God, I stand in prayer for a country where guns are so glorified
That shooters Think that to go out in a blaze of gunfire is better Than getting Care
Lord hear our prayer
Prince of Peace We pray for all the Victims of Violence Those who lost Their Beloved ones Those who witnessed the Devastation
Messiah Comfort them
Holy Spirit we pray For all those who are experiencing and are experiencing trauma as a result of this tragedy We pray That we find a way to change the Policies to prevent gun violence Before every single person has to be touched by Gun Violence
Come Holy Comforter, and hold us til we stop crying
Teach us to Move beyond Thoughts and Prayers
And how to Move and Act With Purpose and Dfenition of Peace and Kin(g)dom Care We Place ourselves In your Tender Care During this Time of Trouble Amen
Screw this Screw this Reality Screw this Bill Screw Money Screw Whiteness Screw Racism
Screw Millionaires Special Interests Backroom Bills And the ones we can see too
Screw working together with Those who hate the weak While the hungry cry out the people are being kidnapped Your grandparents don’t know how they are going to get medical care Disabilities, Queerness, and our Black and Brown siblings are hated with the full force of the law
Screw that
Screw our children being afraid of Everything Screw the hard questions about the world they are coming into Screw the rolling back of Environmental justice
Screw redefining words so that everything becomes “too political”
Screw Praying when we should be Arguing Walking Fighting Voting And Protecting Each Other
And Screw this Economy that doesn’t Give us time to breathe Much less Care
Screw Everything And Screw Up my face With the tears That run down It As I don’t Have the right Words Or Actions Or Things to Do And all I have Is the Gut reaction Of Screw Everything And I empty Myself Full on Confessional to God
Saying Screw it
And I figure God knows And is probably saying the same thing With me
Screw Injustice And Hopelessness And “Good Enough” This isn’t gonna Cut it Anymore
Screw it Until we Screw Together Something else I don’t even know What But somehow Screw it Is a prayer
Holy Spirit Come Help us to say Screw it To all we need to let go of Then help us to Unscrew all the Loose Screws
(And then Maybe Find us the tools we need To start the work again)
But right now Screw it
Feel free to share/adapt/Use with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”
Practice focusing on God practice community practice honesty exercise everyday–not because you will win any races But because walking together is the journey
And some days I too want to throw Jesus off the cliff Because it’s clear I still don’t get it
And then Jesus floats back and hugs me Because it never was about perfection in the first place
But the moments of beauty community laughter still count
Thank God for that
Amen
Feel free to use/share Adapt with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka KatyandtheWord
Blessed Holy Trauma Week Where the spying on our friends Come out to haunt our Wednesdays We feel the reality That not all of our relationships are safe
Where the Table when we eat together might feel haunted by those who are missing the ones who have died Or the ones we are not speaking to (hopefully for just now, Lord hear our prayer) The echoes of lonesome pandemic times…
We remember that Jesus ate with Judas and are comforted (How do you do that God?)
And the washing of the feet feels too much But right
And some people are wedding Bibles to constitutions And we remember that Jesus said That he would temple down And that what he did was rip the curtain that was separating the so called “holy” people from the people into smithreens (Holy Spirit flip these tables)
Blessed Holy Trauma Week when your Youth Group Leader Dies of Breast cancer that she has been battling Basically since the day you met her She counseled, supported Got you the hall for your wedding Sponsored your call to ministry…
Blessed Holy Trauma Week When Friday is supposed to be Good But your car is in the shop and you can’t get to worship to cry at the cross And you think about how trauma lives in your bones
Is not Jesus our very Sibling, who died in the cross? Do we not say we die with him? How then do we not feel it?
And so you weep instead for the children in Gaza Gaza–where the word gauze, the cloth for healing was made And no hospital has any medicine for infection And children are dying from malnutrition
Blessed Holy Trauma Week where you have permission to be fully human weak pathetic Empathetic Sympathetic To melt on the floor and weep Because we are all only human And Jesus Christ knows it Crying utterly alone on the Cross
Does everything always happen on Holy Week? All the ministry colleagues ask?
Yes my soul answers
Blessed Holy Trauma Week Where we are blessed to be fully human Fully aware and to breathe in and breathe out in-between
Breath Prayer you find yourself and then orient/reorient yourself.
So you ground down and then ground up; Or Root down and then root down more firmly; Or Orient yourself up/then Outward, or orient yourself in yourself and then yourself in God; or figure out where you are and then where you are in community; or find where you are in community then differentiate yourself within the community.
Inhale: God can work with emptiness Exhale: it is enough to exist today
Inhale: There is time Exhale: God sits with us
Inhale: I am a Divine Image Bearer Exhale: God creates through me
Inhale: Peace Exhale: Love
Call to Worship Praise God, we are in God’s sanctuary Let everything that breathes praise the Divine Praise God, the mighty firmament, grounding us down Praise God to the heavens, the deeds that lift us up Praise God with trumpets, with the gentle lute and heart Praise God with every breath, for God is worthy of Praise
Call to Worship God breathed life in the first humans It is enough to be present with God Whether we need to feel grounded or more supported God will orient us in the ways we need to go Teach us to pray in the ways we need to pray Breathe into us today God, Holy Spirit Come!
Call to Confession: God breathed life into us, and taught us to pray. Thus we are able to lay anything that troubles us at the feet of God, come let us confess ourselves to God.
Prayer of Confession: God, I confess I do not yet know how to pray without ceasing. I confess that sometimes my breath catches in my throat, and I feel stuck. Remind me that your pneuma, breath flows through my body, and that when I do not know what to pray, the Holy Spirit prays on my behalf. Teach me the rhythms of breath and prayer I pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that we struggle to feel present. Shopping lists, worries and distractions overcome and overwhelm us. We forget that you know all of these trouble, and that you want us to slow down, to take stock, and to breathe. Teach us to take the time to Sabbath and breathe we pray. (Silent Confession) Amen
Assurance of Pardon: God breathes forgiveness into all things, know the truth In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God breathes life into all things, reminding us that God is present in the empty spaces, and that some days existing is enough. Let us be present with God today. Amen.
God, how majestic is your name in all of the earth.
When I look at your heavens, thew work of you fingers: the moon and the stars. I think, what are human beings that you are mindful of them?
Yet you have put us a little lower than you, and crowned us we glory and honor!
O God, how majestic is your name in all of the earth.
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Romans 5:1-5
Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that we do not always feel that your wisdom is present. We confess that this lack makes it hard to practice grace, that suffering seems abundant, and endurance lacking. We confess that we do not always find hope. Send us your Holy Spirit to supply whatever it is we need we pray. Amen. . (Silent Confession). Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Christ advocates for us, always, so we know the truth: In Jesus Christ you are Forgiven
Prayer of Dedication (based of Proverbs 8:30-31): Remind us that your wisdom delights in us, daily, rejoicing in the inhabited world, and in humanity. Send us into the world holding tight to that we pray. Amen.
Hymns: Immortal Invisible God Only Wise, God of the Sparrow, God of the Ages Whose Almighty Hand, Great God We Sing That Mighty Hand, When in Our Music God is Glorified, God who stretched the spangled heavens
Children: Compare and Contrast what God considers “Power” (serving, love, creating things) to human Power (money, politics, popularity)
katyandtheword 