Procrastination as a Spiritual Practice
The Lord is My Shepherd: Sheep Scale Prayer
End of My Rope Prayer
God of Gaps Prayer
A Week of Hard Questions (Anti-Racism)
Here is the Link for Pandemic Prayers and Resources: Top Posts are “In an Abundance of Caution” “The Lord is My Shepherd: What kind of Sheep are You” and “Masks: A Prayer”
Under Construction: prayers and resources will be added as they are written
Theme: God Incarnate: God with us, God for us, God among(st) us
Alt Theme: Waiting for God to Show up, God is always on time
God with us: A God who is always with us, not obscured by place or time, God’s covenant to always be our God and God we are always
God for us: A helper, merciful God, a God of action (not just promises)
God among(st) us: Advent, the God who loves our humanity, our very selves, Holy Spirit & prophecies, Emmanuel
Also I propose you start Advent as early as you want
God With Us
Sept 13
Creation and Fall: Bulletin & Confessions in the Garden of Eden
Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17, 3:1-8
Luke 11:4 Opt Psalm 18:31-36
Sept 20th
God’s Promise to Abraham Bulletin and Sermon & Consider Prayer
Genesis 15:1-6 alt Gen 17: 1-8
Luke 3:8 Opt. Psalm 8
Sept 27th
God Works through Joseph: God of the Rainbow Coat , Bulletin 1 with sermon by Rev Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl Bulletin 2 by Pastor Katy Stenta
Genesis 37:3-8, 17b-22, 26-34; 50:15-21
Luke 6:35 Opt. Psalm 105: 1-5, 16-22
Oct 4
The Promise of Passover: Sermon & Bulletin 1 by Rev. Dr Barbara Hedges-Goettl, Bulletin 2 by Pastor Katy Stenta, Passover Prayer
Exodus 12:1-13; 13:1-8
Luke 22: 14-20 Opt Psalm 105: 31-36
God For us: God in the presence of the Pastor: Change from always being with us—God realized that we aren’t always aware that God is with us, so God became for us
Oct 11
Golden Calf: Bulletin by Pastor Katy Stenta (includes Communion Prayer)
Exodus 32:1-14
Luke 23:34 Opt Psalm 97:6-9
Oct 18
God Answers Hannah (Extended Advent Opt 1) Bulletin by Pastor Katy & Imprecation: Shatter Them
1 Samuel 1:9-11, 19-20; 2:1-10
Luke 1:46-55 Opt Psalm 96
October 25
God’s Promise to David: Bulletin by Pastor Katy and Missing God Prayer
2 Samuel 7:1-17
Luke 1:30-33 Opt. Psalm 89:1-6
Nov 1
God’s Care for the Widow bulletin 1 by Pastor Katy Stenta & bulletin by Rev Dr Barb Hedges-Goettl
1 Kings 17:1-16 [17-24]
Luke 4:24-26 Opt Psalm 146: 5-10
Nov 8
Jonah and God’s Mercy: Bulletin by Pastor Katy Stenta, Bulletin by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl, Jonah Prayer
Jonah 1:1-7; 3:1-10 [4:1-11]
Luke 18:13 Opt Psalm 88:3-7, 13
Nov 15
God Calls Isaiah: Bulletin Prayers by Pastor Katy Stenta & full Bulletin by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl, Sermon by Pastor Katy (tech glitches but ok)
Isaiah 6:1-8
Luke 5:8-10 Opt Psalm 138
God Amongst Us: Compiled and Themed Resources from Katy are all available here: Extended Advent Full On Resources: Bulletin Prayers, Advent Candles, Daily Devotional Calendar, + Videos to add to digital resources Please donate if they help!
Nov 22 (Extended Advent Option 2)
God’s Promises a New Covenant
Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28 then 31:31-34
Luke 22:19-20 Opt. Psalm 89:31-37
Nov 29
Daniel’s Hope in God
Daniel 6:6-27
Luke 23:1-5 Opt Psalm 91:1-6, 11-13
Dec 6 (Regular Advent)
Joel: God’s Promised Spirit
Joel 2: 12-13, 28-29
Luke 11:13 Opt Psalm 139:1-12
Dec 13
Spirit of the Lord Upon Me
Isaiah 61:1-11
Luke 4:16-21 Opt Psalm 143: 4-10 or Psalm 139: 13-18 (this works next week too)
Dec 20
Jesus’s Birth Announce
Luke 1:26-45 [46-56]
Psalm 113 Opt Psalm 139: 13-18
Dec 24
Birth of Jesus
Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]
Psalm 96
Dec 25
Shepherds’ Visit
Luke 2:8-20
Psalm 123:1-2
Dec 27
Simeon and Anna
Luke 2:21-38
Psalm 131
Lord God, I don’t know how you built us so that we will forever do one step above the hardest task before us to avoid doing that hardest thing.
