Spiritual not Religious – katyandtheword

I think the Church is a Teenager

Throughout all the many beautiful metaphors for the church
from bride
to Phyllis Tickle’s rummage sale

I thinking of the church
as a teenager

When I say the church, I mean of course the amorphous cloud of saints,
where it is hard to say who is in or who is out, but somehow contains the multitude of faith
trying,
practicing and
sometimes even succeeding to follow the ways of Jesus Christ.

Here is the Church, thinking it knows how to be mature, and all grown up. Thinking it knew what it meant to be together, thinking it understood everything–when

Boom, the place in society shifted,
Or society itself shifted
(probably both)
who the church was, what the church wanted to be, even who the church was hanging out with proved to be….. not really false, just not as authentic as the church wanted it to be.

It seemed….to not fit anymore

I mean did we really think that cozying up to institutionalism? buildings and nationalism was a good idea?
The answer is yes, yes of course, we thought fitting in was the answer.
It was so nice to have everyone flocking to our doors, Sabbath off, and people listen.

It’s always nice to feel heard.

Here we are all awkward again, and the church its body is doing weird, unspeakable things that we do not understand

I say this as the parent of a teen who
wanted a Halloween costume
Sat before Halloween (which is on Thurs)
then didn’t want to go trick-or-treating (as of Tues)
Then
Last Min
Realized that meant the costume was useless
Could I please help them assemble and dress in costume
And drive them to the Halloween event
That was going on at the high school RIGHT NOW on Weds
(never mind that dinner was just being served)
then they stayed for 15mins, and everyone saw them
And there was nothing else to do
So naturally
They called me
As I rolled in the driveway
To be picked back up

The church is a little uncertain
as to what is going to happen next
And what to wear
What to do
When everything was so certain before
We had five year plans
and programs
and even Building extensions
And now everything just seems hard!
What are our goals and purpose
And how are we even going to do them
If everything has to be different?

And our job is not to save the church
Not to take over, but let its find its way
To hold hand
like my three teenagers
and to say wow
Its so hard, when Two things are so true

Two Things (Both things)

That the angst is
real
understandable and scary
and change is really,
really hard
And no I’m not sure how everything is going to turn out in the end

that I trust that everything will turn out ok
because–because I believe in you, and you have good roots.

There are good teachings
models of behaviors out there

Because, mistakes and missteps are not all there is to life
Because just because you try some fad on

Like thinking Praise music, Projectors, or just getting enough young families is going to save us

Or putting our buildings on the covers of the bulletins
Or that only white men are the legitimate preachers (sometimes married sometimes single)
Or that we need to keep the four hundred and ninety seven million buildings to keep being the body of Christ–I mean heaven knows how many sparkles and chokers I wore in the nineties, and I still love my big earrings–

I truly love how spiritual conversations weave their way more naturally, more (w)holistically* throughout life these days.

God knows
just like any parent
There are probably more awkward phases
for us to go through

After all what’s a couple of thousand years
or So
In God’s Calendar Anyway?
We are just starting to Grow up!

Teenagers know what’s real
what’s authentic
Into the latest fad
because teenagers figuring out identity
it is developmentally appropriate for teens to be hungry to express themselves,
except when they are too depressed or angsty to do so.

The church is trying to find itself
It feels like we are the outcast at the party–
Christianity used to be cool, but it isn’t anymore

However, we, like most teenagers,
haven’t figured it all out yet

I will confess, I feel much more at home in the marginal church
than the up and coming popular one
However, I can understand what it feels like to ache to be wanted
to be at the center of things
to want to sparkle for a moment

I have teens who all want that moment in their lives
to know they are able to shine, but are struggling

The gift of church right now though
The people who are here,
Want to be here,
because we love it

We
Want to be here
We have no hanger ons
No fakers
Very few power seekers (though a couple of bullies sneak in)
There is not much money in the church**
People who are at church
Want to be here

We know that the Church sings to them
in some weird way
And we are angsty, because we want to express that
with everyone else.

