faith – katyandtheword

Advent Candles, Narrative Lectionary & RCL, Blue Christmas, Advent Hymns to Christmas Tunes Other Useful Links

Advent Candles

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

Week 1

God of Hope you Sustain us
Even when the world is on fire
We walk with you, and hear your voice
We walk with you, and follow your voice
We hope for a better world, in the meantime, send angels, messengers with your voice
Walk with us, Fill us with the courage to walk with one another
Even the world feels on fire
Fill us with Hope

Possible Advent Hymns: Open my Eyes that I May See, Live Into Hope, Taize: Bless the Lord My Soul

Week 2

God of Peace you sustain us
When we do not know the answer, you wait with us
When we are full of questions, You accept our ponderings
Help us to imagine a world of peace
Breathe on us your Holy Spirit, so that we can live into your Kin(g)dom

Fill us with Peace

Possible Advent Hymns: God of Peace, Comfort, Comfort You My People Taize: Nada The Turbe, God of Peace (to the tune of Silent Night)

Week 3
God of Joy, you quench us
You promise fulfillment in all the ways
God you know that joy is more than happiness, it is shalom, being complete
It is abundant gardens, full stomaches, justice and equity for all
We rejoice that you are a God who answers when we call,
Fill us with Joy

Possible Advent Hymn: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (which could be an advent one), Taize, The Kingdom of God

Week 4

God of Love you accept us
You embody community and belovedness, one with the dark and the light.
You cloaked in mystery, and yet contain all knowledge
You are one, yet many
You are love, and teach us belovedness
Fill us with Love

Possible Advent Hymn: Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go, Taize: Magnificat

RCL Advent Candles: Primarily Based on Isaiah: Theme God the Gardener

Week 1

God you plant the seeds of hope
God’s house will be the place for all people
Laying the groundwork for peace, joy and love
All Peoples shall stream to God’s mountain
Hoping to Learn from God
We hope together

Week 2

God, the seeds of peace are shooting out of the stump of Jesse
Equity is growing, so that the wild animal and the tame shall live together
Shalom shall grow, such peace, that all children shall be safe
None shall harm on God’s holy mountain
Peace will be pursued
We seek peace together

Week 3

God will nourish the land, so that the land itself will blossoms of joy.
All will know God’s glory, weak hands will be made strong.
Say to those with a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear, Here is your God.”
We will rejoice in the healing of God, no traveller will be harmed by wild animals
All shall safely and joyfully be able to go our merry way
We can rejoice together

Week 4
God’s Divine love will continue through the gift of a child, Immanuel
God tends to the garden of the world by giving us Godself
God with us, a child, Love embodied
God loves us
We are beloved
We can be loved together

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

More Advent Hymns to Christmas Tunes

Blue Christmas

Magnificat Prayer collection (so far)

We 3 Kings: alternative Version

If you want a doc version of this email KatyandtheWord at gmail Title ADVENT candles (specify RCL or Narrative) and I will email you a document for easier formatting

With gratitude for all who supported My D.Min. degree

If you appreciate my work, Feel free to support it at Venmo @Katy-Stenta (last four 7841), Paypal @KatyStenta, Google Pay Katyandtheword at gmail

Rejecting Evil, Finding Creativity

Part of my baptismal vows, and then confirmation, and then ordination and installation includes not only to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior but also to reject evil. I will admit that as a (white) child of the 80s and 90s I was more sunshine and bubblegum, hoping that evil was fading away. However, I have learned that evil had merely hidden, and that not only is institutional sexism, racism, ableism and homophobia but it seems that in the United States the ugliness of hate feels to move more openly in the world as fascism takes power.

As I write, pray, rest, parent, I find that for me my faith is part and parcel to my resistance. The more inclusive I can be the more I resisting the hate I see.

One of the places I am able to do this is the conference I am attending next month–it is called NEXT church, where we explore church as more of a movement and less than an institution–it runs Nov 11-14th, and is designed for all types of church people (not just leaders) and has full on courses such as community organizing, more than good intentions (don’t just be a nice white person), art as resistance, trauma informed ministry and more! I hope you explore and are able to join me as there are still spots LEFT! https://nextchurch.net/national-gathering/2025-grand-rapids-mi/ (There is special pricing if you live nearby or don’t have designated funs to help (and some meals are even included!)

If you are a church leader and can’t make it to the gathering–or even if you can, you might also want to look into our highly contextual Agents of Change program https://nextchurch.net/preaching-for-change/agents-of-change/ (due OCT 15!) program This is for those leaders who want to embody the transformative work that leads to justice and liberation.

