Uncategorized – katyandtheword

Easter Blessings, throughout the Season

Good News can come through emptiness

Mary didn’t know Jesus was risen
She turned to a stranger
The person who was tending the dirt
And asked for help

Do you see the Easter moment

It’s hiding right there

It’s not in the race before
No trumpets or proclamations in John

It starts in a moment
of hoping for hope
of reaching out
in planting seeds
After all God was the first Gardener
Is it little wonder that
Jesus is once again on his knees
in the dirt

And Mary reaches out to him
Easter has started
There in the dark
Even before she knows it

The resurrection
starts in those moments
of planting and tending

and then slowly
unfurl
for days
months
as long as we need
to turn
our mourning
into dancing

Here’s hoping
you have those moments
Throughout the
Easter season

Good News can
Come even
through
moments
of emptiness

Creation came
through Holy
Darkness

I hope you
Experience
that this
Easter Season

Every Knee

This is my conviction

Upon the return of Christ every knee will bow

Bc Jesus will return kneeling and serving

And we will all kneel to get next to him

This is Maundy Thursday

This is God kneeling, stooping,

“inclining Gold’s ear” to get close to us in the person of ChristThis is loving and serving

Illustration From LaTonya Jackson from https://blog.brethren.org/2024/ebrethren-3-27-2024/ Kneeling Black Jesus, aglow with holy light—and adorned with with a durag and dressed in White with a purple sash, kneeling to wash a disciple with a snug hat and dressed in red robes, feet, the sandals lay discarded, another gray bearded disciple watches.

Hosanna, a Protest Song

Hosanna is a Protest Song
Sung
in the words
Of the meek

it starts from the back door
with a murmur
a request
for a healing for a friend
an opening in a roof
a touch on a cloak
a plea for an (unnamed) daughter at home

Hosanna is a Protest Song
it bends the norms of society
blurring the lines between
Samaritan and Jewish
Sadducees and Pharisees
Male and female
Salve and Free

Hosanna is a Protest song
Reshaping the very bounds of our understanding
allowing children to come in freely
valuing the widow like the rich man
seeing no difference between the younger and the elder
calling the eunuch to God

Hosanna is a Protest Song
Forgiving Peter before he even denies Jesus
Reminding of Thomas bravery more than his doubt
Telling the story of the Resurrection straight from the women’s lips
Reminding us all that if we want to see Jesus
He is already here, among the poor, the imprisoned and the hungry, Go and serve and you will surely see Christ

Hosanna is a Protest Song
That the world should not be like this
We know it, and we are not going to try violence to bring Jesus back
Because our God is the disarmed God, the one who hung their bow permanently in the sky, to remind us that they are the God of Peace
And when we didn’t Get the message
Sent Jesus to walk the walk of peace even unto the cross again

Hosanna is a protest song
It says
Save us
Saving us
Salvation is worth it
Kin(g)dom is an active verb
It is embodying the prayer
Thy Kin(g)dom Come, Thy Will be Done

Reminding us that Our God wants to save
most likely, probably everyone
And hard as that truth is
That God doesn’t need us to protest for Christianity
Instead, we protest,
To save EVERYBODY
And we need our actions
to fit those words

Because God Loves every stinking one of us

Hosanna
Save us
Indeed

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

Crumbling Empires

Herod doesn’t win
Nor does Caesar
The Empire will crumble

God is with the marginalize
the poor
the imprisoned
the oppressed
the abused
the tortured

Jesus walks
with the different
the disabled
the forgotten
the misgendered
the repressed
the voiceless
the hurt

Our Divine is all about housing
everyone
feeding the hungry
clothing the naked
and meting out equity and justice
and true liberation

It is written
It is proclaimed
It is the Good News

This is the true Glory of God
Anyone who thinks they can tame
the Holy Spirit
is a pretender

We recognize Jesus

in every act
Peace
Empathy
and Love

Don’t you?