It’s hard to be a teenager
Some of us haven’t been one for years
And wouldn’t go back if you paid us
However
a lot of us
are good at remembering
How to hold one another’s hands
And saying
Things will be ok

We don’t know what we are growing up to be
yet
What will take shape
Where it will go
What it will even look like

It may not even be our job
to make it happen
(is that scary or comforting?
Probably depends upon the day)
But it will be brilliant
We are quite sure
God will walk us
all the way there.

Resource List: (I feel like I should list nothing or everything here, so I just put 2 small resources to get started, maybe I’ll edit and add more)

Small Church Data: https://www.churchleadership.com/leading-ideas/6-ways-forward-for-very-small-congregations/

Gone for Good: Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property TransitionBy Mark Elsdon, Foreword by Willie James Jennings, https://www.cokesbury.com/9780802883247-Gone-for-Good

*I love holistic with a w, it imbues it with a meaning of natural, whole and in my mind it carries with it an inclusive meaning. Permitting us to include all those things that we find helpful science, nature, spiritual, emotional meanings instead of trying to separate them out.

**Again there are exceptions, but as a whole the church has fallen so much in power that most churches are small and there are few opportunities for big money or power in church.

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

Zits - Teenager Comic Strips | The Comic Strips

Zits Comic by Scott and Borgman: Jeremy: Mom do you have a phone book? Mom (getting it from the drawer): Sure right over here. Pierce: NO WAY!” Mom: Aren’t you going to take it? Jeremy: Naw. It was just a bet. Pierce: Now ask her if she still uses a landline Comic found at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/450219293983937704/

Tender Christmas

God,
I’m praying
a tender prayer
for Christmas

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.

Full Advent Resources

With thanks to Jes Last and Traci Rhoades for their inspirational conversation

Traci Rhoades: I met with a mentor of mine yesterday. He said my faith was in a better spot, more tender and surrendered than ever before. Ya'll, tender and surrendered are not easily gained. They come out of hard seasons if we let them.
Reverend Jes Kast: Oh I understand and resonate with this, tender and surrendered are not easily gained indeed purple heart.

Being Open to Interpretation, #faith

Faith is opening oneself up to interpretation. Laying your whole being and existence of the line in order to interpret

the who of oneself

the why of existence

the where to now of being

These interpretations are done, usually, using a text, speaking from the Presbyterian perspective that text is the Bible, followed by the Confessions of faith and the Book of Order (our rules/discipline/consistituational documents)

But opening ourselves up to interpretation means being open to the interpretations varying, and interpretations themselves to change, because GOD is not a static being.

Consistent and faithful–God can be counted on.

Generally most people think God does not change, altho this does little for the times in scripture when God changes God’s mind (go figure).

But I say, if God can change God’s mind so can we.

If God is not static, neither should our faith.

If something is not growing, its not alive, we want a lively faith, we need to be growing in our interpretation and our understanding.

I have learned so much, by listening closely to all those people whose faith is especially different than mine. To my one best friend who never was churched but has a strong sense of God and Jesus. To my other best friend who was raised more Pagan than anything else and has a strong sense of the Greek & Roman Mythos of the world.

To my siblings all of whom are millennials, none of whom attend church regularly.

To all the fellow-clergy on twitter & Facebook who are feeling our way through social justice issues and the state of the world.

To my LGBTQUIA community who can interpret scripture in ways that are beyond my ken as a hegemonic individual.

To my brown sibs and and black sibs who are empowered, loving and honest in ways that need to be heard.

Here I am, open to interpretation, and my faith informs that, and the scriptures equally are being interpreted and re-interpreted.

And I read the Bible, and that is Canon, but I read the other texts too, Langston Hughes and Madeline L’engle, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Malala Yousafzai, Elias Chacour, and so much more.

If you are asking a questions of faith, be sure to be open to interpretation, hard as it is.

For you know, that’s the kind of faith that will change you.

#God is at #Starbucks

In my life, I am too busy…

I have always been a Martha, I don’t even want to be Mary.

But in the midst of the children screaming, the messiness of the house and the juggling of the schedules, God is there.

In my life, I am too busy…

I have always been a Martha, I don’t even want to be Mary.

