Tag: Holy Spirit

Almighty Trans* God

Trans* God
You are the
God of Abram to Abraham
of Mara to Naomi
Saul to Paul

You call us by our Chosen Name

You are the God of Joseph of the
Rainbow, Princess, Coat of their mom
who found a family in Egypt

Jesus who found Kinship with
Mary, Martha and Lazarus
You understand the importance of
Belonging somewhere other than with blood relations

Almighty Trans* God of Abraham, you know
That sometimes you have to pack up
and leave to find your true home and acceptance

And that the journey might have lions
and dangers and toils and snares

And yet here is your promise
You will see us
You will accept us
You will call us by our chosen Name

You will always be our God
Will always be your people (if we want
not in any kind of creepy way)

Jesus, Person created without any sperm
who chose to be male
Divine Trans* entity

God, the royal They
The great NonBinary

Holy Spirit
The She who can impregnante
A Woman

God you are the Almighty
the God of Many Mounds:
Which means both many mountains
to accesss and worship you
(note the inclusiveness)
and the God of many breasts
to feed every one
(Again inclusive and accessible)

We translate that
Trans* word as Almighty
Almighty Trans* God indeed!

Almighty Trans* God
You not only
See
Accept
Affirm
and Celebrate
But especially
Protect
all of our Trans* Siblings
during this turbulent time

Almighty Trans* God
May
we forge
many mighty Trans* Elders
make their names almighty
We Pray
Amen.

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

May be an image of text that says 'If you're visiting family for Easter, and they won't respect your gender, remind them that Jesus's chromosomes are canonically XX, as he inherited all of his human DNA from Mary. Unless of course they think that Mary was actually a child-bearing XY cis woman, which is also a delightful and realistic possibility. So either Jesus is Trans or Mary is Intersex. Or it could also be both! Happy Easter Day of Trans Visibility!'

Disarmed God

Disarmed God
I remember
that

You disarmed
Your Divine self
Permanently

That you hung
your weapon in
the sky:
Publicly
As a reminder
That you are
the Nonviolent God
The God of Love

It is little wonder
That some people
find Rainbows
Offensive

Jesus Christ
I remember
That you disarmed
Those who would
Stone a woman
in the street
with a few words
of compassion

That you healed
The blind man
Of sins and his disability
so that he had to be seen
as a person with or without
your disability
Stopping so called
microaggressions
Disclusion and other
forms of ableist violence
against him

(we can talk about
consent
and disability
not taking away
From your wholeness
Later)

Jesus I remember
You disarmed
everyone
At YOUR ARREST
when things could
go down in
absolute violence
with healing

An ear got cut off
And no one could hear the
other’s side (talk about symbolism)
You heal the slave of the enemy
…Holy Spirit the fact that you
come to the marginalized
and oppressed at this moment

and heal and disarm
at the tensest of moments

You are the God of
Disarmament
And healing
And give ears
to those who are willing to hear
And help those
who are bystanders
powerless
marginalized

There is no God of
Guns, bombs or violence
Not here
You repeat
that is not You

You don’t know any such presence
The power you exude doesn’t need
any buffoonery of triumphalism

Instead you come clothed in peace,
“Peace I will give you” Jesus,
Prince, Keeper, Steward of Peace

Disarm us
Disarm Humanity
So that we learn the art of War
No more

But only grow food
Food
to feed one another

We pray

Amen

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

The Muppet Movie cast singing The Rainbow Connection (Finale) | Fan art ...

All the muppets singing rainbow connection, under a rainbow

Crumbling Empires

Herod doesn’t win
Nor does Caesar
The Empire will crumble

God is with the marginalize
the poor
the imprisoned
the oppressed
the abused 
the tortured

Jesus walks 
with the different 
the disabled 
the forgotten 
the misgendered 
the repressed 
the voiceless
the hurt 

Our Divine is all about housing
everyone
feeding the hungry 
clothing the naked
and meting out equity and justice
and true liberation

It is written
It is proclaimed
It is the Good News

This is the true Glory of God
Anyone who thinks they can tame
the Holy Spirit 
is a pretender 

We recognize Jesus 

in every act 
Peace 
Empathy
and Love 

Don’t you?

