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NL324: Healing on the Sabbath Liturgy

Scripture Reading   
Psalm 92
Luke 6:1-16      

Call to Worship
Still Again, let us declare God’s steadfast Love, with songs, instruments and praise
For God makes our hearts glad by your work, by the works of  God’s very hand, we sing for joy!
God’s works are great, and God’s thoughts are too deep to even know; destruction and nothingness have nothing to do with you
God of the Covenant, we will rest with you
Come, let us seek sanctuary and Sabbath with God
Come, let us rest with Jesus

Prayer of Confession: (All) God we admit that we long for wholeness, and healing and peace and all of that, but confess that we feel like it is something that we need to achieve instead of seek. Help us to find Sabbath, to sit and be with the Lord of the Sabbath with Pray. Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news, Jesus is walking with us, teaching us and healing us, thus we know the good news:  (All) In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen

Offering/Dedication Prayer: God, may we use these and all our gifts for rest, healing and wholeness as we go into the world we pray. Amen.    

Children’s Sermon: Remember that God rested on the 7th Day, so it is not surprising that Jesus wanted to honor resting/healing with the disciples even before he chose them/got to work with them

God of Empathy

Breathe in: God I am overwhelmed
Breathe out: God sit with me

God,
I confess that I have been cursed
with your Holy Spirit
I have your empathy in spades

Her whispers echo in my ear
I feel worry 
for the children
for my trans* and nonbinary family
for all those who are black and brown

whose birth, citizenship and being
are being tossed about 
and trying to be erased
like words on a page

Holy Spirit
How is it that the same Spirit
that comes and teaches us to witness
also encourages, inspires
and consoles?

God almighty
I confess
my breath catches when I 
feel our relationships
with other nations
disintegrating
when I see signs of hate
shrugged off or joked about

Pneuma–
I confess, I need your help
to breathe in
to breathe out
because I confess that sometimes 
remembering to breathe freely
is an act of rebellion

Jesus Christ
I remember all of your short actions
that were so disruptive 
most of them were 
listening
and calling people by their
chosen
name

Walk with me
walk with us
as we do the same
help us to 
listen closely to one another
and to call one another by name

God of empathy
breath
listening
and Name

Be with us
in this time of Trial
I pray
Amen

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

Solstice

On cozy nights
when the dark is long
I am reminded
that sleep is good
that cats know how to rest
and our bodies are more like gardens
then machines

As solstice comes
we celebrate

That seasons
change

We don’t have to be
stuck
there is beauty
in the creative
womb of darkness

In the peeping stars
the quiet snows
the gentler winters of the South

The Axis
on which the world turns
reminds us
that humanity celebrates
this
holy time
in so many beautiful ways

So Cozy Solstice
Blessed Rest
May you have spaces of Restoration
Sanctuaries of acceptance
And moments to just be

As we welcome in
the gentle rhythms
of what is yet to come

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

Longest Night/Blue Christmas

Blue Christmas, Longest Night, Lament, Hope, Comfort, Virtual,

Blue Christmas/Comfort Candle Virtual Service

This is a link to a Blue Christmas/Longest Night Service I wrote

It is written so it can be done at home virtually at your convenience
Though I love the community of church, I am also aware that sometimes that is not possible (as we missed one last night because my eldest’s volunteer work ran over)
So..if you are wishing to participate in a service of comfort
Feel free
Grab a candle if you wis (Completely optional)

God of the Brokenhearted

Based on Psalm 147

God
Who is not too busy counting the stars
to know the hearts that are broken
for God is abundant in power
And what you mean by that
is that you measure understanding
by sitting by children who whisper their fears

and you somehow pay attention to the droning
politicians who make up nonsensical arguments
against humanity
and you hold the hands of those who have to listen too

You wrap your wings around those
in never ending warzones
knowing that Jesus was borne in an occupied country

You stand with all the women who write poems
for justice, magnifying your creative work
lifting the downtrodden

God you are the one who casts the wicked to the ground
Telling amazing stories of misunderstood witches
and reminding or hearts that the songs of hope
that we sing in the middle of the night
count as hymns of praise to your ears

Peace is sown, bit by bit, in every act of community
and solidarity
with the mutual aids
and signatures
But also through the real listening
the space to let one another rest
and all those who do the small things to get through
mundane days

God you do not bother with shows of strength
Strongmen do not impress or bother you
God you do not worry about human displays of greed or power
You instead take delight in cute animals
beautiful flashes of nature: a pretty cloud, snowflake or flower
Because you know what love is
and you grant peace
True peace, through love

It is love and peace you desire
And I will hold this in my right and left hand
especially when my palms feel empty
in these advent days.
Amen

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

Community

May be a graphic of text

Without community there is no liberation-Audre Lorde

NL and RCL covers Elijah going to the Widow of Sidon during the drought. She says “I don’t know why YOUR God sent you here, I have but one meal left for my son and I and then we will die.” She talks about the pain, loneliness and shame of having nothing. Elijah then asks–“Do you have a cup of water?” and she agrees (I like to think begrudgingly as a tough woman) that she does.

