As the Rain Falls

The rain is falling today.

It’s indiscriminate. The rain doesn’t care who it falls on.

If you go out in the rain you will get wet.

It falls on the powerful and the meek.

It falls on the just and unjust

Yesterday the sun was shining

It didn’t care; the sun doesn’t care who it touches

If you went into the sun, you received it’s rays filled with vitamin D

It shone on those who were happy and those who mourned

It shone on those with COVID19 and those without alike.

Sometimes I feel caught up in my shoulds….

What should I be doing? How should I be feeling? Who should I be, now in the middle of this world crises.

God reminds me, God is my God, and the God of those who are angry, and the God of those who are terrified, or alone.

God is still my God when I feel those things. The sun still shines on me and the rain still makes me wet.

And if I’m just scraping to make ends meet: physically, monetarily, intellectually or emotionally. God is still my God then too.

You can’t be too anything for God: too good or too bad, too straight or too queer, too rich or too poor, too sad or too happy.

God promises, no matter what, God will be our God.

And I’m glad, in this time when I can’t touch many people–I can feel the drops of rain on my tongue and the warmth of the sun between my shoulders.

Remind me whoever I feel too much, or too little God that these are not your limits. Allow me to take comfort in the sun and the rain I pray. Amen.

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Pandemic Beatitudes

Cursed are the greedy, the one who put corporations before others, for they will end up with only money

Cursed are the liars, the fakers and the scammers, for they will end up with nothing

Cursed are the penny pinchers, the ones who think they immune, the ones who take other’s lives into their hands, their is the guilt of hurting others

‪Blessed are those who stay home and wait for the resurrection not as a date on the calendar but the as the return to wholeness, health and peace in the community. For theirs is the faith of the church.

Blessed are those who are at work, seeing hundreds of people a day, honoring the essentials of staying alive. For the work of their hands reflects the shape of their hearts.

Blessed are those who are waiting, waiting for the isolation to end, waiting to see if their loved one comes home safe from work, waiting to hear the news of a test in their lives. For theirs is the fullness of times

Blessed are the truck drivers and the custodial staffs who apply and scrub for all of us, for theirs will be all the comfort in the world.

Blessed are the truth tellers, the scientists and the fact fact-finders, for theirs will be the relationships of hope.

Blessed are the stressed, the homeworkers, the homeschoolers, the teachers without students, the workers without offices theirs will be peace.

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Act of God

Is this an act of God, asked Abram & Sarai when they were barren

Hagar when she was abused by Abram & Sarai

Job when he watched everything he loved drip away

Joseph when he was cast into the pit

Puah & Shiprah when they were ordered to put the babies in the water

Moses when he understood his people were enslaved

The Prodigal wondered when he was lost, the widow thought when she lived on nothing, Mary & Martha questioned when Lazarus died, the disciples cried when they arrested Jesus for heresy.

Is this an act of God we ask when the hurricanes howl and the tornados terrorize and the earthquakes wreak havoc?

How about a world pandemic is this an act of God?

Where is our Force Majeure? We want a new contract. If it’s an act of God then there’s nothing under our control and we can just wait for God’s helicopter to save us.

But Abraham & Sarah became the parents of nations

Hagar kept her child safe & found her freedom

Joseph was raised from the pit the Pharaoh’s advisor

Puah & Shiprah hid the babies from the Pharaoh

Moses lead the slaves to freedom

The Prodigal came home, the Widow gave away her mites, Lazarus was healed and returned to Mary and Martha, and Jesus rose from the dead.

I don’t really know what an act of God is.

But I know who God is, God is the God of jubilee, the God healing, the God of redos, reconciliations and resurrections.

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We can enact the will of God. We are Abraham & Sarah, Joseph, Puah & Shiprah, Moses. When we enact the will of God return home, we become healed, give to the poor and become resurrected with Christ.

Are we an act of God? God I pray that we are.