Full disclosure I am part of the newly Formed NEXT church board, but I have been attending NEXT church events for 14 years–and that is all it takes to be a NEXT church community member, I hope you join our community soon, because At Such a Time as This, this is the kind of Faith movement that I find sustaining to the soul.

Katy

AKA “KatyandtheWord”

Have you considered becoming a part of the NEXT church community?

You may not know this about me, but I am currently working at a federated American Baptist and United Church of Christ Church as a Presbyterian USA Pastor. I love living into this interdenominational reality. Trying to figure out what we have in common of One Baptism, One Table, One Christ. I find it beautiful. I think one of the best places that prepared me for this ministry is NEXT Church

It is probably not a coincidence that I became a board member about the same time I started my ministry at Emmanuel Friedens–the Holy Spirit knows what she is doing.

Anyway I am about to talk about some of the movement of NEXT church and why I think you should come, but we also offer free roundtables https://nextchurch.net/roundtable-conversations/, coaching, a Preaching Cohorts–the one for POC who are in majority white congregations called “Still We Preach” is especially unique and worth checking out https://nextchurch.net/preaching-for-change/cohorts/–and more https://nextchurch.net.

NEXT Church is one of those spaces that continues to transition as time goes on. I have been attending NEXT for about 13 years. It is a place that continues to wrestle with the questions of what it means to be the church today—but uniquely it does this with hope and joy and for the church at all levels. The mantra NEXT church is trying to live into is that it is better together, therefore anyone who is involved at NEXT church at any level is NEXT church. We are NEXT church. It is more of a movement than an institution.

It certainly felt that way when at NEXT church that the ramification of the Gay marriage amendment passing broke. I’ll never forget that day—Diana Butler Bass was speaking. I was sitting up in the balcony, and we all got text alerts about it. No one was able to hear a word about what she was saying, because the news was so exciting. I was livetweeting the conference and asked if someone was going to interrupt her and announce the news. NEXT church is kind of laid-back, so it seemed hard for anyone in the hall to break in. Finally, I realized I was in a good position. I raised my hand and said “Excuse me Diana, I hate to interrupt, but we just got the news that gay marriage was ratified for our denomination can marry, and we are all distracted by the good news, everyone can marry.” Diana said, “Congratulations, this Episcopalian, welcomes you.” Note this delightful interdenominational interaction! And the entire hall erupted in applause. More Light and Covenant Network had planned a reception for that that evening and what had initially meant to be a small gathering practically the entire conference came out to celebrate, many of them ordering “the Presbyterian” which the bartenders no doubt quickly learned how to make.

NEXT church is not place for clergy to gather at the mountaintop and go just in hope. It is trying to meet all of the congregation as we figure out this thing of if the church is not existing as it is now, what then will it be? That is what the Already Not Yet national gathering of Next is coming together to contemplate—not to provide all of the answers, but to give time and space to be the church together, both now and for the future. The pathways are for all people doing all the work that is the church, because this is who we are.

If you have had a conversation with me about the greater church you have probably heard me say “I’m excited about where the church is going.’ It seems like a strange thing to say at this time, but the church was and is always meant to be a movement for the marginal, it was never meant to be for the rich and powerful. Right now people don’t go to the small town church for prestige or honor. The people who come are attracted by community and through a hunger for something more. We are the church together, God is planting the seeds so that we can be enough of a movement to do God’s work in the world. The buildings and pews are just dressing, the people are the heart of God’s love.

That something more is what is being addressed by the current Pathways for Next Church. There is the self explanatory Community Organizing, One about the Goals of your ministry called: More Than Good Intentions, there is the much in demand Communal Trauma track, there is the one I think I’m going to land on Art as Trauma (my mom and I had a long discussion that she forgot that writing was art), and NEXT church’s pathway about measuring progress other than through membership and money (or butts and bucks) called Cultivated Ministry. I hope you consider joining me in November 11-14th in Grand Rapids, MI. The cost is $499 and includes some meals. If you do not have a Continuing Ed budget, it is reduced to $299. There is a hotel deal as well and of course if you convince a friend to come, you can share a room. If you do not have young children like me, perhaps you can drive out and reduce costs more. The information is here https://nextchurch.net/national-gathering/2025-grand-rapids-mi/

Thanks
Katy Stenta

Aka “KatyandtheWord” NEXT Church Board member

Accessible God

My God is the Immigrant God
The son of a slave
(I’m sorry do we usually translate Mary as a servant?)
The God of the found Family
the God of Queer Joseph
prancing around
in their lady’s cloak..
coat of many colors