But in the midst of the children screaming, the messiness of the house and the juggling of the schedules, God is there.

Just like Goodnight Moon, where each and every object is remembered and names, God keeps track of us, and loves us.

God is there in the mounds of paperwork, the long to do list and the phone that is ringing–in every worry that is a part of the church.

I know God is in these things, in the sunny walks to buy milk, where everything goes smoothly, in the car rides where everyone is yelling at each other for no reason. God is there.

But although God is there, the time I get to spend with God, is often not at worship where I’m trying to remember everyone in my prayers, or at home where we say our Amens or at the office where its a game of finish the most things. The moment I get to to spend with God is in the coffee shop–at the Barnes and Noble or the Starbucks, its when I go grocery shopping late at night, its when I get time to exercise.

And so I treasure the time I get to spend with God, taking comfort that God is always spending time with me.

Reclaiming #mysticism, #prophets & #christianity in Grounded

You probably haven’t noticed this, but prophets are often outside the fold of the norm in scripture.

Whether its Elisha, Elijah or Jesus himself it is difficult for those who stand outside of religion and claim a relationship with God to fit.

This is, no doubt, because humans long for “normatives” we long for a checklist by which to live our lives, some way to say this is the right (and only) way to be in relationship with God and each other.

Of course if we were created to be that way we wouldn’t be the multi-faceted, every learning, gender-fluid beings we are. Our spirituality and sexuality would not exist in complex relationship to each other, and our experience of the world would be all the same.

Its amazing that Christianity has plateaued into a “normative” state for so long.

In Diana Butler Bass’s book she reclaims the ordinary-earth, water, fire and air. She claims them as ways to experience God in mystical and tactile & experiential ways.

Because these days, when people of all ages have been burned by institutions (whether they be courts or government, schools or churches, scouts or libraries) and are highly suspicious of institutional wisdom.

Experience, instead, informs.

Diana Butler Bass talks about our experiences in the following ways…”Adam and Eve are made from hums, placed in Go’ds garden, and directed to care for the soil from which they came….” Land “is the source, the material basis, of the food supply (no dirt, no food, no us); or it may be viewed through the eyes of spiritual awareness, as part of a divine ecosystem….disregarding the ground is sinful and evil” p. 43

Humans are made of dirt ”

And Diana Butler Bass puts poetic narrative to her experience, allowing life to be mystical and mysterious in its particularity and beautiful & beloved in its multiplicity and shared interactions.

She dignifies the spiritual awareness that so many has, with a well reasoned personal narrative, grounded in scripture touching on the ideas of God as home, neighborhood as a state of being and the hospitality of creating a commons to dwell in.

“Spirituality is about personal experience–the deep erealization that dirt is good, water is holy, the sky holds wonder; that we are part of a great web of life, our home is in God, and our moral life is entwined with that of our neighbor.”

None of that tells us a checklist to be healthy, wealthy and wise, “it is about tracing the threads of the interconnected universe.” 238

Diana Butler Bass explores the spiritual revolution as it is unfolding today. I highly recommend reading with an open mind, to understand God, and just how accessible Xi is.

Personally as a pastor, I love to learn about how people understand God to be in their lives, and to me church is/should be the place where we share our differences to enrich our own faith. I hope that mystics are heard especially when they are not understood and help us to change into whatever church is being born today….

#Christianity, you keep saying that word, I don’t think it means what you think it means

1. Christianity to me isn’t about finding all the answers, but asking the essential questions (look at the Gospel its people asking Christ ?s and Christ asking people ?s) gathering together and acknowledging that God is bigger and greater than our understanding of things, and we’d rather see thing more God’s way than our own way, because our way is too small

2. Church is a the practice of community and worship so that when moments of extreme trouble come, you have a healthy way to bring them to God and process them. (Like fire drills). Every week isn’t revolutionary but every week is important.

3. Church is about community, there are few places where we commit to practice community with whoever comes thru the door Church is a practicum in faith just as its a place to explore spirituality.

