Immigrant God
Be with us
Be with those separated from families
Teach us how to make room at the inn
Remind us
That you translated
Yourself into Humanity
Because you understood
That we humans
We hate translating
Teach us to keep at this translation work
of human to understand divine
of cultural understanding
of the beauty of change (we humans aren’t so good at change)
Translate us
into a Christmas people
we pray
Amen
Blessed* are the protestors
They hold the foretaste Justice on their tongue
It tastes like Community
Blessed are the arrested
They are the forerunners of Liberation
For they know that the root of Liberation is the same as Salvation: Soteria
Blessed are the kidnapped, the human trafficked, the aching families separated
The are tears running down our faces
Blessed are the gassed, the rubber bulleted the trampled
They are voice of the muted, the embodiment of empathy, the spirit of our movement
Blessed are artists, the youth, the elders with wisdom, the marginalized with unique perspectives
They are are prophets giving us ears to hear and hearts to understand
Blessed are the newest among the fold, the awkward, the uncomfortable and uncertain
They are the students, reminding us that there is always more to learn
Blessed are the disparate opinions: the go faster and go slow, the people of faith and the atheists, the Black, Brown and White and all to privileged.
We are the movement, figuring out how to work together, imagining a better system than the one that exists now, may it be so.
*In Aramaic (the native tongue of Jesus) Blessings Baruach is not a passive word, but a word to activate you. You are not blessed. You are gifted with things so you can work with them and use them because you are called to them. Therefore let us be blessed and bless one another in our works. –according to Elias Chacour former ArchBishop of Jerusalem in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”
No Kings Graphic by MarathRic63 Chicken in Yellow “We Have Power” Moreinfo Nokings.org Taco, A Joke, Power, Fight for Democracy, No Kings,
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
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
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.
Dear God, I don’t want to pray for my enemies today. Because today my enemies are the enemies of children. They are those who can see crying children and ignore their pleas for safety and basic healthcare. They arrest people and tear families apart. They rationalize their hate by dehumanizing others. And yet, I cannot dehumanize these individuals, because if I do, somehow, they’ve won. So I’m praying for my enemies today. A prayer that cries out to the Lord “How Long?” A prayer that rends my soul, a prayer that places everything I can’t handle directly into the palm of God’s hands. And then I cry a little bit, and try to figure out how to be vocal and act in ways that reflect my prayer. Because, I remember, that’s how prayer works. Help us all Lord, I pray. Restore us. Remind us all of our humanity, and be with us we pray. Amen. 
katyandtheword 