God sees and hears the trauma
In the stories and sees the perspectives
we miss
Holding our hand
as we untangle the narrative
that we need to hear
Helping us to
get to a place of
true sanctuary
community
and Shalom: wholeness, defragmentation, peace

Our God is the accessible God
not contained to Jerusalem
Ephraim
God can be worshipped anywhere
even in
Samaria

And so God says–remember
I am the immigrant God

And when David says
Solomon says
humans say
I’ll build you a building
God says
Why would
I
EVER
Want to be
Contained in that

I’m really glad we listened to you on that one

Our God is the expanding God
The one who turns the “bad Moabites” sterotype
on it’s head with Ruth
The one who contrasts the evil people from Uz
with blameless Job
the one who shows the wholeness of personhood
Of foreigners and eunuchs
(God of immigrants)
with the magi and the baptistism of the African Eunuch
And the Samaritans, those neighbors too like the Hebrews
become “Good” in the neighbor parable of Jesus

“THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: Moabites are bad. They were not allow to dwell among God’s people (Dt. 23) BUT THEN comes the story of “Ruth the MOabit” which challenges the predjudices against Moabites. THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: People from Uz are evil (Jer. 25) BUT THEN comes the story of Job a man from Uz who was the “most blameless man on earth.” THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: No foreigners or eunuchs allowed (Dt. 23) BUT THEN comes the story of an African eunuch welcomed into the church (Acts 8). : God’s people hated Samaritans BUT THEN Jesus tells a story that show snot all Samaritans are bad. THE STORY MAY BEGIN with prejudice, discrimintaitono and animosity, but the Spirit moves God’s people towards openness, inclusion, acceptance and affirmation.

God is a protest God
who sends yelling Prophets
and Fighting Judges of Justice
and Well Endowed Women to back
Jesus and his disciples

God is many things
a mover
a shaker
a creator
an artist
someone helping those
in the corner of your eye

Affirming the full personhood
of all those you meet

What God is not is
a Kingmaker
A wealthproducer
An institution creator
a power propper

The Divine has no interest in
human machinations
they are but
wisps
and string
Unimportant

God is interested in
how people
and relationships will flourish
Giving life and personhood
to all….
Moving in
Unexpected ways
(Which is probably why
we think the Divine is so mystery)

Thank God
for that!

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

*with thanks to Aemina Razzina for her book and discussions about “Healing Together” to help inspire this prayer https://www.everand.com/book/813879316/Healing-Together-Trauma-Informed-Care-for-Spiritually-Integrated-Communities

God of all things

You are the God of all people
Too many to mention
When I try to list all the kinds of people you are God of
I get caught up
In who and what you are the God of
And yet, it helps,
I find
To start to name
How you are God
to people who are struggling right now
And so I lift your name in praise today

You of the God of Weather Predictors
The God who keeps humanity humble because we cannot
even tell you if it will rain tomorrow–but you help us to develop
the science for national disasters, and to be overprepared–and then to complain when the disasters never hit as hard as predicted. You paint the sky in rainbows, reminding us that you love us, and never want us to be hurt by disasters. You remind us that you are the God of love and peace–and remind us too to hang our weapons us as well.

You are the God of Immigrants
Calling your people to get up and journey, so many times
And to never forget that we are all immigrants at some point in our lives: emotional, spiritual, mental, physical, and so we are are never to mistreat immigrants. If only, God, if only we would remember your words and treat immigrants with love and respect, because you make crystal that you are the God of immigrants. The God of those displaced: by violence, by climate change and those who simply had to leave because they felt it in their hearts. Whatever the reason, you know that immigration is an important part of human existence.

You God of tireless Data recorders. You call yourself the Keeper, the God who keeps track, the Great Mathematician. You know every hair on our head, every grain of sand, every star in the sky–so God you know
Thank God, you know….
The unseen and unknown Piles of Paperwork
The God of Government workers who do mysterious things that we don’t even know–you are the God of tax collectors–every single person I know who has had to work with the IRS is relieved how nice they are. You are also, the blessed God of grant filers and grant fulfillers. The God who knows that it takes a special kind of spirit to keep the lights on in any kind of place that serves.

You are the God of the arts, the God that knows that we need creativity, theater, museums, reading. The God who understands that we are herd animals who need places to gather and just be. A God who wants us to just wonder at life. You give us the power to name all things, so that we too can pursue the arts and be creative as we find all ways to “name” and create new ways to understand the world. You are the God of creativity.

