God For parents And kids For whom This week Is not a Celebration But a struggle
A sigh A moment Of girding their loins Because it means Transitioning to summer Or a move Or not knowing what comes next
For all who dread “What are you doing this summer” For families whose meals Childcare or work become more difficult For young adults That are in difficult places or spaces For whatever reason
This so a prayer For hard summer May this transition time Be smoothed May you find connection And companionship
Moments of Stillness Sanctuary And peace Be found in the in-between Amen
God of Chosen Names Jesus Yesu El Shaddai God of Many Breasts; Y/Know the God of Many Mountains-Able to be Worshiped anywhere Otherwise translated as Almighty Abundant God Merciful God Purveyor of Peace Everlasting Guardian King of Kings Ruler of All Kin-dom Creator
God of Chosen Fam Sibling Maker Creator of Heirs The One who makes us all Heirs of Love
Creator of Peace the one who faces Trauma Hard Family Dynamics Gossip Rocky Friendships And walks with people With dirt between your toes and washes our feet dries our tears Sits with us
In silence Waits And calls us By our Chosen name
God of Compassion Empathy God of the in-between God of Grays Twilights Sunrises Sunsets Dragonflies Amphibians Marsupials Fungi Duck-Billed Platypi
God of the Blackholes Stardust God the quarks and leptons You are inst and amongst the rainbows Encouraging personification of self Co-creation, Naming You celebrate our being the Imago Dei and the DEI Diversity Equity and Inclusion
You are proud of all of your children You oo and ahh and shout with joy Proclaiming the fullness of your Trans* Queer Lesbian Gay Ace Nonbinary Intersex and Pansexual Children
You send angels before them (canonically nonbinary themselves) Proclaiming That they are Fierce And Wonderfully Made Saying Make way for them For they are Children of God
May the world Have ears to Hear And Hearts to Understand The beauty of your Creation Amen Amen!
Feel free to use/share adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”
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.
Call to Worship: This day is marvelous Because it is the Lord’s doing What day is that? Today, is the the day that the marginal stone, that the builder’s rejected became chief cornerstone for equity This is the day, this must be the day that the Lord has made Let us rejoice and be glad in it
Call to Worship We must recount the deeds of the Lord We give thanks to God who has become Salvation Salvation and Liberation, for are they not the same thing? God is marvelous in our eyes This is the day that the Lord has made Let us rejoice and be Glad in it.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that your resurrection is too hard to believe. We confess that some days it is hard to talk about the good news, that sometimes the message seems to get lost. Help us to live in such love and relationship that we can understand the Good News we pray.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus, we confess that we are perplexed. Your love is too deep for us to understand. Teach us to be an Easter people we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Here the Good News, Jesus loved us, came for us, died for us and is the Resurrected living Christ, thus we know in our Hearts the Good News of Easter: In Jesus Christ, we are Forgiven. Alleluia. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News, all sins have already been washed away, we have the promise of the resurrection and so we can sing the Good News to one another. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven, Alleluia, Amen.
Prayer of the Day/Dedicaiton: God, we are an Easter People, and we get to celebrate it every Sunday. May we go into the world with the promise of Resurrection in our hearts we pray. Amen.
Children’s Story: Summarize Velveteen Rabbit. (Being made more real/human by God’s Love)
April 13 Lent 6 Passion/Palm Sunday Luke 19:29-44 Psalm 118:19-23 Triumph Entry, Jesus Weeps Lost Peace? God weeps with you
Call to Worship Let God open the gates of Equity Whenever God opens them, I give thanks When God opens the gates Justice will enter I thank God who answers prayers—and becomes Liberation The stone that the builders reject will become the chief cornerstone, it is God’s doing God’s steadfast love endures forever, Praise God!
Call to Worship When God opens the Gates, we shall know Equity, Justice and Liberation will flow in the form of Lovingkindness All that seemed marginal and rejected before, will become marginal In God’s world, everything will be upside down, and peace will finally be prioritized We love God who is all about love, salvation and redemption. How can you no praise that kind of God? Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that we get tangled up in our words, thinking that this story is all about judgement instead of empathy. We confess that too often we are looking for the bad guys, instead of the purveyors of peace. Forgive us, teach us how to plant, sow and understand peace we pray. Amen.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus, we confess that sometimes we want to weep without stopping. We feel stuck in the Good Friday moment, and we do not feel like a resurrection people at all. Sit with us when we cry, and teach us how to get up, walk and take the next steps we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News: Nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ, nothing in the present, past or future. No angels, demons, laws, rules, governments, powers, principalities, churches or anything else. So hear and know in your hearts the Good, Good News. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God send us into the world, remembering that Jesus became fully human to walk and be with us. May we try to be fully present in love with one another too. Amen.
Call to Worship How our souls long for God My heart and flesh sing for the joy to the living God Even the Sparrow (Freest of Birds) finds a home, and the Swallow (Smallest of Birds) a nest for herself. Happy are those who live in your House, Singing your Praises God. A day in God’s house is better A day in your courts, are better than a thousand elsewhere Come let us keep the door for God Come let us listen for God, our sun and our shield, today.
Call to Worship We long for you God We want to feel your presence Even when we can’t see you God you see us and call us Be with us God, be with us today
Prayer of Confession: God I confess that it is hard to see Jesus. We look and cry out, and sometimes Jesus is not there. Teach us to be open to Jesus so that when he invites himself over to dinner, we may be able to open our doors to him we pray. Amen
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News, Jesus is looking for us, and loving us into being. Thus we know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus, we confess that we hate not knowing and feeling lost. We feel like we need to know the way. Allow us trust that it is ok to feel blind, and help us when we stumble and fall we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and will never lead us astray, so we know the truth. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God teach us to be ok with following Jesus, even when we feel lost along the way. Teach us to trust and follow we pray. Amen.
March 30 Lent 4 Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16:19-31 Psalm 41:1-3* Verse 3: Lord sustains them in their sickbeds could be translated as God sustains them mutually in sickness or health
Lost Life? God reminds you what really matters There is a theme of mutuality and community As well as an interesting theme about weeping here: weeping wounds, weeping from sadness, etc.
Call to Worship Blessed are those who consider the Poor God protects For God delivers them trouble God sustains God provide mutuality, in sickness or in health God restores Blessed be the Divine From Everlasting to Everlasting, Blessed be God
Call to Worship God we look to you in mourning You love us God of resurrection, You are rich beyond compare You are the God of Love You remind us to live in Love May we greet one another in Love today
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that we are a country that hoards things: goods, power, influence. We are not good at sharing. And you are honest with us, resurrection and life and the Good News are sometimes not enough for us to hear. We confess that we are afraid of losing things. Teach us to live into love, relationships and community and to embrace joy and good whenever we can, so that we do not miss the riches we have we pray. Amen.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus we confess that we worry, we worry sometimes that we are the Rich Man, other times we worry that we are Lazarus with weeping wounds unable to help others. Help us when we are uncertain or scared of the outcomes, to remember that Christ is with us, doing the work of resurrection.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News Jesus came for us, loved us, taught us, died for us and is resurrected for us, so we know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God your Good News calls us towards a Resurrection that is beyond riches. Teach us to hear and believe your Good News we pray. Amen.
Children: https://a.co/d/evgvo9hThe Golden Goose Laughter and Joy over Money) Or the Selfish Giant The Kingdom of Heaven is sharing not Hoarding https://a.co/d/dJq9XqJ There are a million editions of both of these stories–and they could be told with figures too or cutouts as well
katyandtheword 