prayer – katyandtheword

Easter Blessings, throughout the Season

Good News can come through emptiness

Mary didn’t know Jesus was risen
She turned to a stranger
The person who was tending the dirt
And asked for help

Do you see the Easter moment

It’s hiding right there

It’s not in the race before
No trumpets or proclamations in John

It starts in a moment
of hoping for hope
of reaching out
in planting seeds
After all God was the first Gardener
Is it little wonder that
Jesus is once again on his knees
in the dirt

And Mary reaches out to him
Easter has started
There in the dark
Even before she knows it

The resurrection
starts in those moments
of planting and tending

and then slowly
unfurl
for days
months
as long as we need
to turn
our mourning
into dancing

Here’s hoping
you have those moments
Throughout the
Easter season

Good News can
Come even
through
moments
of emptiness

Creation came
through Holy
Darkness

I hope you
Experience
that this
Easter Season

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

Peace and Perfume: O the Humanity

Blessed are the Peacemakers
Says Jesus
God
Teach Us
To Make
Create
Policy Even
Shalom

Peace that is
Wholeness
Health
the kind that
Forbids Dehumanizing one another

God
You know
Because
You embodied
This being Human
There really is no
Such thing as
Microagressions

That is just us
Doing violence
to one another

In another way
Is there such
a thing as
“I dehumanized you
But it didn’t count?”

“I did violence
to your reflection
of the imago dei
But it was TOTALLY
Rationale”

Jesus says
Let the one without
Sin cast the first stone

And reminds us
to judge is Human
to give Justice Divine

God See to your humans
We are down here with
Governments trying to
start WWIII
while us people
are busy trying to afford Bread

Teach us to have
Potluck together
To Liberate one another
To Celebrate one another
As humanity

Teach us to be like Mary
To extravagantly Love one another
To wash one another’s feet in
perfume, so strong
that the scent
of the act

Fills the whole house

Give us the humanity
to love and serve
one another we pray
Amen.

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

Psalm 3

God,
Why are there so many enemies?
I feel like
I can’t ask people
in Kansas
if they are friends
of Dorothy anymore

And the Scouts
do not feel
trustworthy
Today

Jesus Christ
How many times
Do we cry out

Hosanna
Hosanna
For the Trans Kids
Hosanna
for the Sex Abuse Survivors
Hosanna
for the Women’s Athletes
Hosanna
for the Black Actors, Artists and Musicians
Hosanna
for the kidnapped, the revealed deaths, the scared immigrants
Hosanna

Hosanna for the World
for Iraq, Pakistan, Cuba, Ukraine

Hosanna

I call to you, and many say
Why do you call to God
God doesn’t help Woke people

But I cry out
And God answers

I go to sleep and I wake up
God is sustaining us

We are not afraid of the people who are against us
Even if they number tens of thousands

God,
You are already
Awake
So I say
Rise Up
Save us
Hosanna,

O My God!
Deliver us,
Strike All my enemies on the cheek
You
Break teeth of the wicked

For

Deliverance
is God’s

Blessings belong to your People

God, protect the vulnerable
and stop evil
we pray
Amen

Feel free to adapt/share/use with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Free the Bebes

So thankful Liam is free

Now free all the bebes
From age 0-100

Are we not all
Children of God?
Warehousing people is evil

Luke 4:18

I know they almost
threw Jesus off a cliff
Because like it or not
Protests and Worship
Go hand in hand

Or prayer is
When you liberate the
Imprisoned

Or welcome
The immigrant
In the name of
Our Immigrant God

Here we
Are

Charged with
Going out
And getting
Justice for
The Abused
And Oppressed

And Against
Systematic
Death
Dealing
Structures

Sounds like
Real Work

Wonder why those in Power
Tried to throw
Jesus off a cliff
The cliff for that

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

Advent Time

Advent
Because we aren’t ready
And
God is here
In the dark
In the waiting room

God is here
In the sadness
In the not quite revolution yet

There is no shame in advent
There is sanctuary in the quiet

Anticipation
Itchiness of almost
There is holiness
In the time of not quite

There is connection
In the confusion
Of complicated
Not having our
Shit together yet

There is beauty
In creating rituals
to wait together
So that we remember
…that we are not waiting
Alone

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

Advent Hope

God I know I don’t need
To look for you

Advent is in
a minor key

Because

Christ is already here
In the ICE prisons

Christ is already here
with the unhoused

Christ is already here
at the wartorn rubble

Christ is already here

But it’s hard
to see the face of Jesus

Fear not
You say

And you coax us to
free the prisoners

To distribute food
without worry about who is deserving

As you remind us
What peace and wholeness means

Fear not
The Holy Spirit
Inspires us

Laying Groundwork
for the key change
to take hold

We wait with you God
Because we want the miracle
of Christmas

To be about
the seeds that are
planted
to mean
Universal flourishings

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

Trans Day of Remembrance

Content warning: Trans* Day of Remembrance: Mentions Abuse, Death, Murder, Abuse, Suicide

God
You know that
when your very
existence
is resistance

Then remembrance
is more
than a story

It is a celebration
that Life
is complication

And beautiful
and every time
We remember

Our Trans* siblings
We co-create
A world

Where mourning
and lament
are not it

We re-member
re-connect
re-present
reality

Knowing that
one way
one being
even one name
is not enough

Complicated
mysterious
God-
THE God of Pronouns
The Almighty
Multiplicitious* God

It is You who blesses us
calls us by our chosen name
Blesses our found families
understands the mysterious, complicated way
hurt, imperfections, love all mix up into life

Perhaps more than anyone else

Help us as we do the hard work
of mourning those who have been lost to this world
through the tragedy of violence

Trans* individuals who have been killed by
intimate partners
family
strangers
or if they lose their life yet another way and died by suicide,
We hurt still from all the abuse and death
that is ongoing

Protect especially our Queer
Siblings of Color

We Celebrate their lives
as a testament and Embodiment
Of the Diversity in the World
Knowing, that their living into themselves
Still counted and was important
even when it felt incomplete

Protect especially our Queer
Siblings of Color
Who are particularly vulnerable

Put a shield across them
We demand your care for them

Melt the hearts of hate
For all who do harm
Physical
Political
Emotional

And may we resist forever
Any injustice in the world
Fighting for a Place

Where all are
Accepted
Fed
Safe
Celebrated
Justified
Recognize
and Known

To be
Fiercely and Wondrously made
In the Image of our Multiplicitous God
Amen

*This is a new word, as of today, pronounce it with confidence

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

Prayers as the Storm Comes

Praying so hard for Jamaica and the Caribbean

Praying for the planet
Praying for those in the eye of the hurricane

Praying
Praying
Praying because disaster relief has to come faster
with less resources
Praying because Climate Change is Harsh
and Denial is Harsher

Praying because Paper Towels are not enough
Praying because my neighborhood is big enough
to hold anyone in need
but I do not have capacity to figure it all out

Praying
that we do more

Prayers for this storm
and the next one
Praying the storm
lets up and eases
however it can

But right now
I hope that we do the short
and long range things
needed
to help

Because
Love is what
makes us Human
in the end

Amen

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