4. Prayer is the ongoing conversation between you and God. As it is an ongoing, unique and individual conversation, my job as pastor is to act as mentor, guide and/or teacher. Where you are with God is based upon who you are, that’s why relationships with God can change a person because the two are so intertwined. This is why mature Christianity is (w)holistic Christianity. The kind where the Bible doesn’t necessarily tell you how to vote, but you have an evolved understanding of learning what God’s purpose is for the world and you apply that purpose wherever you are and as much as possible.

5. Faith is about seeking out relationships with God, people and the world. Loving things into a more real, truthful and essential existence than what they have before that love. Its not about controlling another person, quite the opposite, its freeing them to be who they are.

Grading & Grace: Prayer about how to be Christian

#faClothing #Fast! The End

Well, I have finished my clothing fast (which was supposed to only be 10 items of clothes, but due to clothing that looks alike was prob really 12 or 13)

I just read an article about a woman who wore the same outfit to her office everyday.

Clothing can help you look dependable.

Its easier not having to pick clothing.

I was forced to do more laundry, because I needed clothing

Packing for a conference was easy.

But I did not get all of my other clothes away…my laundry room is still a mess, because wearing the same clothing did not sufficiently motivate me to get everything else organized.

Yesterday I gloriously wore Jeans, a red undershirt and a collared peach castle overshirt from my Grandfather…

I love to layer clothing.

Today I am fangirling Beauty and the Beast. I have a maroon belle top, with yellow yoga pants (to match), Beauty and the Beast Flats from Hot Topic and a Beauty and the Beast Rose Locket. The shirt is from my parents, the necklace is from my sister thru etsy, the shoes are from my husband. My pants are from a shopping trip my dad and I made after I was done being pregnant and wanted clothes that fit.

It helps that I am on vacation this week so I can really REALLY wear what I feel like wearing.

I’m thinking about my clothing, who they are from, why I like them.

I like to think that I look a little offbeat and artsy (maybe even childish), it is a good signal about who I am.

And yes wearing a nice set of sweaters and plain shirts are practical, but they are surely boring (even if they are red or patterned in such a way to be flattering, I chose clothes I hoped I wouldn’t absolutely hate by the end of the process).

I don’t know if I walk away with deep insights, but I do think that changing patterns, trying things from a different way are VERY VERY important. And seeing as how I am not one to wear the same thing over and over again, this was a kind of discipline to try on a different kind of practicality.

My mom likes to joke that other people’s ideas of simplifying are not the same as hers. For example if you are baking everything yourself and hand creating each ingredient, the ingredients are simple but the process is more complex than buying pre-made things.

Its true on some level, having to do laundry more and decide which clothing I can stand to wear when and having only one semi-nice outfit (the other two involved yoga pants) meant I wore the same thing to two session meetings, a Presbytery meeting and some other meeting that I’m not recalling right now….

It true that I wore my one long “hipsterlike” sweater to the playgroup to show that I was normal/cool almost every week.

What I wear does, in some sense, reveal where I am.

Also, I am aware of some of the atrocities of what goes on in the clothing industry, and think that my choice in clothing will help me to process that better.

Its an interesting thought…wonder how this will change my thoughts on how to “wear” Christ in different and expressive ways in life…..

#God #time #daylightsavingstime #philosophy (you know little concepts)

Why Daylight Savings Time, Why?

Most people don’t like Daylight Savings Time, I will admit that as a pastor it is a little terrifying to know that if I get the time wrong I’ll miss doing my job (yipes)

However, my kids have already adjusted their systems (at least 10 days ago) do the new time. Yep, they’ve been getting up and going to bed earlier. Apparently they have great cicada rhythms. So in some ways it will be easier for me.

On the other hand, we humans love time. We calculate it, we keep it, we try to control it. Daylight Savings Time & Leap Year serve to remind me that Time is a human measure.

Consider creation, we all still don’t know what “a day” to God was, but probably God experiences time differently than us.