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

None of This Nonsense Please

God,
It seems that
the senseless violence
goes on
and on

ICE spills onto whiteness
The Not peace in Palestine
The invasion of Caracas

Not to mention
kidnapping of neighbors
Healthcare, childcare and education being destroyed


And all the things

I confess I’ve started to dread Fridays
when the Admin seems to strike

And we all know
about the Eptsein Victims
But the files
God

The violence continues
As nonsensical
As our lines of sand
That make borders

As senseless
as giving more rights
To corporations
Than humans

As senseless
as pursuing artificial intelligence
Before feeding everyone

God
I feel like Alice
In Wonderland
Scared
Because everyone
is speaking gibberish
and the dictator is
Running around screaming
Off with their heads

So I am praying for
Less Herods
and more Wise Sages

Less Violence
And more Peace

Less Nonsence
And More Art

God
Be with us
As we turn away from
Death Dealing practices
And pursue Life Giving Ones
We Pray

Amen

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

ShutDown, A Prayer

Am
Heartsick

Healthcare
SNAP

Lord Hear our Prayers


Vaccines
Homelessness

“Cease”less
Cease fires

Peace-less
Talks

Rubble at the White
House

Workers

Without Pay

No Meds
No Food
No Water
No Care

Holy Spirit
Give us Rest

Politicians 
Who Talk

Another Nazi
Revealed

Another Person

Who won’t

Pass the Baton

Another 
Black Woman
Cassandra-d

Another Immigrant
Ripped
From Her Child

Lord Have Mercy

God 
Forgive Us

Teach us
Mercy

God
The Anger
Burns


And 
My Soul
Mourns


Teach
Our Hearts

We 
Pray

Teach 
A 
New 

Way 

To 
Be

Because
I Can’t

Exist


This Way
Anymore

Amen

A Tender Prayer: In the Aftermath

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
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”

Praying for Each Other


God
I know
That you said
Pray for our enemies

And I know
that you know
That you meant
When it’s confusing
And you can’t tell who
your enemy is

Pray for them

When the nuance is lost
and you fear for your children
and their children
and all the children (again, and again)
Pray

And I know
that you know
That you meant
The kind of Prayer that Meant
Cry
Sigh
Rest

And then get
Back to
Doing all you can
to be a Peacemaker

Whether that is
Vote
Call
Protest
Talk to People
Humanize

Because Sweet
Beautiful
Dusty
Footed Jesus
Who
Walked the Walk
I know
That you Know

That Prayer
Is the conversation
That we have

with ourselves
others
and you

To remind one another
That
we are
all human
In the end

So here I am
Praying
for
Peace

Praying
For my enemy
Because what is
an enemy
in this
World where
Everyone (pretty much)
Wants the same things

But someone
We all think
The ways to them
are opposite

And God
If you can help us
Stop
All the bombs
Everywhere

Please
I would be Grateful

Praying
In the Name of
The Prince of
Peace
Amen

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

Maundy Thursday

Jesus Christ
I think about how
Bread is shared
the Crusty Full flat breads
That are more easily shared with
a quick tearing among friends for
Tapas

I think of how
Sharing is entrenched
In Christ’s ministry
of how Jesus spent
his last moments
Sharing food
and Prayer

The gentle
voices of how
to survive
this moment
come across
this very moment
and people say
Volunteer

Find a friend
a community
in Need

And I think
Of how
When You Return
Ever Knee
Shall Bow
Because
You will return
As you Left
Serving
On Your

Knees
Gardening
Washing Feet
Healing
Greeting Children
Praying
So we will all Kneel
To Serve
Beside you

The Mandate
Command–is not necessary
In stark contrast to law and order

The reign of Christ will come
through mercy
and Love

Love and mercy you
Say
and you will feed us
And we will
throw our doors
Open wide

Maybe it’s Agape Thursday
Or Hesed Thursday
But sure
Maundy Thursday
For Now
Holy Spirit
Come!

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

Throw Jesus Off the Cliff

Some days
God
I feel like
we are throwing
Jesus
off a cliff


I feel like
we hear the words of prophecy
that say
Make things easier
help those in need

It is amongst the cacophony
of “Masculinity” “Capitalism”
and “Christian Nationalism”


Do you hear it under the cries for
Nazareth First?

Jesus says: I am here for the immigrant widow,
the strangers,
the broken,
the disabled,
the weird,
the LGBTQIA,
and the strange

I feel like
when we hear the echo
of Jesus’s voice
Calling us
to do the hard work
of the gospel

that when Jesus walks with us
and says
you are correct
Christianity
is not
about success

We have to sit down
and say
what is life about then

and many people
throw Christianity
leadership
Jesus
or whatever out

Why do we do this worship
thing
If it isn’t about that anyway?

Sometimes I want to put out posters
Come to church
We do brokenness
really well

Come to worship
We are bad at community

Join us Sunday
We have had to practice
for 2,000 years and are
still getting power dynamics
wrong

Put your faith not in
princes
power
and principalities

But the dandelion
still bloomed
A perfect
Weed
spreading
Wishies
for children
to blow
in the yard

I treasure God
calling me
a dandelion
full of
seeds
and
Wishes

Image: A child, in a red coat, you happily cannot tell their gender, drawing butterfly and heart) out of a giant dandelion (like making a wish). Image sourced from https://img.freepik.com/premium-photo/child-blowing-dandelion-with-heart-star-sketch_587981-17165.jpg


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