katyandtheword

July 27, 2022July 27, 2022

Worry Prayers

God,

If worry were a string,

I’d be tied up.

If worry were my food.

I’d always eat, and never be filled.

If worry were my companion;

I’d be haunted til the end of my days.

But instead worry is my prayer–

allowing me to shape in sighs

and words and silence

all the things that tense my neck and shoulders

and fidget my fingers

and make me lose my keys and phone (again).

And because worry becomes my prayer–

you take it like a gift,

and don’t let it tie me up, or become my food, or my companion.

Instead you tame it, and teach me to live with it, and remind me that it is just one piece of life.

And that there are other things like kittens and clouds

and children blowing bubbles.

And sunshine, and raindrops to cool the summer days.

And you teach me to cry tears of relief,

and to call a friend,

and to turn the worry into prayer,

as many times as I need to.

So here’s a worrisome prayer–wrap it up for me Jesus,

and spin it with the Holy Spirit, so it loosens up around my soul I pray.

And be with me while I pray it please, God.

So I might breathe a little easier, I pray.

Amen.

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

If you want to support my work, follow my blog or please give to my Go Fund Me for Creative Writing (year 2) Doctorate or become a supporter with perks on Ko-Fi

July 22, 2022July 22, 2022

Prayer for the Changes

This is prayer for those who are making the changes

Who are doing the hard things.

Who are saying goodbye.

Who have accepted that death is a part of resurrection.

This is a prayer for all those who know, in their heart of hearts,

that normal isn’t real anyway.

That Jesus doesn’t hang out with the normal people in the first place,

and that the tiny hurts, that you are uncovering, are real, and valid, and it’s ok that they feel lonesome.

This is prayer for those who feel like its just one thing too many…

it that you feel like its your own failing: your too old or too young or too weird or too poor, too tired or just too whatever to handle it.

Because Jesus knows, she knows, and she will swoop down, like a mother bird, and wrap you her wings, and love you to her bosom, and hug you

til you remember you are too whatever, and still beloved,

somehow both and.

Here’s a prayer for moving on,

because we humans are made to transition all the time, and yet emotionally it is like the hardest thing to do

Why is that God?

And we are in the midst of some big Apocalyptic transition thing

From Pre-Pandemic to

Not Post pandemic.

But whatever it looks like

Here’s a prayer for that

For all of us

Help us as we do this thing, and love us through we pray.

Amen.

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

With thanks to RevGalBlogPals, the Board, the Writers, the Community

–Katy “Katyandtheword”

Pandemic Prayers

July 20, 2022July 20, 2022

Birthday Announcements

I’m 39

My birthday was yesterday officially.

It was a big workday as I run a farmer’s market at my church, and we have a zoom prayer group every Tuesday, plus my boys and some friends decided to sell water. It was a nice day full of people. A good contrast to the past couple years of isolation, outside and relatively safe.

I made my fundraising goal for year 2 of Creative Writing Doctorate in Public Facing Writing! Thank you everyone who shared, prayed and donated! All the info is here, and last year some people made bonus donations, so I guess I’ll try not to be shy about putting that opportunity out there: https://gofund.me/70a114f9

I start my Publishing Lab class in August and my final paper for the Power of Storytelling is due at the End of this week (it’s a manifesto, I’m manifesting it as best I can)

I am starting a Patron Program Here for as little as $3/month

https://ko-fi.com/katyandtheword/?hidefeed=true&widget=true&embed=true&preview=true

I still have 2 sermon Series available One based on Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering/Unbinding the Gospel and One based on Cole Arthur Riley’s This Here Flesh

I also have a Psalm 23 4 Week Series

I continue to write Narrative Lectionary Liturgy Resources.

I also saw that one of the major conduits for my prayers and friend groups revgalblogpals is shutting down which means I need to think hard about what I am doing to disseminate my prayers. Do I need a separate Facebook Page or is WordPress, Twitter and my personal Facebook enough?

Anyway that’s a life update on my writing. If you want to join my mailing list or follow me feel free 🙂

Thanks for Praying with me

Katy “KatyandtheWord”

July 17, 2022

Abortion is Healthcare, A Prayer

God, can we talk?
You and I know
that
Abortion is healthcare

America doesn’t believe in healthcare
We ignore it
stop it,
charge ludicrous amounts for it

We create “Companies” and give them authority to have
“feelings” about it
“We feel like you don’t need that medication”

Ha, right

And, then, finally make it illegal

America doesn’t do healthcare
It’s that simple
and that hard

So I guess we need to start at the very beginning

What is healthcare God?

Because I don’t think we’ve even started, yet

Help us
Care
About
Health
Please.

Or to Care
Help us.
Selah

Amen.

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

July 14, 2022July 14, 2022

Thank God for Nonbinary People, A Prayer of Praise

Thank God for our Nonbinary* siblings!

The both/and

The not really,

the sort of

The people of twilights

sunrises and sunsets

The today I do this, and tomorrow I’ll do that.

The ones who escape easy definition,

and yet are so definitely

sie

them.

Here’s to those who help us to understand aspects of God,

That we never understood before,

male and female Both in the image of God.

Mother and Father God.

God of many breasts, God almighty, God of many mounds.

Here is to the enbys, whose sense of fashion is superior,

and yet we still don’t know how to market to them

(silly commercial straight/cis, whatever people)

Here is the the nonbinary people,

beautiful, perfect, made in God’s image.

God bless you.

Thank you.

I hope you are affirmed and blessed,

today and everyday.

Amen.

*(If you need to research to start understanding being nonbinary, please start researching being nonbinary and use queer and nonbinary resources so here is a place to start)

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

Any & All errors on this prayer are my own and I take full responsibility for them as an ally who is still learning.

