Church

God here’s a prayer for the church
The messy, institutional church
The one that is dying
The one that is full of too many rules and regulations
and buildings
and other things

Here’s a prayer for this greater church
That I grew up in
and love, and still think
can transform things

I have seen a million churches
God

And through these imperfect vessels
I have witnessed
tears
births

Children giggling in pews
and holy silences

“I don’t worry about the church”

I say God,
And you know,
that most days
I actually mean it

I can love this imperfect thing
even as it is changing to something new
Here’s a prayer for the church
that raised me
and is changing into something
unrecognizable

like a new dawn after a storm

like a movement

Here’s a prayer for church
a thing that happens
in parking lots
breakfasts
phone calls and hugs

May we not get caught up
in “saving it”

That was never our job anyway
And instead catch glimpses of it along the way
I pray

Amen.

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

The Bible is Queer

The Bible is Queer

God I remember–when you came out of the closet–
Flaming!

And Moses, said, What are your Pronouns?
And God says, I am what I am

And Moses says,
Cool, I gotch-you, You’re the God of Pronouns!

And, God says, Good, because I have a feeling,
This will get more complicated!

And then People were doing Violence to one another
So God turned the World On and then Off again

And sent the animals two by two Upon a boat
And hung up God’s weapon, a Bow (that’s an old school gun)

And said, I’m hanging up my weapon, so you will hang up yours
As a sign that Love is Love is Love is Love

And Noah said Cool
And God said, Cool, Because I have a Feeling this might get misconstrued someday

God I remember when Joseph
Draped themselves in a Lady’s Coat

And their bros made fun of them
And tried to feed them to the Lions

And God said, Nope, I claim the Queer One
And then we “retranslated” it as a Rainbow coat, so no one will understand them as Queer

(And you laughed again God, didn’t you? You mysterious and all knowing I Am)

And then Joseph said what you meant for Evil, God meant for Good
No one can take away my God, And God said mmm-mmmmm

And I remember Isaiah, where the prophet saw God,
And clearly identified God as multiples, and referred to God as them

And scholars thought up a new word Trinity–
And we ignored the singular/multiple thing–and God waited, patiently as only God can, for it to dawn upon us.

And then there was when Ruth declared her love and devotion for Naomi
And said where you go I will go, your people will be my people, your God will be my God

And God laughed and said, this will be the foundation text for weddings
This found-family declaration between two women, shh! Don’t tell the Conservatives.

And then came Jesus who instructed us, “Care for the Least of these”
and “Let no one revile you in my name” and “Welcome the Stranger”

And we nodded along like we knew what he meant
and then we disciples whispered among ourselves about exceptions

And God, God you knew
You knew. You knew before we knew

You know, the Bible is so Queer;
It would not even be the Bible, if it did not include rainbows and flames

It would not be Holy without found families
and radical, unconventional love

God only knows, that it is not us who gets to say who belongs to God;
it is but our job to practice welcome and hospitality

Someday, perhaps
we will get the laughter of angels right

Amen.

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

https://sojo.net/articles/joy-being-queer-and-christian/how-pride-flag-speaks-promises-god

Prayer for June

God who fills the world with good things

I am praying for rainbows of peace

As the school year draws to a close

And weary children struggle to make it

And Pride month starts with celebration, “rememories” (as my youngest calls them), and reminders that you are fiercely and beautifully made

I feel all if these emotions that smell like fresh cut lawns, sound like sudden hot thunderstorms, and nuzzle like my kitten at the end of a way over scheduled spring-to-summer season

God sometimes you know that pursing justice and sorting the laundry sometimes feel like that same thing

Mundane

Overwhelming

Vital

And yet

I think of how you continue to promise to fill the world with good things

Tuck a dandelion behind my ear as a symbol of hopeful weeds

And turn my worries into prayers once again

Feel free to use Share Adapt with credit to pastor Katy Stent “Katyandtheword”

Image from https://www.mainegardens.org/blog/for-the-love-of-dandelion/ Two dandelions growing, bright yellow with some blades of grass bright green against a cheerful dark background

Graduation Achieved

Doctorate of Ministry in Creative Writing as a Public Theologian (Whew what a long thing to say)…Achieved. I graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Mr. Roger’s Alina Mater on Friday.