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Pandemic Prayers & Resources

Please Share/Adapt with Credit to Katy Stenta and Please contribute to my Doctorate of Ministry with a Donation  I have PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail. My go fundme is located at gf.me/u/y8n94m

Also See my more Mundane Prayers: Prayers for Surviving Day to Day

Abundance of Caution Prayer

Lord I Hadn’t Planned to Give this much up for Lent

Flattening The Curve Prayer

Best Laid Plans Prayer

Viral Prayers: Litany for Help & of Thanksgiving

Act of God Prayer, What is an act of God

Prayers of the People

Pandemic Beatitudes: Blessings & Curses

Garden of Gethsemane Meditation

May God is the God of Emptiness

As the Rain Falls

Everything Counts/Count the Stars

Apocalypse Meditation 

Nothing will ever be the Same Again: Temples & Resurrection

Palm Sunday

Chaos & the Cross: Passion Sunday

God of Sleep

Maundy Thursday Prayer

Presence Over Perfection (& Easter)

Denial & Grace in Crises: Good Friday

Essential Workers at the Cross

Thank God it’s Friday? Psalm 22 Good Friday

I hate waiting: Holy Saturday Prayer

Virtual Communion: a Meditation/Prayer

Holy Saturday Meditation

Holy Saturday: A confessional prayer about too much time

Say Nothing Easter (Mark)

Can You Hear Easter? (The good news) Mark

Easter is the Beginning

Grief

Body of Christ: Essential workers, we need one another

Virtual Communion Resources

Preparing for Worship 1

Preparing for Worship 2 (family edition)

Love One Another: The Value of Caring

Socially Distanced God: the struggle

Stuck on Repeat

The Moment for a Psalm (Because I don’t know how things work anymore)

In this Smoosh of Time Prayer for Groundhog Day

A Prayer about Masks in the Bible

Prayer at the Mailbox

End of My Rope Prayer

I’m Tired of Being Part of a Major Historical Event: a prayer

The Lord is My Shepherd: Sheep Scale Prayer

Stealing Time: Sabbath & Rest

Imprecation:  Shatter Them

Existential Crises: https://katyandtheword.com/2020/10/21/existential-crises/(opens in a new tab)

Post-Election Prayer

Dropping you a line: A Prayer

Ducks (not) in a Row Prayer

Exponential Growth Selah!

Pieces of Joy: A Holiday Prayer

It’s Complicated: a Holiday

Tantrum Prayer

I Can’t Catch My Breath

How Do We Feel (We Don’t)

I’m So Angry

Pandemic Mourning

Back to “Normal” A Prayer

Ashes to Ashes: a Prayer 

500,000 People: Ashes

Kingdom of Heaven (Vaccination) Prayer

Prayer of the Pandemic Era (It ain’t over yet)

Pandemic Resurrection

A Prayer for Chaplain-ing an Apocalypse

No Plans, A Prayer

People Shaped Prayers

Aunty God

A Blessing for (Surviving) Today

Omicron Prayer 

Advent Prayer for the World Weary

Go Back to Go…A Yell-y Psalm

Toddling, A Prayer

Also….

Mundane Prayer to Survive the Day to Day

‪Blessed are those who stay home and wait for the resurrection not as a date on the calendar but the as the return to wholeness, health and peace in the community ‬

Please Share/Adapt with Credit to Katy Stenta and Please contribute to my Doctorate of Ministry with a Donation  I have PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail. My go fund me is located at gf.me/u/y8n94m

More About Me; My Story & My Writing

Best Laid Plans Prayer

Lord, we had the best laid plans. The teacher were teaching, the doctors were healing, the calendars were full. And we had everything set. But plans are ephemeral, the illusion of control. Lord, when I get stressed, I go over my schedule. First x, then y, then z. First x, then y, then z. Now all my best laid plans fail. I cobble together new ones, but they are ragged and imperfect. I have no best laid plans. All I have is you God, comforter in the middle of the night. God who stands by the lonely, wrapping them in the breath of the Holy Spirit. God of the sick and poor–I’m so glad that I worship the God of the sick and the poor in this uncertain time. God of kairos, I’m glad you don’t run on human time, because it’s all slurring together and last week sounds like last year and the future is dim at best.

God I no longer have any plans, I only have you.

Be with me I pray.

Amen.