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

Free the Bebes

So thankful Liam is free

Now free all the bebes
From age 0-100

Are we not all
Children of God?
Warehousing people is evil

Luke 4:18

I know they almost
threw Jesus off a cliff
Because like it or not
Protests and Worship
Go hand in hand

Or prayer is
When you liberate the
Imprisoned

Or welcome
The immigrant
In the name of
Our Immigrant God

Here we
Are

Charged with
Going out
And getting
Justice for
The Abused
And Oppressed

And Against
Systematic
Death
Dealing
Structures

Sounds like
Real Work

Wonder why those in Power
Tried to throw
Jesus off a cliff
The cliff for that

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

Epiphany

Epiphany

https://open.substack.com/pub/katystenta/p/epiphany-b51?r=1qkzy4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Epiphany is about
inclusion
and Peace

Epiphany is stronger
Than insurrection
and War

That was the point
Herods

So be frightened

Our path will continue to be
A different way
Lit by the Star of Peace

Your sneakiness and violent ways
Are no match for Our God
Thank Sweet Baby Jesus

Amen

Advent Hope

God I know I don’t need
To look for you

Advent is in
a minor key

Because

Christ is already here
In the ICE prisons

Christ is already here
with the unhoused

Christ is already here
at the wartorn rubble

Christ is already here

But it’s hard
to see the face of Jesus

Fear not
You say

And you coax us to
free the prisoners

To distribute food
without worry about who is deserving

As you remind us
What peace and wholeness means

Fear not
The Holy Spirit
Inspires us

Laying Groundwork
for the key change
to take hold

We wait with you God
Because we want the miracle
of Christmas

To be about
the seeds that are
planted
to mean
Universal flourishings

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

Trans Day of Remembrance

Content warning: Trans* Day of Remembrance: Mentions Abuse, Death, Murder, Abuse, Suicide

God
You know that
when your very
existence
is resistance

Then remembrance
is more
than a story

It is a celebration
that Life
is complication

And beautiful
and every time
We remember

Our Trans* siblings
We co-create
A world

Where mourning
and lament
are not it

We re-member
re-connect
re-present
reality

Knowing that
one way
one being
even one name
is not enough

Complicated
mysterious
God-
THE God of Pronouns
The Almighty
Multiplicitious* God

It is You who blesses us
calls us by our chosen name
Blesses our found families
understands the mysterious, complicated way
hurt, imperfections, love all mix up into life

Perhaps more than anyone else

Help us as we do the hard work
of mourning those who have been lost to this world
through the tragedy of violence

Trans* individuals who have been killed by
intimate partners
family
strangers
or if they lose their life yet another way and died by suicide,
We hurt still from all the abuse and death
that is ongoing

Protect especially our Queer
Siblings of Color

We Celebrate their lives
as a testament and Embodiment
Of the Diversity in the World
Knowing, that their living into themselves
Still counted and was important
even when it felt incomplete

Protect especially our Queer
Siblings of Color
Who are particularly vulnerable

Put a shield across them
We demand your care for them

Melt the hearts of hate
For all who do harm
Physical
Political
Emotional

And may we resist forever
Any injustice in the world
Fighting for a Place

Where all are
Accepted
Fed
Safe
Celebrated
Justified
Recognize
and Known

To be
Fiercely and Wondrously made
In the Image of our Multiplicitous God
Amen

*This is a new word, as of today, pronounce it with confidence

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

ShutDown, A Prayer

Am
Heartsick

Healthcare
SNAP

Lord Hear our Prayers

Vaccines
Homelessness

“Cease”less
Cease fires

Peace-less
Talks

Rubble at the White
House

Workers

Without Pay

No Meds
No Food
No Water
No Care

Holy Spirit
Give us Rest

Politicians
Who Talk

Another Nazi
Revealed

Another Person

Who won’t

Pass the Baton

Another
Black Woman
Cassandra-d

Another Immigrant
Ripped
From Her Child

Lord Have Mercy

God
Forgive Us

Teach us
Mercy

God
The Anger
Burns

And
My Soul
Mourns

Teach
Our Hearts

We
Pray

Teach
A
New

Way

To
Be

Because
I Can’t

Exist

This Way
Anymore

Amen

Blessed Coming Out!

On National Coming Out Day
Stay Safe
Find Sanctuary Spaces
Find places to be you
Find Belovedness
Find Cozyness
Corners
Embrace Mystery
Its ok if it doesn’t all make Sense
Be Gay/Queer And Do Crime
Be a Riot
You are Fierce and Awesomely Made

And Forgive all of us who don’t show us
In the ways you need us to

In the Name of the
God who show Themselves
in a Flaming Bush
To an Enslaved man with a Speech Impediment
to Liberate People
(Who you do NOT have to Believe in)

I Hope you are Affirmed and Celebrated
Be
Beloved