Psalms
Hebrews
Category: Uncategorized
Psalm 73 for today: Plea of Relief from Oppressors
1 Truly God is good to all those who are seeking love
2 But I will admit, sometimes I have tripped on my journey, I’ve almost fallen off the path more than once not understanding the cry Black Lives Matter.
3 For I have seen the siren call of white privilege, I saw how those in power prosper calling themselves “great.” I have forgotten that i too benefit from a racist system.
4 Those White Supremacists admit no pain, ever, they have doctors and massages and rest. They can completely ignore the pandemic that ravages the communities of color.
5 They are not troubled by other people. They go around unmasked, breathing on everyone. For they do not have to deal with, what I have to deal with. They can ignore the pain of the world.
6. They decorate themselves with pride being “the greatest.” They dress themselves in a fine suit of violence. Making it seem beautiful.
7. Their eyes bulge with their privilege, their hearts allow them to speak feelings as facts.
8 They scoff and speak with malice and threats to all who disagree. Loftily & carelessesly they threaten oppression, so normal is it for them.
9They set their mouths against God, and their tongues spread the disease and oppression all of the earth.
10 People turn and praise them, and cannot (no matter what) find fault with them.
11 They say “God won’t know” or “Truly power and Jesus are on the same side; MAGA”
12 Such are the wicked, comfortable with evil, as they increase their riches from a pandemic, poverty and racism.
13. I have tried to keep my heart clean: but bigotry is insidious. I try to wash my hands from the pandemic, but I must expose myself to others.
14 We small people are plagued, punished everyday by our context.
15 But if I say “all lives matter” or “church is more important than flattening the curve” I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16 But when I thought about how to understand what is going on. I immediately become overwhelmed.
17 then I put my sanctuary in God, instead. It is then I see how they will end.
18 You are setting them in slippery places of lies of their own making. You will make them fall to ruin.
19 They will be destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by errors.
20 They will be like a dream when one awakes–a footnote in the history of God’s love–and upon awaking you despise their phantoms
21 When my soul we bitter, before I understand, you pricked my heard
22 I was stupid and ignorant, with microaggressions and resting on my privilege that we will never experience a pandemic, or tyranny, or widespread racism, or riots
23 Luckily, you continue to be with me, and you hold my hand as I walk
24 You guide me with your Holy Spirit, and after you will welcome me home with open arms
25 Why do I desire heaven? For you God. There is nothing I desire more than Jesus.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is my strength of my heart, and claims me as God’s own.
27 Indeed those who are far from you will perish, you put an end to all that is false.
28 But for me, it is good to be near my God; I have made the Lord God my refuge.
And I will not fear to seek justice and tell of your works.
Feel free to use or Adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
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
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?
Psalm 73: A Plea for Relief from Oppressors Rewritten
Feel free to use/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy
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:
in
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
Stuck in a Room: Contemplating Pentecost
Lord,
I am imagining the disciples, stuck in a room together.
Staying safe.
Lonely.
Yet sick of each other at the same time.
Stuck.
So stuck, they had nothing to do. And didn’t know what to say.
Can you imagine, followers of Jesus not knowing what to say?
But Jesus was gone, peacing out to heaven, to work from home, Jesus ascended back to his Father.
Telecommuting was just not the same.
So here were the disciples, stuck.
And, somehow, they were given gifts–arriving like packages in the mail.
The disciples unwrapped:
the words they couldn’t find,
the wisdom to take the time they needed
the knowledge to think on their feet
the healing to pass on to others
the miracles to see God at work in the toughest times
the prophecies to tell the truth to power
the discernment to see how spirits work
the interpretation necessary to understand tongues,
and the learning needed to speak in tongues.
All of these gifts were given, according to the disciples’ abilities, one body, one spirit, one baptism;
many gifts.
As we are stuck, remind us that we too are disciples, we too are gifted according to our abilities.
Empower us to be the body of Christ we pray.
Remind us of our gifts….
