@Kim@tech.lgbt in Norway, ‘up and not crying is a not uncommon response to “how’s it going” type questions, and I fell like that’s a very reasonable standard to hold oneself to especially nowadays
I have experienced so many longest nights… the scary longest night of childhood– too scared to cry out for help in the dark too scared not to The sheer powerlessness of not knowing what to do
The longest night of giving birth the pain, the trying to breath, trying to talk everyone trying to help, feeling like no one is trying to help I’ve not been Mary, but Good God the pressure I have experienced that longest night
I have experienced the length of ten millions hours Of the bedside wait for a beloved one to die imminent, and yet too long the wondering if staying is the best thing to do or not, the talking without response– the simultaneous hope that they know you are present but that they don’t, because then they aren’t feeling any pain
I know the powerlessness of longest night moments of parenthood Of sitting on the couch laughing so you don’t cry Because you don’t know what to do next, as your child is anguished and alone– And you Cry right in front of them “I am here” As they are crying about how alone they feel
I have felt the chilliness of the Longest Night of being alone– how cold it feels to have no friends what it means to be laughed at every time you speak shunned, and ostracized The awkwardness of being your neurodivergent self And realizing there is no other way to be
And then again during the isolation of Covid where we all, kept each other safe briefly
Before all the wars resumed
I have not experienced every longest night, but I have had to pick what bill not to pay I have stand in the grocery line with WIC Praying that all of my credit cards do not bounce I have had long payment plans with the IRS, And preached to help the poor knowing that I am actually being self-referential
When I think of the Darkest night of the Soul and Jesus, with his guts spilled out on the cross I feel like I understand a little more when I had to relearn how to walk how to eat how to defecate after surgery–and feel the worst pain ever to recover (And it makes me wonder about If Jesus walked to Emmaus because he had to relearn it, And if he didn’t eat, because he couldn’t yet)
The longer I live The more I understand the Longest Nights and I think, we need time to sit in silence grief loneliness charity
with one another Because humans experience Longest nights And I believe God sits with us and cradles us and sings us lullabies until the dawn arrives again.
Happy Solstice The Shortest Day of the Longest Fucking Year of Our Lives
Please feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
“Infant so tender and mild” implies the existence of a chewy and spicy baby
The existence of rhyme schemes must make God giggle sometimes
Of course newborn babes are mild
They cannot even lift their own heads with their wee little necks… It doesn’t mean
That they are not mighty with their lungs and that you as a parent Do no jump every time they snort or sniffle In a weird way to check and make certain they are still alive.
I also want to point out God That mild Is a word that is conspicuously absent in the Bible
No one
absolutely no one is described as mild in the Nativity texts it is just a word that describes all newborns
And is probably the opposite of who Mary* is Please note every time someone asks about Mary’s mildness I want to yell out it is because it rhymes with CHILD that is why Mary is described as mild.”
Why do we think Mary was meek and mild? She agreed to bear a child out of wedlock in defiance of her culture. She sang a song of liberation and freedom for the oppressed and unjustly treated. She made a rough journey to Bethlehem when heavily pregnant and another to Egypt with an infant (note evidence says it was probably a pre-schooler which may have been WORSE). She was a revolutionary, a fitting mother for her rebel son.
I am comforted in a season where I do not feel mild that this mildness is nothing more than a myth.
@KaitlynSchiess Every Discussion of “Biblical Womanhood” should include the fact that in Luke 1, two pregnant woman celebrate their new motherhood by passionately discussing the coming overthrow of every earthly empire
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Support my Work! I am EVEN NOW writing my Dissertation in Creative Writing as a Public Theologian and VERY close to my goal to graduate this year! Every contribution helps no matter how big or small! https://gofund.me/554d36e3
Dr. Wil Gafney “Christmas is not Canceled. Festive Christmas celebration and public displays are. But the Feast of the Incarnation will continue to be observed. There will be church services for the local residents. Tourism is strongly discouraged.” Layla Darwish: Most average Americans doesn’t even know Christmas is cancelled in Bethlehem.
