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.
Feel free to use/adapt/Share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatytheWord”
@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.
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
Nativity, 2022 (Ukraine) by Irenaeus Yurchuk.
Longest Night Prayer
Jesus,
Sweet Baby Jesus
Born in the midst of a collapsing empire
Hidden in plain sight from everything and everyone official
When different factions of the religion
were all claiming to be the “truer” one
Each saying if you don’t worship our way
You don’t belong to God.
You were born when a Messiah
Seemed to be around every corner
Lamps were left on at night and demagogues and dynamic cult leaders
Were followed at whim, because people needed hope
And the gulf between who was poor and who was rich
The distinction between who was citizen and who was not
The taste in one’s mouth when people called one another
Foreigner, Outsider, or Different was sour and full of hate
Violence was everywhere
Children, the Poor, The Elderly, The Lonely, the Sex Worker
were Ignored or Forgotten
Laws were passed against anyone deemed Unclean in any way (oh my Queer siblings!)
Jesus Christ, you were born in a time
When no one was receiving proper healthcare
So people banged down your door
for a bit of healing
And my heart aches
With the familiarity, you could be born today
Is this why you have to be born into today’s world?
Have we forgotten why we need you?
Sometimes I wonder if you haven’t returned
Because we haven’t learned enough?
Heretic thought I know
But I sit in the hate and terror and worry Jesus
Jesus Christ, we need you. A baby
A sneak king full of healing and mischevious teachings of Grace
Jesus we need someone who will sit in the dirt with the marginal
and embody the Peace so much that we will sit in the dirt with you.
Sweet baby Jesus, though I know we picture angels, shepherds, & magi
I think that a baby born in the war-torn dark
might be the truth
Help us to sit with that, in the shortest day and longest night I pray.
Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
I like to think about
How Jesus was all about
the in-betweens
Because Jesus got
that some days
You wanted to be
in the the middle
of the racous noise
And others
the stillness
is what feeds
your soul
I remember the moment
in the pandemic
when all the introverts needed people
And I know there are many times
When I, and extrovert, was surrounded
by my family’s devices, and craved an empty house
The extremity can feel so holy can it not?
Alone in a field looking at the stars?
In the middle of a crowd, feeling lost in the humanity?
I love that all of this is blessed
Yes, be loud!
Yes be quiet!
Go, find your people!
Go, be alone!
Is this not how God makes things holy?
By blessing who we are
what we need
And how we do it?
Feel free to share/adapt/use with credit to Katy Stenta “Katyandtheword” tweet by Amy Colleen
Tweet by Amy Colleen @sweistwrites
So many Christmas carols can be divided into two categories “Will You Be Quiet” and “Let’s Get Loud.”
“Shush! The Herald Angles Will Now Perform
Muteness (x)
Let All Mortal Flesh Please Can It
If You Would Shut Your Pie Hold for 5 Seconds You would Hear What I Hear
(2) The Loud Ones
Virtuous Believers, Let Me Hear you Say Yay!
Happiness to the Earth!
Small Child Banging on Percussive Instrument.
Hasten to the Hilltop and Give it To’em
TRUMPETS! AND! LATIN! CHRIST THE LORD
Peace first perhaps
Then Hope, Love and Joy
Perhaps that’s why the Prince of Peace came…to show us this
Black angel with a brown hair in a bun bun holding a blue Peace banner, Brown (race unclear) angel with shoulder length black hair holding a gold Hope banner, Black angel with black hair in an Afro holding a blue love banner, white angel and with long curly blonde hair holding a blue Joy banner
Dr. Wil Gaffney “I have come to appreciate Advent so much more without the light/dark binary. Rather, I see darkness as the generative space in which the light is conceived and form which it is born. Both holy, both life-giving.”
Out of the Deep
the dark
the womb
…….
Out of the Silence
the non-speaking
the I-don’t know what to say
I have so many things to saybut I know nothing will fix this
………………
………………
………………
When I sit in the Dark…..
………………
………………
When I have no words….
………………
………………
When I cannot generate anything else…
………………
………………
(the Nothingness)
………………
………………
I remember…
Jesus came from this
Light,
Word,
Hope
Created from the Holy Rest,
Sabbath
………………
………………In the midst of like circumstances
………………
………………
This is how God Conceives
a Savior for us
Holy
able to sit
in the dark
silence
nothingness
war….chaos….loneliness
And be unproductive
With us…..
holy, holy, holy
Amen
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Dr. Wil Gaffney and Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
We Magi from Eastern Lands are
Following Heaven’s wisdom Afar
Valley, Fountain, Desert, Mountain
Following Yonder Star
O Star of Wonder, Star of Night
Star with Humble, Beauty Bright
Westward leading, Still Proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect Light
Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold, a crown for kin-dom come
King forever, ceasing never
Humbly born of grace
Frankincense to offer have I
Incense Trin’ty, Deity nigh
Prayer and Praising
We are raising
Worship them, God most high
Myrrh is mine
It’s bitter perfume breathes
A Life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in a stone cold tomb
Glorious, now, behold Him arise
King and God, Sav’r on High (Sacrifice)*
Alleluia, Alleluia
Heaven to earth replies
Feel free to use/share/adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
Explanations for some changes: 1. We don’t know how many “kings” there were, and if they were kings. 2. Orient is an out of date and racially charged term lumping a lot of groups together in an uneducated way. 3. Moor carries with it radicalized meanings and Valley/desert/mountain are straight out of scripture 4. I emphasized a little more of Jesus’s humble status 5. Men is changed to more inclusive language 6. God’s Trinity status and Jesus’s status in the Trinity is emphasized
*I am not sure how I feel about this line and substitutionary atonement theory. I waver, and I am definitely behind Jesus as Savior. On the other hand, we do not always have to be comfortable with everything, so I have offered two options.
Ah God
Lord Almighty
Creator of all things
I love the art of an unspecified pronoun
When it is said
Prepare Ye the way of the Lord
the implication is perhaps us
But, maybe not–maybe it is you who is preparing
Or maybe it is a Ye/We kind of thing
A royal you, an authorial you
One where the narrator says Ye–but means everyone
Because you know, I know. God
Not how to straighten paths, knock down mountain
or exalt any mountains
And though accessibility is totally my thing
literally, physically and spiritually
(Prepare Ye, can you hear the echo in your soul?)
I have a feeling the Kin-dom will
change the landscapes in ways I’ve not yet dreamed
All I know God is that I am not prepared
We think preparations are one thing
(money, power, war)
And from the way you entered the world
and the way I feel the echoes of Preparation in my heart..
You are the one who is going to have to lay the groundwork
Prepare Ye
the way
of the
Lord
O Come thou mighty and find
Ways to scatter the powerful n proud
And show your strength through grace and mercy
And exalt those who are humble and meek.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Those Who Seek
O Come O Comrade Emmanuel: Magnificat Version v. 2
katyandtheword 