But I know that cleaning the house, so I don’t have to write a difficult email…..
Or suddenly figuring out how to pitch another really important idea when I’m supposed to be working on the one in front of me is a uniquely human quirk.
Lord, I am practicing being thankful for the laundry that gets done when I’m avoiding something else.
I am thinking of the number of times I have prayed, desperately or defiantly because I don’t have the energy to do anything else at that moment.
How about you God? Do you save the most horrible tasks for the end? Did you play with judgement for a millennia before it suddenly struck you that you could delay the apocalypse by coming down to earth with/as Jesus’s humanself?
Are you breathing life into this grace period. This moment of waiting between Christ’s ascendancy and the second coming to save every last soul you can? Could procrastinating be in all of humanity’s favor?
My favorite is when I put off a task so long, that it feels too big to ever accomplish, and then I finally must, must do it and it takes mere minutes and does not in fact wound my soul.
Were you holding your breath in heaven, hoping not to have to send your only son, only to come down and realize that you love being human and 33 years is not that long to have after all?
Dear God, procrastinating is not always the best decision, but sometimes I take in the beauty that you designed us to give ourselves time to process things emotionally, that you allowed us to fill that time with more enjoyable or other important things.
And I ponder how, in the creativity of the Holy Spirit of procrastination, we are made in the image of God.
And I offer up to God my procrastinating as a form of thanks and praise.
Thank you God.
Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
For More Mundane Prayers: For Surviving Day to Day Life click here
Here are Pandemic Prayers and Resources: Top Posts are “In an Abundance of Caution” “The Lord is My Shepherd: What kind of Sheep are You” and “Masks: A Prayer”
God, remind me to steal some time.
To look at the clouds
to be bored
to take the scenic route…
Tell me how it is ok if the house is messier than I’d like, that it’s good to claim the smaller victories of keeping everyone fed and (at least starting out) in clean clothes…
Remind me that Jesus stole time all the time!
Napping in the storm, snuggling a fig tree, sneaking off to a lake
When you lead me beside the (sort of) still waters of a small lake beach on a stolen afternoon, help me to embrace the experience.
When the power or internet is out and I’m forced to relax…
If the best I can muster in thought is half written sentences…
When time is given, as a gift, remind me that it isn’t stolen.
Remind me that Holy Spirit herself might be intervening.
Whisper to me that I am beloved. And that my worth is not based upon my productivity.
I’ll never forget my first year in full time ministry when there was a snowstorm every single Wednesday of November, forcing me to slowdown.
Sometimes, I need that reminder God.
And if I need to take the longer way to Jerusalem, if I need to mull and mutter and forge out some time to relax before I do the next hard thing, that is okay.
Remind me, God, that you built me, and all humans to be this way.
And that Jesus knew full well that breaks for food, laughter with friends, and time with family are essential to our humanity, and Jesus was indeed fully human.
Rest is essential, Sabbath is commanded, time is precious–let me live these truths in whatever way I can, I pray.
Amen
Many thanks to the continuing inspiration of the Nap Ministry: https://thenapministry.wordpress.com/ (who you can also follow on twitter)
Feel free to use/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
More Pandemic Prayers and Resources: Top Posts are “In an Abundance of Caution” “The Lord is My Shepherd: What kind of Sheep are You” and “Masks: A Prayer”
The Lord is our shepherd,
I shall not want.
(1) The Good Shepherd reminds me that the silly sheep belong to him, and that Jesus probably stuck his tongue out to his disciples and friends.
(2) God leadeth me beside still waters, so that, at times, I am a contented sheep.
(3) When I am a frazzled sheep, overwhelmed and tired, God restoreth my soul.
(4) Even when I want to hide my meager sheep’s head in a bucket, or wander away from the fold–God sends the Holy Spirit to lead me back on the path of righteousness.
(5) And when the path wearies, God gives us a deep and uncompromising sleep, for The Good Shepherd’s name’s sake.
(6) Like a sheep, I am clothed in the beauty your mercy; your rod and your staff comfort me. You surround me with love.