The God of Education and those who need to be Educated
The God of Teachers who somehow make it to the end of the year–and all the children, teenagers and adults who are juggling everything who make it too. You are up with the janitors and bus drivers in the morning, and hold the hands of those studying and grading into the night. You accompany us in Psalms, reminding us that you are with us from the wee hours to the earliest dawn of the days.

You are the God of the disabled, For you understand what it means to be fully human, but different. To come into resurrection scarred and not whole. The Resurrected Jesus came with Holes in his arms and his side–because all of us who live long enough will not be fully abled anymore. It is a part of being human, and that does not stop God from being our God. God does not bless those who are able bodied. God loves us exactly as we are.
God loves all of us, the young, the elderly, the healthy, the frail
The doctors, the nurses, the caretaking, the hospice workers, the sick.
You are the God of all. God help us to understand that we are not valued by what we do, or how much work we produce, but instead you walk with those on the journey of care–breathing in and out as they make whatever journey they make in these handcrafted, beautiful and imperfect human bodies of ours.

God, I could go on and on about who you are the God of…

You are the God of the Veterans, who deserve love and care every step of their live, not just when they have served their country: for you have said “Feed my Sheep.”

You are the God of the LGBTQIA community, for you have said “Love one another” and there is no asterisk on that command, and you give us to one another as family, and teach us to love and care for each other from the baptizing of the Ethiopian Eunuch to the understanding that in Jesus Christ “There is no male nor female, no Greek nor Hebrew no slave nor free.”

God you are the God of all of those who are being
pushed away
forgotten
stifled
ignored

And yet

That does not stop the reality
You see all people
value them
Call them into being
Value the fullness of who they are
You love them
Because of who they are

God of all people
Help us to remember that
When others try to
Grind our identities into nothing

Remind us
of our belatedness in God
we pray
Amen.

But Thomas

“But Thomas,” this phrase sticks with me. Poor Thomas was the exception, the one who missed it.

Maybe that makes sense though. It was Thomas who was the first one willing to risk going back to Judea, even tho they tried to stone him the last time he was there John 11: 7-16. No one wanted to return there, even tho Martha & Mary were begging Jesus to return and tend to their sick brother Lazarus. All the disciples wanted to avoid Judea from now on but Thomas, who was willing to die with Jesus, cannot believe he is alive.

And maybe its because Thomas was willing to die with him. Maybe Thomas was one of the clearest-sighted disciples about the danger they were in. Peter liked to talk big, Judas was mired in his own guilt, Mark was unaware of the big secret, but Thomas seemed to understand that death was real.

So all the disciples are gathered, why? To hide but Thomas was not locked in fear in the room, he was somewhere else. Clearly is not one of Thomas’ defining qualities. Perhaps we should refer to him as “Brave Thomas” instead of “Doubting Thomas.”

Then the disciples tell of what they say, they testify to the presence of Jesus. No doubt saying that his words were “Peace be with you” but Thomas cannot be at peace. Thomas needs to touch Jesus’ scars to believe its actually him.

All of the disciples have been breathed on the pneuma of the Holy Spirit, but Thomas.

Thomas is one of the most constant texts of the church year. Without fail, every year, we are reminded of the story of Doubting Thomas. RCL and Narrative Lectionary collide giving the same story over and over again. Reminding us of our doubt.

But Thomas is the person who isn’t in the church today, for whatever reason. Its the person who stands outside the group. Its the forgotten one, its the person who is homebound, or too busy, or too overwhelmed to come to the group. This person is the wandering sheep (I hesitate to say lost, because I’m not always convinced that Thomas was truly lost or just waiting in his own way).

But Thomas could be argued to be the beginning of church. All the disciples had gathered, but Thomas wasn’t there, but Thomas wasn’t forgotten or left out. The disciples tried to tell him, but Thomas hadn’t had access to the Holy Spirit yet.

Recall, Jesus learns from this encounter, that all humans need access to the Holy Spirit. It isn’t until after this encounter that Pentecost happens. There is not church yet, just the understanding that there should be.

“How very good and pleasant it is when we live in unity” proclaims Psalm 133, but right here, in this moment, the church does not yet exist. Its good to live together, but we need the Holy Spirit to be able to do it.

Even then, we have trouble sharing and living in common with one another as is described in Acts 4. But we can, when we do church well, everything is shared, and there is not one person left out. When we do it well, we include the person who was gone.

