Some days
They will
Not
Hurt
Nor
Destroy
On
My
Holy
Mountain
No
More
Any
More
Evermore
In any instance ever
No mourning
No more, no more, no more
Is all the prayer
I have left to pray.
Divinity in each other’s
Eyes
And mourning
No
More
Guns
No
More
Bombs
No
More
Apartheid
No more
Hostages
No more
Climate
Refugees
In the
Name of
All that
Is Holy
No
(Insert Your Favorite Curse Worship here)
More
Amen
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
CW: war and violence
Good God who is glorious, generous
full of bounty, food and other good things
I feel too exhausted to pray
about pieces of metal
that explode into
messes of blood
tragedy
and annihlation
As the weeping of babies
across oceans
haunt my dreams at night
and the artwork of Banksy
decorates the walls,
the walls of hate
My words seem like a meager choice
the cry of Peace
while those with nothing are crying
in war
Who will share this burden?
The prophets cry
And the artists will paint
with their tears
Call your Congressperson
I pray
Do not tell the story of the downtrodden:
the Palestinian Christian,
the hungry senior citizen
the beaten Black Lives Matter Activist
the forgotten Trans Teen
the shot kindergartener
Do not tell the story after the tragedy has happened
God
I am so tired of praying
about pieces of metal
empty of bullets
emptying lives
emptying souls
Teach me another prayer
Teach me the prayer of
Peace
Because
Because
I am all too familiar with the vocabulary of hate
it contains words like
animals
revenge
and dehumanization
Reteach me the
languages of love
teach me the
me the lexicon of
humanization
Melt our hearts
our weapons
our souls
into another shape
I pray.
Amen.
Feel Free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “Katyandtheword”
Call me Mara Today,
God Because I am bitter,
and the back of my throat aches
from too much crying,
as the grief hits me again,
and again
And the place I call home
is a nation that likes to “protects” the unborn,
but locks up immigrants
& Black and Brown kids,
and cannot
strike that will not feed thousands of children,
Corners the the market on formula
and then doesn’t regulate it properly,
stops the payments for vulnerable families,
totally and actively
destroys queer
bodies
children
and families,
and reopened the nation
before any babies could receive vaccinations.
Call me Mara,
God, Embittered
that people want “young families” don’t come to church
in a culture where parents,
especially mothers, are expected to do every single thing on their own,
and are judged for every imperfection*
Call me Mara, God,
For I am broken;
When there is a market for bulletproof backpacks,
and its somehow acceptable for THIRD GRADERS learn Tourniquet techniques, God no!
when the news is about the latest, becomes background noise
domestic violence
and white supremacy is acceptable
And there are no warning signals are put out for terrorism
Lord God Almighty, Seems we that we are stunned..unable respond to violence.
Call me Mara, God. Because despite voting, and letters, and marching and the sobs of countless families…
Not
one
thing
has
changed.
Call
us Mara
God.
Because, these too are our Children
And tomorrow, my throat will still be sore from crying and I will still taste the bitterness of tears–that’s what home tastes like now.
I bet you want to be called Mara too, God. Because they are your children too!
We are all Mara.
Selah! Mara, Selah! Amen.
*And then we say Happy Mother’s Day as if its a “Good” thing and not further gender violence
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
2023 version
CW: Gun Violence, Racism
God,
I am praying for the young adults, the teens, the kids
who take the wrong turns
Sweet Resurrected Jesus
You and I know, that I have no sense of direction–
How many times have I been
lost and alone in the car
Making my way across the country
(Pre-cell phone directions even)
–Luckily I am a white girl
But the shooting mere miles from my house
In upstate NY
proves that
it’s the guns
the guns
the guns.