What a beautiful journey. There is a bunch of my cohort, we are nicknamed the buffalo because there are so many of us–the whole class of 35 stuck the whole program, and a good proportion of us graduated “early” this year, with more to follow next year.

What a blessing.
Thank you everyone.
Thank you God
Thank you.

Splash

There is no way
the God of the rainbows
invented
some convoluted umbrella system

God didn’t you promise
that authority would be about love
and servanthood
and the washing of feet?

To me that sounds like
the opposite
of Umbrellas

Did not our Savior
say they were the Water of Life?
Everflowing
Splashing every which way
Getting everyone wet?

What is to prevent me from being baptized
Asks the Eunuch
Philip, Peter
Looks to me like
authority
and umbrellas
are being snatched back
from people’s hands
left and right

Screw umbrellas
authority
human lines drawn in the sand

Splash

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

Prayer for the Young Adults

Here’s a prayer for the Young Adults
The ones who we say are the future
the generations we send out into the world

Here’s a prayer for the protestors
The young reporters and truth tellers
The ones who are trying to get our attentions

Here’s a prayer for the ones who can’t shut up
Who are listening to the community activists and organizers
Who are getting it done–and then are being denigrated for it

Here’s a prayer for the ones who are lost, in hate (I hope its fewer than it seems)
who need the excuse to act up and out
for those who have enmity, racism and white supremacy at the ready

Here’s a prayer for the Young Adults
The ones who are already leading, who are forcing us to have
the deeper conversations, that we were all avoiding

Until now

Thank God for the Youth
Who pray with their feet, their tents and their bodies
Ceasefire Now
Amen

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



Rainbow Prayer

A Rainbow Prayer for the Methodists
After all the rain
A promise written in the sky
that violence will cease
Love will be covenanted
kept
and celebrated

A rainbow prayer for the world
that the world will call you
by your chosen name
that your chosen family
will be found
nestled
in sanctuaries
you can escape to

when needed

A rainbow prayer
for all the children
who cradle the wonders
of the wonder
when they look at the rainbows
and see
Dreams
Wonder
and Beauty

Rainbow Prayers
Breathing in the Alleluias
Even as tears stream down
reflecting tiny rainbows
of the world
as it will be
When we all realize

the Fierce and
and Wonderfully Made
Beauty of the Rainbow

Amen

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

Gratitude

As my Graduation approaches on May 31st 2024, I wanted to thank you again for your support. Your generosity has not only allowed me to study, explore my theology and write my thesis “Let’s Yell at God” but also to write a number of Sermon Series, contextual Psalms and Prayers and Liturgies for people to reflect on, pray and share. It is my hope someday to publish if the way be clear (a phrase that means if the right pieces somehow come together and God helps along the way). However, I am aware that this was truly a community effort. The donations to my work have numbered over 300. The views of my work has been 100 a day and 30,000 a year. This is not the degree of just one person—but truly the work of Public Theology, as it will say in May. 

I often think about how this theology is one in the legacy of Mr. Rogers, who’s alma mater I am attending. This is supposed to be about putting theology in the public sphere in new ways. Sometimes prayer writing seems ordinary and pedestrian, and others, it feels like the tool that needs to to spark what needs to happen, the way to give permission for people to wrestle with those things in their lives that just seem to be impossible. 

As someone who is always talking—it’s just that sometimes that dialogue happens to be out loud, prayer has been a lovely outlet for me to continue process what it means to be 

This thing we call

Human

Thank you for being part of the journey 

And helping me to fund a degree that would not have happened without the community.

Katy

www.KatyandtheWord.com

https://substack.com/profile/105115900-katyandtheword?utm_source=profile-page