oppressed

And we Christians,
We will muddle along
Definitely not oppressed
And hopefully
Helping the oppressed
Too

Lead the way Prince of Peace.
Lead the way.
Amen!

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

Don’t Give up, A Prayer

God

I am pretty mad at humans today

and Old White Men

and the powers that be

And the manipulators

Who thought one dollar more

was more important

than getting justice done

and the church

who put off

flipping tables

for another time and place

And I want to rage

and scream

and find the right punishment

for all of my enemies

except I don’t really know who my enemies are

just they they are out there

whispering nonsense about

pro-life and family first and great america

as they grind these things into dust

as they deal death

with additive drugs like “safety” “religion” and “whiteness”

And I feel like I’m going to throw up or pass out,

and my soul hurts with the magnitude of it all.

Is this when you run away into the desert? Jesus?

Or hop a boat into the ocean?

Or feed 5,000 people just for the hell of it?

Or invite yourself over to the tax collector’s house to dinner, just to piss everyone off?

Because at times like these I feel like if I don’t enact justice viscerally, I’m going to implode.

And then I have to remind myself I’m not Jesus, I cannot save the world.

So I beat my chest, scream a tree, write an angsty psalm, cry.

And maybe I retreat for one day instead of forty,

maybe I feed one person instead of 5,000

maybe I invite someone I’ve been meaning to over to dinner instead of a tax collector.

And I remind myself, it all counts.

Because all justice counts,

Because I’m not a Jesus or a superhero,

but at least I can do something,

and I’m not giving up.

Thanks for reminding us not to give up God.

Amen.

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

Promises & Prayers

Someday

I hope

We will raise prayers

No longer wet

With the sacrificial blood

Of children killed by guns

And violence

And hunger

And neglect

And hate.

Some day

We will care

More for health

Than test scores

More for housing

Than lawns

More for queer families

Than breaking hearts

More for disabled people

Than helping porn and “self-advocacy”

More for people of color

Than trumped up blame, hushed up histories, and subjugation.

Some day God,

The kin(g)dom

Will sneak up

On us

Like a cool breeze

On a hot day.

Like dew

On the lawn

Like a rainbow

Coming into focus

And we will all be Beloved neighbors there!

I’m standing in you

And your promise Jesus.

Because at the end

Of the day

Isn’t that what prayer is?

So I’m standing here

Breathing another one

Another prayer

For your collection

Put it on your heart please.

Amen.

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

Preparing to Be Away, a Prayer

God

I’m trying to look forward to all the things

But the list to get there is interminably long

And I find that I don’t have the energy to even look at the list much les complete it.

Yet the laundry, house, packing, paperwork and people all await my presence.

Is this when you took a nap Jesus? I love a Savior who knows the value of a good nap.

Am I tired because I need the energy to face things

Or

Am I tired because the things facing me need to get done before I can feel energized again?

Sometimes human existence is such a mystery God, you have to admit, you did not make us simple beings.

Anyway here’s praying what needs to get done will, and can wait will

And that you’ll give me the patience to know the difference.

Amen.

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

Messy Hope, a Prayer

God

I wonder if everything

In heaven will be well loved

Like a comfortable sweater

And a couch that hugs your butt just the wife way.

Holy Spirit you know how I am longing for comfort.

For the things of childhood that were so soothing:

Playing in the grass, coloring so hard you could smell the crayons, saying hi ready to make friends with the world.

Sometimes when people long for the good old days. I think they are wishing for their inner child

—even if they don’t remember who that was.

Ans yet Jesus, you know

And say that a child shall lead us.

God you know that nothing is gently used in my house—my kids are busting with energy and ready to fully embrace everything life has to offer.

Couches are to jump on.

Juice boxes spilling out with sweet goodness.

Mud and dirt brimming with life.

God, in this time of turmoil, help me to taste heaven.

Because surely this chaos is what Pentecost was like!

Come Holy Spirit! Fill us with some messy hope today we pray.

Amen.

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

Prayer for Peace

Life Giving God
Erase all the things
That Rob us of life
Open the ears
Of those who can’t hear
Break apart the bad policies
And politics


Breath Giving God
You know how to
Get us to become a culture
Of seed planting
Instead of death dealers

Help us to slough off
All the skins
That we think
“Protect” is
Lay us bare before you
So that can finally heal
And find peace

Please
God of Respite
Melt our hearts
And resurrect us
Into tranquility
We pray
Amen

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

God of Time

God
Our timeline
Is totally broken
As lies crackle
And cowardice is unearthed

Jesus is this
How Jerusalem was?
When Powers & Principalities
Were vying for power?

God how do you
Make Kairos out of Chronos
How do you
Work with hopelessness?

God who keeps track
As the timeline breaks us
Break into our time
Our hearts
Our being

So that we
Are no longer weighed down
By this news cycle

Whisper it
Like the Secret it is
Because we are too weary
And Bleary
To recognize it now.

Thank you Timeless God
Amen

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

Gun Violence Prevention Prayers

This is the start of my collected resource. Because I need to be real about this.

Also more than “Thoughts & Prayers”

All prayers can be used/adapted/shared with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Wrong Turns (About getting lost and Gun Violence that resulted, and Rainbows)

Hosanna, A Dangerous Prayer

No Breath Prayer In the Pit: https://katyandtheword.com/2022/05/26/13962/

Call Me Mara, A Bitter Prayer: https://katyandtheword.com/2022/05/25/mara-a-bitter-prayer/

14 no 19 no 21, https://katyandtheword.com/2022/05/24/14-a-prayer/

Truth: https://katyandtheword.com/2022/05/16/truth-a-prayer/

Imprecation: https://katyandtheword.com/2022/05/15/imprecation/

Do You Reject Evil? https://katyandtheword.com/2022/05/15/do-you-reject-evil/

Forgiving God: https://katyandtheword.com/2022/03/19/forgiving-god-a-prayer/

Empty-handed Prayer: https://katyandtheword.com/2022/02/25/empty-handed-prayer/

I’m so mad: https://katyandtheword.com/2021/04/16/im-mad-and-thats-not-going-to-change-prayer/

Timeless God: https://katyandtheword.com/2022/05/28/god-of-time/

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