And Lord save all the Black Boys, The beloved
Beautiful, made in your image
Black Brothers
My soul keens for them
God, you hung up your weapon,
your bow, your version of a gun
in the sky–way before Jesus
In the time of Noah–so that every single time we see it
We might, maybe possibly remember
That you are a Disarmed God
A Weaponless God
A God who refuses to Destroy anymore
A God of Peace
And when we refused to believe it
You sent your Son
What-His-Name
The Prince of Peace
Down to Earth
You don’t bring the Weapons
I’ll bring the Revolution
“Drop your swords” He says
When he is being arrested–
By the Empire no less
“And I’ll heal your ears, so you can hear
my words of peace”
And when you were resurrect Jesus
Among the huddled and fearful disciples
Did they raise arms against you
in “defense” and fright
(Its a question I don’t want to think about)
You replied to the fervor of frightened humans
“Peace be with you”
When we are lost
or feel invaded
or scared
or alone
“Peace be with you”
Disarm yourselves
God demonstrated
coaxes
whispers
If you really trust God,
I promise, you won’t need any guns
the end of the world won’t be with a bang
It will be with the whisper
“Peace be with you”
I’m still praying for the kin(g)dom
come
Peace be with you
Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Rainbow and clouds with an orange car heading towards it, created on canva by Katy Stenta, feel free to use
“Hosanna” God we cry
When did we make this
an easy prayer to pray
We hand it to our children
And make it a parade
–Filling their hands with palms
to dance around the room
Hosanna, the children Scream
“SAVE US”
As the rooms fill with gunfire
As their gender identities are destroyed
as they are ripped away from their parents at the border
As they cry for hunger when we cut their SNAP benefits
And Jesus takes a child
puts them on his lap and says
unless you understand the children
you will not see the Kingdom of Heaven
“How do we tell the children about school shootings?”
They know
They have been practicing for them, like maths or piano
And they know the grownups are not preventing them
Hosanna, they cry
My youngest came home from kindergarten
And said to me we are practicing being quiet for when bad guys come to school.
Shhhh!
Hosanna!
My middle child has autism
He will never be able to be quiet
If a bad guy comes to school
Hosanna!
Hosanna, God, Grace alone
But Still we know we have to participate
in our own salvation
Thoughts and prayer won’t do it
Policy and Change
will be our chant of Hosanna
Jesus paraded into the City
And then Flipped the Tables
It is not enough to cry out and pray
Action and Accountability must follow
Hosanna, we pray–what a Dangerous Prayer
on our Lips
Maybe only the Children truly know what it means
Hosanna God, Hosanna Christ!
May we Hosanna this together we pray
Amen
Feel free to use/share/adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Gun Violence Prevention Prayers
Image is a pair of AK47s crossing, covered with the words Hosanna and palms layered, and Save us at the Top and Prince of Peace, Flip the Tables, Policy and Change on the Bottom. Created by Katy Stenta on Canva, free to use with credit.
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What is better than Child Valentine’s?
Where everyone is included?
The cost is low
the effort is loving
the joy of these children
is effervescent
What is better than Child Valentine’s?
Where everyone is included?
The cost is low
the effort is loving
the joy of these children
is effervescent
What is better than Child Valentine’s?
Where everyone is included?
The cost is low
the effort is loving
the joy of these children
is effervescent
What is better than Child Valentine’s?
Where everyone is included?
The cost is low
the effort is loving
the joy of these children
is effervescent
My youngest woke up at 4am
They made all their cards on the computer
A kid
on a mailbox
17 of them, printed
awash in their favorite red
(we are out of red ink)
Taped them to fun dip
Painstakingly wrote first
and last names
on Every Card,
Despite Being Dyslexic
What is better than Child Valentine’s?
Where everyone is included?