 

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Not planned to give up this much for Lent

Image may contain: ‎possible text that says '‎る Honestly hadn't 00 planned on giving up quite this much for Lent. ת‎'‎

God, I saw someone say they weren’t ready to give quite so much up for Lent, and it’s true. I’m not ready to give up friends and seeing grandparents, I’m not ready to give up babysitting and going out to eat, and I’m definitely not ready to give up school for my kiddos, and we will surely miss church on Sunday. More than giving up is what I’m taking on. I’m taking on the health of my entire community, I’m learning to appreciate how teachers work, teach, grade and keep everyone (including themselves) for day on end, I’m relearning the art of boredom. I’m figuring out how a new structures and rhythms of schedule and living together. I’m finding ways to be connectional in new (and old) ways. I’m finding time: time to walk and prioritize, time to wonder at morality, time to care. It’s not the Lent I had planned, but it’s the one I have been given. Lord help me to not give up for Lent I pray, give me the resources, relationships and reality checks I need to carry on, and continue to walk with me I pray.

Amen.

 

Thanks for the statement Andy Crouch

 

“Señor, (escuché) a alguien decir que no estaba listo para renunciar a tanto esta cuaresma. Pero así es. No estoy lista para dejar a mis amistades o dejar de ver a los abuelos. No estoy lista para dejar la niñera o el salir a cenar. Y definitivamente no estoy lista para dejar la escuela de mis nenes, y definitivamente me hará falta la iglesia los domingos.

“Más de lo que dejo, es lo que tomo. Estoy tomando la responsabilidad por la salud de mi comunidad entera. Estoy aprendiendo a apreciar como las maestras y los maestros trabajan, enseñan, corrigen y mantienen a todos (incluyéndose) día a día. Estoy aprendiendo de nuevo el arte del aburrimiento. Estoy descifrando nuevas estructuras y ritmos de calendario y vida juntos. Estoy aprendiendo las nuevas (y viejas) maneras de ser conexional. Estoy encontrando tiempo: tiempo para caminar y priorizar, tiempo para cuestionar la moral, tiempo para cuidar (y preocupar).

“Esta no es la cuaresma que tenía planificada, pero es la que se me ha dado. Señor, te ruego me ayudes a no darme por vencida en esta cuaresma. Dame los recursos, las relaciones, los baldazos de realidad que necesite para continuar adelante. Camina conmigo, te ruego. Amen”.

– por la Rvda. Katy Stenta

Thank you my colleague Rev. Amaury Tañón-Santos for the translation

More Prayers & Resources for the Pandemic

Viral Prayers

Blessed are
the retail workers
the grocery store workers
the workers who stock
the truckers
the sanitation workers
the emergency response workers
the energy sector workers
the housekeepers and custodians
the doctors, the nurses and all their support staff
the emergency workers
the departments of health
the pharmacists
Prayers for
the sick
the medically vulnerable
the disabled
the people who live with mental illness
the uninsured
the underpaid
the gig workers
the small businesses
the artists & entertainers
the travel industry
the flight attendants, TSA and airport workers
the parents who have to work & be teachers
the educators
the displaced college students
the kids who will go hungry
the parents of those with special needs whose entire routine has been disrupted
the lonely
the people stuck in places of abuse
the imprisoned
the ones on the border
the institutionalized
the nursing homes
the homeless
Thank you for
Science
Social distancing
Cuban Viral Research
Chinese closing of emergency hospitals
Canadian Vaccine Research
Italian Singing
the Chinese Businessmen who donate masks & sanitizers
the Scottish shopowners who buy masks & sanitizers for the elderly
the Ballplayers who donate salaries to arena workers
The schools getting food to those in need
The homeschoolers & online academics sharing their resources
Those supporting small businesses
Those who show up to work
Those who make phone calls
Those who get things to those in need
The ones who step up and ask, how can we help

Abundance of Caution Prayer

God, sometimes prayer is out of an abundance of caution. Nothing has hit close to home yet, but I feel shadows in the valley of death. I hear the cries of those around me. I can taste the panic in the air. How can I not pray? Out of an abundance of caution, I am lifting my eyes to the hills, from whom does my help come? My help comes from the Lord my God, they are my rock and my salvation. I pray for the miracles of this age: for people being connected to one another in this isolating time, for those who are struggling financially to experience generosity and hope while work is scarce and stability is scarcer. Lord out of an abundance, out of your abundance and our caution I pray that we all practice responsibility and community. Help us to hold onto peace, Encourage us with good courage, help us to grasp & hold onto all that which is good and remind us, especially in trying times, to render no one evil for evil. In your abundance and our caution, I pray. Amen.

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