When I was in Seminary, a Spiritual Practice I tried to remember when I considered deep theological questions, was the fact that God is timeless….God does not need to measure things in time. Because we do, I’m sure God does take it into consideration, but the taming and capturing of moments is a human need, not one that God has…

Puts me in mind of two beautiful concepts

Wrinkle in Time/Tesseract

and Dr. Who

Go forth. Spring Forward (or fall back)

And think deep thoughts about God….Time…..and Humans relationship to God, Humans relationship to to time, and how we all fit together…..

#fairytales #theology #valentinesday

“The great lesson of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ – a thing must be loved before it is lovable.” ― G.K. Chesterton | #Valentine

This is why Beauty and the Beast is my theological fairy tale of choice

Cupid & Psyche–the basis for Beauty and the Beast– is simulataneously the last myth and the first fairy tale ever written…why? Because the transformational power of love and the possibility of “happily ever after” only come into being with the advent of Christianity and a new understanding of what theological hope is, telling a whole different story of good news

I #believe in #miracles, and other weird #Christian things…

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+3:1-12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

Ps. 2:7-8

⁷I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.

⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”

Brownson says that Baptism is not Salvation, but the promise of salvation. It is the faith in that promise, it is the acknowledgment that our God is a Promisekeeping God

Baptism particularizes the promise that God makes to the world.

Why?

God promises to love the world, to take care of it, to save it. Baptism, adopts us into that promise, particularizing it into us…embracing us into the reality of Jesus Christ, making us part of it all…We are all children of God in general, baptism, makes us each children of God as individuals; Matt 28:19-20 baptize them in the name of the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit and teach them my commandments, and I will be with you always..making us effectively related to God (effectively changing all our last names to be Jesus Christ). Hence my name becomes Katy Jesus Christ–thus I become part of the body of God!

Every single baby that is born is a miracle. Babies being born are so,

so miraculous…

but your baby being born is a PARTICULAR miracle…Right? I mean all babies are amazing, but your baby (whether its yours, your friends, your child’s baby, if you have ownership) is SUPER-EXTRA AMAZING..because its your particular baby. Baptism is special for that same reason.

Baptism…and Communion are sacraments…for Presbyterians there are two such sacraments; which are another weird thing that Christians do.

That’s what makes a sacrament, a sacrament in the Presbyterian church a sacrament is that which Jesus enacted, commanded and then promised particular presence during…

This is my body broken for you…this is my blood of the new covenant

That’s after all, what a miracle is…its seeing God’s particular presence in a particular circumstance, its when you don’t know how or when things happen, but they do, through God’s presence. Its different than magic, which is when you explain the unexplainable….Miracles are about grace-filled instances which happen through God making connections that we might not expect

Ever time we practice communion or baptism, God promises to be particularly present. God is present and loves us all the time, but the fact that God promises to be particularly present with these moments …make them miracles

Like a roof that needs to be fixed, and suddenly a bequest appears that covers it….like a lesbian couple who end up not getting married at the church but force the governing board to extend welcome to such a wedding…like having way, wayyyy too much work to do and suddenly a snow day gives you the extra time you need.

These moments are miracles, places where our humanity is insufficient, and yet God’s presences helps things to work out….

These moments are the difference between Spirituality & Religion

Spirituality is talking about who God is…and what God does in general…a generalized understanding of God and how it effects spiritual life. Spirituality is good…its practiced by most people, even those who don’t go to church.

Religion is (nothing more & nothing less) than the practice of God’s presence, the practice of miracles. The practice of seeings where God is present, participating it and then telling others about it. It is through this practice that we are joined together. We recognize and practice God’s presence, together.

Its just like practicing family–practicing family can be as easy as having dinner together…you plan the dinner together, experience the dinner together and then discuss how dinner went (maybe with people who aren’t even your family)…Each of those steps are within the practice of the miracle that is family…

So too is communion…we prepare for communion declaring what it will be (how it binds us to God and eachother), then we practice it together, then we discuss how it went and what it means for our future…in this we practice the miracle of God’s presence. We do this every time we talk look for/experience/witness to God’s presence in our lives….

Let’s go practice some miracles….

(thanks to Barb Hedges-Goettl for the theology of Christ’s transformative presence in communion)