Because I see the face of terrified College students of Brown People with Tattoos
Echoing Those of Separated Families at the border
I am still haunted by a picture of their jewelry and crosses piled like Jewish loot during the Holocaust
And the Fragile Gaza peace has been broken
and so I pray Protection For the families
And for the Soldiers in Yemen And around the world
As OPSEC is said but not Enacted
Though truly My heart Longs for Peace I pray for a language beyond bombs and threats and bullying
and even tariffs
Staunch Pacifist that I am
As the budget for food and Veterans are cuts but the Military remains bloats Military Industrial Complex Indeed Lord, I cry
And God, I cry out for all of those with Cancer longing for Treatment whose funding was cut The researchers who have been sustained I know that God You work to sustain All those with infirmities I pray that you will work To heal all infirmities
Open the ears and hearts of those who need to understand Melt those with hearts and brains of stone
Melt them Reverse their Decisions Transform things so Completely That we do not even Recognize things
For God you know When we pray for Health We are praying for a healthy World– Not for just ourselves But for me, my neighbor, my enemy to all be transformed into (almost unrecognizable) signs of mercy Signs of the Kin(g)dom And so I pray For a Forgiveness of Debts That I cannot comprehend
For Food for all people In a Dailyness of Bread
For the coming of your Glory Which of course will be in Mercy
And for Your Kin(g)dom Come Your Will Be done Amen, Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”
Psalm 41:1-3
1 Happy are those who consider the poor;* (marginal/oppressed) the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble. 2 The Lord protects(guards them/covenants with them) them and keeps them alive;(like a. shepherd guards a sheep, like a sacred duty, like a hedge of protection) they are called happy in the land. (It will be a gifting, a granting) You do not give them up to the will of their enemies. 3 The Lord sustains them on their sickbed; (a sustain, supporting, comforting, stability and continuity)) in their illness you heal all their infirmities.* (Healed and transformed, reversed, turn over a new leaf) The grace and mercy of God will be through compassion.
God I think of the blessings Integral Individuals of Integrity Hearts without Splintering Uapologitically Following God of Empathy and Love
The Walking Working Stay Awake Disciples
Always Looking of the Prodigal –Which means the lost, marginal not yet accounted for Among us. One Might say Those Who need to be still included in the covenant
The ones God is calling To their imago DEI*
Your Precepts Are Alive In them
Even when So-called Princes Techno-crats Billinonaires “The Powerful” Plot
My soul clings To the Word of God Which feeds me
Even when I confess to Fading Away With Being Broken By The Sorrow of the World I remember Your Word God
Which Established All And
(Thank God Almighty)
Existed Before humanity
And our fights Over politics Governances And even the concept of money
Then I meditate On The Wondrous Pieces Of God
Teach me your ways God Deep than Human definitions Divine Love Liberation Tzadik**
If comforts me, Jesus Especially when I am hot with indignation from evil –which is often these days Because there is a lot of stupid evil in the world
But you are my Sweet inheritance Please hurry To put your Sweet Holy Spirit Honey tasting Good News in My mouth
Tasting the Path Of the Precepts That I eternally Follow I Pray
Piecing my way To a Promised Peace That Proclaims Amen From Sunday to Sunday
Amen Amen
*DEI can also stand for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
*justice, equity, loving-kindness: covenantal care for others especially the marginal
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
I admit I was relieved When someone said Let’s go to a sanctuary Come Let us God And Seek God
For I need to rest my weary soles soul something somewhere
And my house is way too messy
And before I knew it My soles soul were standing at your gates
And we were knocking on heavens door And I realized
that God’s Kin-dom is unlike any other
Binding together people who I had never seen or known
And my heart leapt To my throat and I wanted to scream cry and lay down and rest and never get up again For here is a place where everyone would come up and be welcomed
There are no locks in heaven
and as I put my hand On your door my soles felt the ground itself welcome me And gratitude Spilled from my lips Unbeckoned
And Judgement Came And it sounded like this “Peace will radiate from you, It will be part and parcel of your homes, your walls, your cities
It is promised Even in our messy houses cities churches governances countries and streets
And that peace will hum from our throats And we will sing greet and radiate to one another “Peace be within you”
And so We will go And seek Good and Sanctuary
For the sake of this needed Sanctuary That my soul and the itchy Soles of my feet ache for I will keep seeking it
Tears roll down the face of Starlette Thomas, of Bowie, Md., as she holds a chunk of pavement from the Black Lives Matter mural, Monday, March 10, 2025, as the mural begins to be demolished in Washington. “I needed to be here to bear witness,” says Thomas, who was present at the 2020 George Floyd protests. “For me the Black Lives Matter sign etched in stone was a declaration of somebodyness and to watch it be undone in this way was very hurtful. To walk away with a piece of that, it means it’s not gone. It’s more than brick and mortar.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Image
When faced with Divinity We find your Equity it has ranges upon ranges like mountains covering all heights and elevations- and yet somehow accessible to all
Confession: Your Justice contains so much Mercy It cuts into me with a Deepness that I cannot comprehend it
There is no word For your Kind of Love It Overshadows all else
Sometimes I feel like I need protection From the holiness That I will be blotted out in your Presence
Glory Spills out and Touches me
And I am in Awe
And Realize all the Systems of Injustice and Hopelessness that surround me
And I know In that Deepness of My Very Self That I cannot Touch you
Without being Tranformed Transfigured
Changed
(And God do you know how much we humans Love change? Not much)
But then.. You come and protect me From your own Glory
And Divinity With ..
