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

#HolySaturday musings

Saturday is the breath caught, chest aching,

Its the moment when you don’t know if you are going to celebrate or cry

The heartbeat of one in the womb, the phone call with good or bad news, the applications that are awaiting decision.

Saturday is running the race, but not yet knowing who is going to win,

Its crying so much that you can’t recognize the person standing in front of you

Its the why moment.

Why, why, why? Why does this happen? What does this mean? What is the purpose behidn it all.

Saturday is the day of unanswerable questions,

the time of tangled mysteries,

the moment of mindless emotions.

Remember, God gives us that uncertainty, blesses it, and reminds us that we all have that moment of throat-catching, almost-not breathing.

The moment of full humanity,

Because God wants to remind us that our God is the one who catches us by surprise.

Even when we supposedly know what’s going to happen.

Maybe its should be known as Surprising Saturday Instead.

 

Prayers and Liturgy by Pastor Katy Stenta who is the solo pastor at a bigger on the inside church in Albany, NY and enjoys reading fantasy, soaking up sunshine, playing with her three sons and visiting her husband at his work, the library.

#Selah #violence and #thecross

I love the word Selah, the untranslatable cry to God. We have guesses, but we don’t know exactly what it means

For me it translates into the prayer that we don’t know how to pray

Selah

Its the cry out on Maundy Thursday when Jesus is worried about something that we cannot yet conceive, Selah

The cry when the first Muslim judge- Sheila Abdus-Salaam-is found dead, the domestic murder of a teacher-Karen Smith-and her student-Jonathan Martinez-registers as almost normal and when an Asian man-Dr. David Dao–is assaulted to give up his airline seat. Selah.

The cry when it is revealed that one of your friends will betray your teacher, Christ. When the fellowship is still intact, but Friday is coming. Selah

The cry when your leader bombs not one but two countries in the same Fortnight. Selah

The cry when Friday is coming, and you wish this cup can be taken from your lips, but you know it can’t be, so you pray at Gethsemane, and Friday still comes. Selah.

Drought in Africa, Dirty water in Flint, Trans Man outed by a Gay Competitor, Black Lives Still Matter, Missing Teens of Color some of these prayers never seem to end. Selah.

“There’s usually a point in Holy Week when I inform God that I’m really not sure humanity was worth all that.
We’ve reached it.”-@revlucymeg. Selah.

The violence that makes up the Cross is present, its real, its stark and needs to be mourned. Selah.

Selah.

Selah.

 

 

Maundy Thursday/Last Supper Lenten Links of Prayer for Narrative Lectionary

Links of Prayer for Last Supper

Jesus.jpegImage info (originally found in another language)

Invitation to Serve by Rev Amy Fetterman

Feel free to use/edit. Credit to the original author (i.e. based on prayer/prayers written by Rev Amy Fetterman) appreciated.

Luke 22:1-27 and Psalm 34:8-10 or Psalm 34:8

Call to Worship

The One who serves has set the table,

And eagerly desires that we join him here.  

As we seek and find the Lord in this joyful feast,

We shall taste and see that the Lord is good.

Prayer of Confession

As Jesus prepares a feast for us, let us prepare our hearts to receive his word. Let us offer our confession to God and before one another. Let us pray:

God of bread and vine, you redeem us from all sin. Yet, we forget that in you we find our refuge. We live into our fear rather than our faith. We strive to be great rather than follow in your servant steps. In our words, our actions, and our thoughts, we betray you. Deliver us from our fears, strengthen our hearts, and hear our cries, we pray… (silent confession followed by singing a Kyrie of your choice)

Assurance of Pardon

Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, we pray.

Though we may turn our faces away from God, God never turns away from us. The One who prepares a place for us at the table is the same One who forgives us our sins. Friends, believe the good news: in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God. Amen.

Communion Prayer

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Look to the Lord, We seek the Lord with our whole hearts.

Let us bless the Lord as we come to the table, Our souls praise God!

Our souls praise you, O God, for you created the heavens and the earth, all that is seen and unseen. You coaxed forth light and life where before there was only dark and nothingness. You are the source of the living water we seek. We rejoice that we have been made in your image, that the very breath we breathe comes from your Holy Spirit.

You tell us that those who seek you shall lack no good thing. When we turn away from you and towards the forces of hunger and want, you do not give up on us. You call out to us through the voices of the prophets and the poets. You come to us through the person of the Son. Humbled by your great love for us, we join our voices with the saints across the ages, ever singing:

Holy, Holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, the one who came to us as a vulnerable child.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, who taught and healed us, who laughed and wept with us, who fed us and gave us living water.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, who gathered with his disciples, including the one who would deny him and the one who would betray him, to celebrate the Passover feast.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, who broke the bread and shared the cup, who gave us this meal as a lasting remembrance and joyful celebration.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, who gave himself to us and for us and invites us to live into the great mystery of faith:

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon these gifts of bread and vine, we pray, O God. As we eat this bread may we remember your great love for all. As we drink from this cup may we be strengthened in our covenant with you. So nourished and so nurtured, may we go forth from this table with servant hearts and hands. By your Spirit, may we be made one, the body of Christ for the world.

We offer all of these prayers in the name of the Bread of Life, our Savior, who taught us to pray, saying: Our Father.

Offering Prayer/Prayer of Dedication

Holy God, you have shown us that to be great is to serve. We offer our tithes and offerings, the gifts of our hearts and hands, as our commitment to join with you in service. May all we do and say further the good work of your Kingdom until you come again. Amen.

More Narrative Lectionary Lenten Themed Prayers  

#holy time

Yes,

Easter tends to be more crazy than Christmas

1st of all pastors tend to run double whatever number of services they run Christmastime during Holy Week: I’m at the bare minimum of 3 (4 if you count Palm Sunday)

Plus, usually, my kids are off that same week, so I get to gesticulate around that and the fact its a superbusy time of year.

Plus, people volunteer to do things less–Christmas is just more of a pitch in holiday. How many people really want to help out with the Good Friday Service (altho we do a service of the nails that is poignant and beautiful)

Its a crazy week for me I have two parishoners in the hospital/recovery, plus the other 4 homebound who I would like to see during this Holy Time, plus a session meeting to make certain things are in place, plus an all day Persbytery meeting (which they always schedule the week before Holy Week, which always leaves me scratching my head), plus whatever other office-y stuff I need to do.

Then there is real life. The things that happen that make you a pastor, the things that aren’t on the calendar.

My colleague Sarah Ross said “In minstry, I don’t really plan a schedule so much as I just plan to be interrupted.”

Nadia Bolz-Weber once had an intern who shadowed her. At the end he said ” it was “oh my gosh..you’re A PERSON for a living!””

So, interruptions and being a person are my goals for the next two weeks…God sanctifies them and makes them holy