If you want to support my work please give to my Go Fund Me for Creative Writing (year 2) Doctorate or become a supporter with perks on Ko-Fi

July 13, 2022July 14, 2022

Multeous God (yes I made up that Word)

God,
I love to consider the stars
That I am inconsequential
Ok not really,
but there is something comforting that I am small
in a great huge universe
That there are many humans and we collectively matter
more than my small mistakes.

Jesus Christ, I love the weather
That I cannot accurately tell you if it will rain
or hurricane 4 hour from now
Much less what it will be like tomorrow
It keeps me humble in all the right ways.

Holy Spirit, I do not always love my body
it needs food and water all the time
and sleep, and exercise;
its so needy, and I’m not very good at listening to it.
I don’t know why I don’t appreciate it like I do the stars
and the weather.

I guess because it’s mine and I’m supposed to be in charge it.
But you and I know that it is really yours God, and that it is still
imperfect and as unpredictable as the weather
and as colossal as a universe.

God I wonder at all the systems of the world
That you have made them just so.
And maybe be ok with the fact that
You were not so into perfection huh?
You were more into variety and beauty and multiplicity.

How beautiful is the fact that you are a multeous God
(Yes I made that word up for you God)

I love you,
Thank You

Amen.

Feel free to use/Adapt/Share with Credit To Pastor Katy Stenta

And if you like my work please consider contributing to my Go Fund Me. I am only $235 away from this year’s goal for my Creative writing degree. Also you can sign up for regular liturgy or extra prayers here: https://ko-fi.com/katyandtheword

July 13, 2022

Publishing Again: Call Me Mara

Mara: A Bitter Prayer

July 11, 2022

A Prayer for the Church National Gatherings (just had or having)

This is a prayer for the church government people

NOTE: not for the people who try to make the government into the CHURCH (that is a imprecation that I will save for another day)

This is a prayer for the church government people

A prayer for those who work or even spend their precious vacation time in often windowless rooms, or staring at screens to discern the Holy Spirit–

Truly God, when human beings agree with one another, it is a miracle,

Alleluia.

And when we disagree,

When definitions, get called into question,

when the same white man stands up yet again, to say that he feels left out

Lord, have mercy on the church, and all those who patiently listen

And bless all the tech gurus, the behind the scenes organizers, the administrators who make it happen.

God bless those in the church who are wonky, and those who will never be, but have taken the time to be a part of this process.

And God bless all those who have always been outnumbered, or at least outshouted in the spaces: the People of Color, the LGBTQIA siblings, the young, the otherwise disenfranchised.

Jesus I know you hear them the most, and that always, always, the more we can listen to the marginalized, the better the church is,

because the church was never meant to be a hegemony (or perhaps even rules by Rogers Rule of Order)

God bless those who stand their ground;

who don’t get muddled by mis-founded accusations,

the ignored, forgotten, or glossed over

after hours of sweat, work, and love have been put into this church government thing.

May there be naps, chocolate and hugs in their future.

God bless the church, which is not the governances,

but needs government, because we are only human and know no other way.

Bless our gatherings,

keep us safe.

Help us to listen better, each and every time,

Expand our inclusion and compassion,

flip the tables that need to be flip,

scatter the money across the floor if we need to;

and remind us to love one another as we go we pray.

Amen.

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

July 11, 2022

Not Oppressed, A Prayer

God
How stupid are humans
That we have to claim
Christians are oppressed
To get attention

Is it bc we know
Your the God of the oppressed?

Oh Jesus
Who weeps
Who wants to protect
The broken under your wings

Tell the Pharaohs,
Street Corner Prayers,
Herods & Warmongers

To shut up
(a word we gloss
Differently in the Bible)

And if they don’t listen
Shut them up
Anyway

Do your thing God
For the oppressed,
Enslaved, orphaned,
Widowed
Care for the children.

Do your Prince of Peace thing
Because surely
That is the way
To help the oppressed

And we Christians,
We will muddle along
Definitely not oppressed
And hopefully
Helping the oppressed
Too

Lead the way Prince of Peace.
Lead the way.
Amen!

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

July 6, 2022July 6, 2022

Doctorate in Creative Writing in Public Theology Update

Hello Folks,

I am about halfway through my Doctorate in Creative Writing Doctorate in Ministry in Public Theology. The degree is through Pittsburgh Seminary, and my colleagues have been truly amazing!

The whole deal is I take a lot of classes in a plethora of writing and storytelling things, I learn how to publish, I pick a final project and I publish the project.

I just finished being in Pittsburgh for my 2/4 in person classes and signed up for my publication lab class. I have turned in 3/4 papers for that class which was “Storytelling in a time such as this.” (The last paper is a manifesto on why I write, which may even be fun, I’m hoping to get the bulk of it done next week when 2/3 kiddos are in sleep away “not scary” Bible Camp)

I am still writing prayers and liturgies and contemplating making a subscription model thing for the fall?!? Where some prayers are free, but more content is available to those who subscribe, but we shall see. (I really don’t know if its worth it, etc.)

I am also very, very close to my goal for this year’s tuition. I don’t know if you recall but I’m trying not to take on debt for this 3 and 1/2 year program which means I’m using my continuing ed funds, self funding and fundraising and cutting costs as much as possible to make it happen.

At this point I have $2, 265 of my $2,500 goal, which is really close and great! I’m hoping to close this out so I can stop worrying about this year and move on to next year.

If you are interested in helping me to cross the finish line I appreciate any and all help. Data shows that I get 100ish views a day (which is amazing) so even if you can contribute $5, $10 or $20 I bet we can knock out that just under $300 in no time: More of the details of my journey are also available on my go fund me page as well. https://gofund.me/70a114f9

I appreciate all the support, shares and all those of you who pray with me!

Katy “KatyandtheWord” https://gofund.me/70a114f9