Your very Self Offering Divine
Shadow
Protection
Shade
A moment to collect and Be My Self
And whilst You Shadow me From You
I can see God’s Loving-Kindness-Mercy-CovenantalParentalLoveFromtheWomb And the Whisper Comes All Will Be Well Listen AllWillBeWell
Based on Psalm 36 and Luke 9
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
Haloed Jesus in a white outfit surrounded by Haloed two figures in Red robes, with three kneeling disciples. All Figures are brown skinned, the painting rendered is older and somewhat chipped. It is credited to Solomon Raj in India and can be found here https://globalworship.tumblr.com/post/110604805435/transfiguration-global-art
Call to Worship: This day is marvelous Because it is the Lord’s doing What day is that? Today, is the the day that the marginal stone, that the builder’s rejected became chief cornerstone for equity This is the day, this must be the day that the Lord has made Let us rejoice and be glad in it
Call to Worship We must recount the deeds of the Lord We give thanks to God who has become Salvation Salvation and Liberation, for are they not the same thing? God is marvelous in our eyes This is the day that the Lord has made Let us rejoice and be Glad in it.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that your resurrection is too hard to believe. We confess that some days it is hard to talk about the good news, that sometimes the message seems to get lost. Help us to live in such love and relationship that we can understand the Good News we pray.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus, we confess that we are perplexed. Your love is too deep for us to understand. Teach us to be an Easter people we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Here the Good News, Jesus loved us, came for us, died for us and is the Resurrected living Christ, thus we know in our Hearts the Good News of Easter: In Jesus Christ, we are Forgiven. Alleluia. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News, all sins have already been washed away, we have the promise of the resurrection and so we can sing the Good News to one another. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven, Alleluia, Amen.
Prayer of the Day/Dedicaiton: God, we are an Easter People, and we get to celebrate it every Sunday. May we go into the world with the promise of Resurrection in our hearts we pray. Amen.
Children’s Story: Summarize Velveteen Rabbit. (Being made more real/human by God’s Love)
April 13 Lent 6 Passion/Palm Sunday Luke 19:29-44 Psalm 118:19-23 Triumph Entry, Jesus Weeps Lost Peace? God weeps with you
Call to Worship Let God open the gates of Equity Whenever God opens them, I give thanks When God opens the gates Justice will enter I thank God who answers prayers—and becomes Liberation The stone that the builders reject will become the chief cornerstone, it is God’s doing God’s steadfast love endures forever, Praise God!
Call to Worship When God opens the Gates, we shall know Equity, Justice and Liberation will flow in the form of Lovingkindness All that seemed marginal and rejected before, will become marginal In God’s world, everything will be upside down, and peace will finally be prioritized We love God who is all about love, salvation and redemption. How can you no praise that kind of God? Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that we get tangled up in our words, thinking that this story is all about judgement instead of empathy. We confess that too often we are looking for the bad guys, instead of the purveyors of peace. Forgive us, teach us how to plant, sow and understand peace we pray. Amen.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus, we confess that sometimes we want to weep without stopping. We feel stuck in the Good Friday moment, and we do not feel like a resurrection people at all. Sit with us when we cry, and teach us how to get up, walk and take the next steps we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News: Nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ, nothing in the present, past or future. No angels, demons, laws, rules, governments, powers, principalities, churches or anything else. So hear and know in your hearts the Good, Good News. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God send us into the world, remembering that Jesus became fully human to walk and be with us. May we try to be fully present in love with one another too. Amen.
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