Over this established Table Fellowship and Hospitality Elijah offers pastoral care to a widow. I like to think that as she opens her heart to him, she feels seen and heard, and she realizes that the table fellowship was a moment of openness that was just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. He then says that if they establish a community, that she, her son and he will not run out of the oil, meal/flour (and one would think Elijah would then help to gather the wood to cook them).

Mutual aid works because people who have little share what they have and form strong bonds of community. Community is formed here hospitality, pastoral care, table fellowship and mutual aid, among foreigners of different races, religions, genders, and socio-economic statuses. Community is not just about leadership, but about what the people do to help one another along the way, in the times of trouble when the leadership was terrible Elijah and the widow formed community. This is the work, the hope and the blessing that is before us. 1 Kings 17:8-16

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May be an image of text that says 'taco belle @animalologist People often romanticize "being in community" without realizing that community is formed and sustained through reciprocity fulfilling mutual obligations to one another and that this is sometimes inconvenient and taxing! But you can't receive support without offering it'

People often romanticize “being in community” without realizing community is formed and sustained through reciprocity—fulfilling mutual obligations to one another—and that this is sometimes inconvenient and often taxing! But your can’t receive support without offering it! by Baena@Silkyyy with thanks to decolonizing.love on Facebook for the images

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

Waiting for Results, a Prayer

God,
We just don’t know

Picture of the United States drawing scribbled over/colored by a child “What we know so far” Shared by Dan Chan @danchaon.bsky.social on bluesky social app


So many have done
what they can
to sew peace

To establish
humanity
human rights

And
Lord have mercy
because
we are
already
exhausted


“Next Week Has Been Exhausting” by Diane Duane


Anticipatory
Exhaustion
may be the hardest

I remember
when my child
was in the run away
and legitimate
insomnia
(beyond normal)
phase

And I would
wake up
looking forward
to a nap
I would have for
the day
after
today

God
you know
My soul is weary
Is your
soul weary
God?

Because
even after the
election

You know
We know
That no matter
the outcome

There is
hard work
to do

This is about more
than leadership


(I remember
in the Old Testament
When
Hebrew people
wanted a King
and you warned them
That is not enough)

And yet
Breathe in: I am here
Breathe out: God is here

This is true today
This is true tomorrow

This is how I will wait
Because all good work counts

Maybe especially
when
it seems
like it doesn’t

Pneuma
Holy Spirit
Breathe for me
When I can’t

Breathe in: I am here
Breathe out: God is here

Amen

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

Strategically Undervalued, A Prayer

Via: farmerricshi I tried a new phrase in a meeting today. Instead of “underserved,” “underprivileged” “historically marginalized,” 

Try Strategically undervalued.”

I like it because it emphasizes the purposefulness of racism(rather that the historically” which gives a kind of happenstance energy) and uplifts the community, rather than emphasizing the marginalization. 

God
Almighty
in
Heaven

This is
definitely a
“Do not put your
trust in princes
powers
or principalities”
week

as the value of
actual human
beings
was strategically
cleverly
humorously
manically
and with
immediate
deniability

undervalued

The weariness of
political clamor
falls away some

God
you understand
that this is
systematic
dehumanization

Bad theology
kills

And that

for us

Christians
imago
dei
is essential
for faith

We
carry God

And that
God contains
multitudes

God is community
To deny
the complexity
of humanity

To make
the human
experience
one

is to
lose
faith

God
I pray for
humanity


re-human-ing
I pray for
peace

I carry
hope
that we
will find
flashes
of true community

Walk with us
in this time of
anger and fear
we pray.
Amen

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

The Many Colora of a Miracle


Sometimes
Miracles
Are friends
Sharing
Pics
Of
Things
Seen
Through
In other
Parts of the world
And you
Feel like
The world
is full of
Magic
Cameras
The Aurora Borealis
Colors of miracles
And sometimes
Miracles
Are
Your
Friends
Checking
On you
After the
Storm
$20 given
Without tracking
A new hobby
That has no
Meaning
Just beauty
Or even
The moments
To collect yourself
I believe in
All the
Real
Miracles
In life