Christ Incarnates Christ always comes that is the promise
That is what I said when I took my ordination question I said that I believe that Christ will come and every knee shall bow
And someone stood and asked me How?
Aren’t you worried about Universalism (Worried that Jesus might save everyone?? HA!)
And I said I don’t know It is not my job to understand it
Just to believe it and to declare the good news
That even in the midst of war and rubble and horrific devastation where humans dehumanize one another Christ will keep his promise
I believe that somehow Christ is still with us and will be incarnate for everyone
Because the Bible says Good News for All People All people will stream Every Knee shall bow
I did not see any asterisks or footnotes
I did not see any guns or calls for coercion or force
Last I saw Jesus said to kneel to one another And wash each other’s feet
(I have suspicions about this is why we will be kneeling to be besides the Christ who is already kneeling to serve us)
But right now I am just hanging on to the faith that Jesus is here And Coming
Because it’s not my job to bring Jesus
Or to bring anyone to him God has already done all of that work
Jesus is coming Hear the Good News Alleluia, Amen.
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We made gingerbread men cookies They were imperfect each one different they bent and slanted from handling– in or out of the oven, But when we laid them out to cool
I thought “they look so beautiful, like they are dancing”
Perspective I amazing isn’t it? I wonder what our beauty to God, looks like.
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@LauraKConnell “The traumatized brain is not open to exploration and wonder. It is imprisoned by black and white thinking, the need for certainty, and a desire to get things over with.
Good God, who whispers comfort in the midst of the chaos–
Holy Spirit, who inspires art not for any capitalistic gain but because humans need to co-create with God
Jesus, Sweet, baby Jesus who came in the form of a baby
I am reminded of all the ways you invite us to wonder
You are the God who compares us to the stars
You are the Holy Spirit who is the wild goose, heavenly dove squawking pigeon
You are the Savior who almost always answered a question with a question
And told stories mysterious stories to unfold in our heart differently according to our experiences
You are the God of openings trying to clear the way to tell us that it is ok to heal our traumas first
to let go of our black and white and the permission to sit wait and linger without fear
to look into the eyes of a baby Savior
and wonder…
Jesus comes to save us from our trauma so we can wonder once again– this is why prescribed beliefs is against my religion
Thank sweet wonder-full baby Jesus Amen
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta, Trauma quote from Laura K.Connell
I think that our Christmas tree looks remarkably like the Grinch one this year
A Decorated (unevenly and crowded) Christmas tree, lit, with a red star on top
When our eldest was little approximately 3 The Grinch Who Stole Christmas–the 22 minute cartoon became their favorite movie; it was one of the few things they watched on TV They would watch it on repeat (You’ve all had that DVD right the one you were tempted to hide? What do parents do now with streaming…the advantages of disks)
This meant that I started to read it to them every night as well– It was not long until I had the entire book more or less memorized.
Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot… but the Grinch, who lived just North of Whoville Did Not
I am spending my first Christmas not working for a church in 17 years The isolation is tough, I am not feeling Grinchish, but I am feeling a little North of Whoville
All the things I unconsciously hold together as Christmas are not there which is hard, because tradition are important rituals help to make us human and keep us rooted
And though I long for a church that is more flexible open and able to communicate to the world at large
It doesn’t mean that I do not miss all the pieces that I cherished About leading through Advent
All the carefully chosen pieces that others might not have noticed but I knew were full of meaning and nudging people to open their hearts to teach about the full humanity, humility and the wonderful accessible salvific work of Jesus
But I also know that Christmas doesn’t come from what we do or say It comes all the same
And though I’m between jobs and making new traditions and trusting in God for these next steps Somehow or other Christmas [will come] all the same as it has come, every time before
In pandemics, wars and God knows what else and though they are foregoing Christmas in the West Bank in solidarity with Gaza, and I agree I think, somehow or other I have to believe
Christ is here all the same.
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katyandtheword 