In John 20, we see the church in action. Thomas is not left behind. Its not a “too late you lose” game. First the disciples try to include him, and when that doesn’t work, God acts. Jesus comes and personally works on Thomas’s heart. Jesus comes so that Thomas can truly taste and see the gospel truth that Jesus is the Risen Christ.

I would argue, in fact, that the gathering with Thomas is actually the first “church” gathering in the Bible. Full of the Holy Spirit, and witnessing, and the direct presence of Jesus Christ, this fellowship shows in full what the work of the church is going to be. And Thomas shows us how important that welcome and work is going to be. 1 John 1 puts it in formal languague, about gathering together and working on faith and sin as a fellowship of people, but John 20 is the story on which this is all based.

Also I always like to note that Thomas did not actually had to touch Jesus to believe that he was real. Once Jesus is there, once Thomas feels the Holy Spirit, all questioning is over. My guess is John is too busy hugging Jesus to worry about such things. Jesus says “Hey remember you wanted to touch these” but Thomas is too busy rejoicing. That’s how I picture Thomas, not touching the scars, but hugging the Jesus who he loves. Sadly its not depicted this way (look for pictures of them hugging, I have yet to find one). But in my head, this image of Jesus and Thomas hugging is the church illustrated in human flesh.

Brave Thomas

Here we are, back to one of the most preached texts, ever. And Thomas is here again, poking at our assumptions and asking all of the questions. In my mind Thomas is not “Doubting Thomas” but “Brave Thomas.”

The first time Thomas speaks is in John 11, when Jesus’s close friend Lazarus has died. The disciples do not want to return to Judea, because the disciples knew the town wanted to stone Jesus there. Thomas says bravely not only should Jesus go but also, “Let us also go, that we may die with him. “

This is doubly brave of Thomas, if indeed Thomas’s title “Twin” comes from the fact that he looks like Jesus’s Twin. (We don’t know, if Thomas is actually a sibling of Jesus, or any other disciple or if he looks like Jesus, but it is interesting that he is called Twin throughout the narrative) If Thomas looks like Jesus, this means he is putting himself doubly in danger by promising to go to Judea with him.

And this carries even further implications, because Thomas was not locked in the room with the scared disciples, when Jesus appears. It is very clear that Thomas does not like to stand around and wait for things. But again, if he looks like Jesus and is walking around after Jesus is crucified, he should be the most frightened disciple of all. Even if he just looks like another of the disciples, it’s pretty dangerous for him to be out and about during this tenuous time. This clearly does not bother Brave Thomas who eschews hiding in a room–and misses Jesus’s first appearance.

Then Thomas asks for the same thing his friends, the other disciples got, a chance to see Jesus. And it is little wonder, that he says he wants to not only see Jesus and see him eat (to prove he is not a ghost), but really he wants to touch Jesus’s wounds. He wants to witness to the pain of his friend and teacher Jesus.

Brave Thomas, wanting to fully know how his teacher was wounded, before he believes he is alive. Jesus appears and says “Peace be with you” and invites Thomas to do what he wants “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” John 20:26-27 Thomas is not recorded having done any of that. He said he wanted to touch to believe, but apparently seeing was enough to believe. He goes into full confession mode and says “My Lord and my God!” John 20:28

Thomas is brave enough to face the consequences of following Jesus, more than once. And brave enough to admit he was mistaken about Jesus being dead and gone. And brave enough to declare his faith. So rests my case for calling Thomas, the twin, Brave Thomas.

Finally, an addendum. Jesus blesses those who believe without seeing, but note, John goes on to say Jesus performed many more wonders to get his disciples to believe. This line about believing without seeings seems to be a blessing to US the readers. For Jesus goes all out to convince his disciples so they might apostle and witness appropriately. The onus of believing without seeing lies on us, for “these are written so you might believe” John 20:31, which we can take as invitation to celebrate Easter all over again, as the disciples were able to.

Psalm 41:1-3

God
We are calling down
Your protection

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.

Narrative Lectionary Lent, Year 3, Easter, Resurrection Sunday

April 20
Resurrection
Luke 24:1-12
Psalm 118:17, 21-24

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)

Narrative Lectionary, Luke, Year 3, Lent 6

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.

Children: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Viorst (bad things don’t take away from the good things, but good things don’t take away from the bad things in life) https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/alexander-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day_judith-viorst/253652/?resultid=b18ddc0d-6f7a-42ac-81a1-e6f4798e79ad#edition=2284278&idiq=4130587

Paperback Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Book