Point us to the need…..
And invite us into ministry and discipleship as you do every Pentecost we pray.
Amen.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit Plea/Prayer
Meditation on the Body of Christ
All Resources can be used with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Pentecost, Gifts of the Spirit Seeds of Faith narrative Lectionary
Gifts of the Spirit
Stuck in a Room: Contemplating Pentecost
Gifts of the Holy Spirit Plea/Prayer
Bulletin and other Resources by Rev Dr Barb Hedges-Goettl
Another Resource for NL http://sacredise.com/lectionary-resources/pentecost-a/
Call to Worship
Lord we come here to celebrate our baptism
One Body, One Spirit, One Baptism, One Body of God
Bathe us once again, in the Holy Spirit
Come let us gather and greet the Lord
Call to Worship
Lord remind us that we are one in the Spirit
Help us to recognize your gifts, we pray
Let us use our gifts today and everyday
Let us use them to glorify the Lord
Confession: Lord, God we are feeling trapped and uninspired. We are weary. What do we say in times like this? How can we help those in need? How do we heal from this mass trauma? We feel alone. Breathe on us once again–give us live and inspiration and strength. Encourage us. Ennerve us. Energize us. Advocate for us, we pray.
Assurance of Pardon: God’s grace breathes upon us like a soothing breeze in the scorching heat. Know that God always loves us. Live into the refreshing forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
Prayer of Communion: Lord, before we even existed, your Spirit danced upon the water, blowing it’s presence across the earth. Then you formed us out of clay and breathed us into being. Then your Holy Spirit accompanied Christ: sometimes encouraging him, sometimes becoming the driving force behind him. Then when Jesus ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent to the disciples, as an advocate. So we ask for you to breathe once again here, upon these common elements. Transform them through the power of the Holy Spirit to carry the body and blood of Christ. Commune us together Holy Spirit: with all those who have celebrated communion, all those who are celebrating and all those who will celebrate communion. Create with us the invisible, present and virtual Church made real in Christ. We pray this is the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prayer of Dedication/the Day: Lord, bless us so that we can be a blessing we pray. Remind us of our gifts. And when our gifts feel like a burden or a curse, remind us to rest and eat and to breathe, so that we might once again do our work in joy, we pray.
All resources can be used with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
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Eastertide Preaching Narrative Lectionary
Death Swallowed in Life Seeds of Prayer for Narrative Lectionary
Death Swallowed in Life
Call to Worship:
The Steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end
They are new every morning
Let us praise the faithfulness of the Lord our God.
Prayer of Confession: Lord we confess that we do not want to die. Death is scary, it means missing people and it means change. Walk with us, we pray. When death seems near, hold our hand. When we feel like giving up, strengthen us to live fully into ourselves for as long as we have on earth we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good news: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to the end. Hear the good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Hymns: Morning Has Broken, Great is Thy Faithfulness, What Wondrous Love is This, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
I Miss People
Restlessness
Lord God,
I am restless.
Trapped & yet without a chance to rest.
My brain thinks through a millions scenarios a minute.
I have a thousand unsaid conversations on my tongue.
Lord you know.
You know, how the Holy Spirit moves through us.
Moving through us to do something, and moving through us to rest.
Lord, when I read Psalm 23 to myself, I forget that there is a journey to the still waters.
Here I am, walking through the Valley of the Shadow of death. Feeling evil’s breath on my shoulder.
I feel it in the threat of violence when you ask someone to keep social distance or wear a mask. I feel it when in the hordes of conspiracies that come out to play with our minds.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
I shall fear no evil.
In the midst of my restless–they staff and thy rod shall comfort me: for they are the weapons of truth & trust.
I will work with the truth, I will trust on my neighbors. I will work on my own truth, and I will develop my own trust with transparency and compassion.
Lord I am restless.
Driven onward, because the time for rest has not yet arrived.
Stir me in the right way, so that I might find rest, I pray.
Amen.
katyandtheword 