The cost is low
the effort is loving
the joy of these children
is effervescent
I want to stay in this joy
And yet, all I can think about
I how
all I want
for Valentine’s Day
is for all the guns
the AK-47s
and Bullets
to be regulated
A true celebration
of love
Erasure
You can’t erase Queer
It doesn’t matter
How hard You try
With bullying
Hate
Guns
Bonfires
And bookbans
Shaming cultures
And evil gods
Can’t make People “Don’t say gay”
Evidence of “Roommates”
Hermaphrodites
Two Spirits (don’t appropriate)
Third genders
And Trans*
People
Go back
to the beginning
Of time
And Don’t
Get me started
On the Bible
With the Poly Trinity
David & Jonathan
Joseph’s Rainbow/Lady’s Coat
God’s pronouns
Revealed in flames
Ruth and Naomi
Song of Songs
The Eunuch
The Bible is Queer
You can’t erase
LGBTQIA
It Only
Gets clarified
As time Goes on
So YES
You have
To learn
New terms
#NotSorry
Yes we will
Have
No we will
Not shut up
Personhood
Is on the line
You can’t erase
People
It hasn’t worked
Yet
And it never
Will
I promise you
I will keep
Remembering
And Naming
And Believing
And Listening
And History shows me
I am not alone
QUEER are Beautifully
And Fiercely made
In the image
Of God
No one will
Ever erase
That
Feel free to share/adapt/use with credit to Katy Stenta
Here’s a prayer for Charlottesville
Where the gunshots echo across
a million schools in the United States
A Prayer for Charlottesville
For the Black People
who tiptoe lightly across the land
While White Boys bluster loudly
with their guns and tiki torches, because they know who has rights
and who doesn’t, as they high five the police along the way
Here’s a prayer for Charlottesville
Where Heather Heyer was brutally run over
with a car filled with malice and fossil fuel
And now
Where football players, mere children, Black, Young and Gift
Have their lives too lost
Because America cannot
will not
in its obsession with power, colonialism and capitalism
is sinfully unable disarm itself
We are a death cult
Here’s a prayer for our children
brutalized by “Shooter drills”
I remember when I had thought that Columbine was a
historical rarity–Back in the day when I was in high school
I turn forty this year
I remember 9/11 when we cried no more
And gave blood and ate together
And then prayed to God and immediately brutalized
our black and brown neighbors
And bought bombs and guns
Here’s a prayer for America
obsessed with “Safety”
instead of loving our neighbors
Is love safe?
Here’s a prayer for love
Beautiful and fierce
May it renew us in ways we do not expect
Away from cars
and guns
and violence
May we let people rage
and cry
and lament
as needed
And then may we turn our words
Into actions
And to do what needs to get done
We Pray
Amen.
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Lord God, Almighty in Heaven
When 2 people dying
becomes blip
on the news…
When Anti-Semitism
needs to become
A Roar of despair
for a major
German distributer
to drop a name
When this flood gets
lost with the last one
And the fires
And tornados
weary your soul
I want say
God,
Come get
Your Humans
And I worry about
the next political arguments
I will have
About gender, sexuality
and disabilities–
Because they are not political
but about people
I admit to deep weariness
with this thing
we call
you call
Humanity
God
But then
I find rest and restoration
In
Children’s laughter
Red Autumn leaves against cloudy skies
unexpected time for naps
the right to complain to you God
the taste of chocolate upon my tongue
cats who snuggle
a text from a friend
It is amazing how the smallest things
Can be the most important–
I fully admit, you designed thing well
We humans would have focused
on only the big things
But a moment to notice the good things
the space to rewatch a favorite show
a hug
a cup of coffee
playing our favorite song on the loudest volume
How did you know that we would need these things?
Thank you God–for all the little things–
Keep sending them please.
Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
Life Giving God
Erase all the things
That Rob us of life
Open the ears
Of those who can’t hear
Break apart the bad policies
And politics
Breath Giving God
You know how to
Get us to become a culture
Of seed planting
Instead of death dealers
Help us to slough off
All the skins
That we think
“Protect” is
Lay us bare before you
So that can finally heal
And find peace
Please
God of Respite
Melt our hearts
And resurrect us
Into tranquility
We pray
Amen
Feel free to adapt/share/use with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
katyandtheword 