(7) Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, half hiding half jumping at shadows, you are with me.
(8) You anoint my head with oil, my cup overfloweth, and I pant in anticipation of the feast awaiting all of your sheep in heaven. Even in the presence of my enemies, you bless food so it somehow still tastes good.
(9) Some days I leap for joy, remembering that goodness and mercy will chase after me, and someday I will be able to gambol in the house of the Lord, my shepherd, til the end of my life.
So we give thanks to you our Lord and Shepherd, the silly sheep, the resting sheep, the frazzled sheep, the hidden sheep, the exhausted sheep. Help us to see the sheep who are clothed in grace and the sheep who are jumping at shadows, the sheep who hunger for the kingdom and the sheep who remember to leap in joy. Remind us that there is no wrong kind of sheep, and that we, each and every one of us, belong to the shepherd.
In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Permission to use or adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
God, I never realized that historic events aren’t really one thing. Instead they are the combination of humanity’s foibles boiling over to the point of historicity.
I didn’t even know historicity was a real word until today.
And what will bubble up next? Australian Fires, Hurricanes, Derechos, Post Offices. Lord I’m only human, how can I process all this? Or maybe I can’t.
Did racism cause the Black Lives Matter marches and sometime riots? What ingredients meshed exactly right to finally give people the exact things they needed to get out and protest: racism, yes, but also poverty and pandemics, boredom and bereavement, time and trouble.
These sort of things come from the perfect balance, so that the risk you are taking is the best risk possible.
God, I’ve been thinking a lot about risk. Of Hagar the enslaved who risked raising her son in the desert, about Joseph the imprisoned who risked interpreting dreams of his cellmates, of Rahab of Canaan who defied expectations to help Joshua.
What is the perfect risk for us as Christians right now? As we look at this particularly moment in history, how do we decided how to risk, and who to risk, and why?
And how do we risk for ourselves and our community, and yet still practice grace towards all the rest of humanity–who are having to make the same decisions in different circumstances.
Truly we are all weathering the same storm: but in different boats, with different tools and different gifts.
Really God, is now the time to discern gifts? I mean, really and truly God, I want you to know that now is a truly risky time to discern our gifts.
Selah!
Remind us, it’s worth the time.
Black Lives Matter
Remind us, We are worth the time.
Safety first
Remind us, You are worth the time.
God of the poor, the sick and the marginal.
And teach us how to risk in this historic moment, in the best, kindest most gracious way we can.
I pray this with all those who are risking right now. Help me stand with them I pray.
Amen.
Permission to Use or Adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
God, creator and sustainer, let’s have a conversation.
Because this is what the end of my rope looks like.
This place, this life, this me is what the end of my rope looks like, and I don’t like it.
It is grumpy state, where nothing seems to go right, and every to-do least causes extreme weariness. I am tattered and torn, and have but wisps of faith to–not really grab onto, but to try to somehow re-spin together.
Is this how it felt for Jacob and Esau when they were squabbling nonstop about who was better? Did it feel like the walls were closing in from the boredom
Is this how if felt for Abraham and Sarah as they wondered around the desert for years, lonely and without a community?
Is this how it felt when Moses confronted the burning bush and plaintively said, I don’t wanna and asked if anyone else could do the tasks that laid before him?
Is this how Jesus felt when he neared Jerusalem again and again, only to turn around and hit another town first?
The squabbling children, the constant re-negotiation of what it feels like every single piece of the day. The endless, timeless, mundane tasks of every day. Largely unbroken, with interesting or fun things to do or people to see.
This terrible place of loving my life, and feeling like every piece of it makes me want to scream. The knowledge that there is much to be thankful for, and yet being stuck in a state of ingratitude.
And my kids seem to cry at the drop of a hat. And God know my grumpiness is not helping.
Where is a fig tree I can curse? Letting my poisoned words be soaked in harmlessly by the tree.
Where is the storm I can scream “Shut up!” to, in such a way the wind can whip away my words (and germs) so they become muted and dispersed by their surroundings.
Where is my peaceful boat where I can hide in the middle of a peaceful lake next to a peaceful mountain where I can shelter and pretend I have all the answers to the world’s problems: the racism, the ignorance, the pandemic, the poverty, the exhaustion? I miss a retreat where I can engage in book studies or conferences or rest and pretend for a moment that the answers lay out there.
Are there answers out there? Is this the wrestling Jacob did with God? Is this the struggle Abraham had as he looked at the emptiness of his land and his family and tried to take cold comfort from the stars?
Is this the grieving boredom Jesus fought with as he scrapped one way of telling his message and rose again, once again, to try to give his gifts to a disdainful humanity.
Lord God, I am at the end of my rope, and I am weary. Send your Holy Spirit: to inspire, conspire and aspire with. Fill me, Flood me, Overwhelm me with your Spirit. Teach me, Touch me, Entrust me with all those pieces I am missing.
And while I’m praying Lord,
I wouldn’t say no to a fig tree
or a storm
or a peaceful lake
or whatever it I need to get through this. I pray that you help me figure it out.
In Jesus, your son who was human and knows what this is like,
in Jesus’s most Holy name I pray.
Amen.
Pandemic Prayers and Resources
God, only you know how many times I’ve been to the mailbox.
Checking it two to five times because some days the most exciting interaction of the day is getting my mail.
Lord, you know how I fell back in love with mail. The encouraging letter from an old connection to take care of myself during the pandemic–the boxes of small treats, the postcards to the children, and the much needed supplies in the height of local shortages.
The Easter cards, I never had time to do, where I poured my love out to my congregation, the handwritten notes and the small activity books for the kids of the church.
Lord this is prayer for the mail, which was so consistent in my life and did not used to be exciting. It used to just be bills and ads, and have instead been a tangible, touchable, visual sign of love and community.
Protect the mail, I pray.
Amen.
Lord God,
As I string the mask around my head, and adjust it to my ears.
May it be in honor of all the women the Bible who donned the veil to pray–Sarai as she longed for a child, Miriam as she sang jubilant songs, Mary as she attended the blessing of her son Jesus.
Holy Spirit, breath of God, as I feel my breath hot and heavy on my face, as it tickles my nose and dries my lips–remind me that a mask can reflect your love. Just as Moses wore a veil because his reflection of your glory was too blinding to see.
As I adjust it one more time to be snug around my face, dear Jesus I imagine you appearing to the women in the garden. I think-today-perhaps you were masked. Wrapped in a head covering of the dead with a scarf muffling your mouth so you had to say “Mary” twice. I think it lay up past your nose, disguising your face beyond recognition on the day you rose again from the dead.
Remind me that my mask is holy, that it follows a long footsteps of messengers and prophets and followers of God all wearing cloth upon their face as a reflection and sign of safety and love.
And when I feel short of breath, send your Holy Spirit to help me breathe, and to inspire me to continue to wear the mask.
And when I feel weak or afraid, God please hold me in the palm of your hand, so that my steps can be sure and strong.
And when I feel alone, send Jesus to be my sibling and my friend, and to remind me I am beloved I pray.
As I wear this mask, let it too be the image of God, I pray.
Amen.
Feel free to use or adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Lord God Almighty please help me as time continues to smoosh.
Summer is ending, and yet is is also the thousandth day of March.
I’ll wake up on Monday, know that’s it’s Monday (I did do church yesterday, though now it’s different).
I’ll do my chores, maybe find fifteen minutes to exercise and then set my kids up for their activities–and cross my fingers that they will last them awhile.
Then I will sit down at my computer to work and cram in as much productive time that I can.
Then I’ll sigh, and realize I’ve forgotten to turn in an article, or are late for my kid’s counseling or have missed someone’s zoom meeting or training.
Because my heart and soul didn’t know it was Monday. My mind knew, but my soul is in denial.
Because Monday is not that important in the grand scheme of things. And I remain in crises mode, my alarms going off for the pandemic and the injustices of the world and not for the mundanities of life.
My ADHD family and friends say this is how time works for them on most days.
It’s non-linear non-subjective; more like a wobbly wobbly time-wimey stuff. I am stuck in the ball of time stuff.
Appointments are hazy at best, and I can’t remember things from before the pandemic. Lord help me to hold onto the things I need to and let go of the things I don’t need.
And clocks are tricksy.
And the end of the day drags on and on, so long that it is hard to get anything done. Why is that?
Help me to stop doom scrolling. Remind me to take a walk, to sit in the sun, to pause to do something fun.
Help me to remember it’s Monday, as best I can. And to practice self-grace when I can’t–and when others can’t as well.
Help me to set the alarms I need.
And help me to worry less about time, and be in the moment, when I can. I pray.
Amen.
Feel free to use or adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
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