God of rainbows Amidst the floods When we look for lost girls and RVs When we mourn dead camp directors And family members
When camps and houses and belongings are swept away With powerfully swept away
Remind us That you sit with us amidst
And when we cry out God where are you
You cry too
And that you Disarmed Your very self Hanging Your weapon Permanently in the sky
A proclamation that you are a God of Covenants Promises Peace and Love
not punishments
So that when we cry out “What have we done to deserve this?” You sweep us up In your love and care Snuggling us to sleep murmuring “Nothing, absolutely nothing”
and you help the absolutely best search doggies And you wipe the brows of the the emergency workers and volunteers and you sit and sigh with the wearied
And God You give us Patience and silence amidst us in unexpected encouragement
Because you are The God of Spaciousness Letting us Be our full selves
And so Be with us in our Grief our waiting and Our Empathy Be with us in our Love
For many waters cannot quench Love Nor can the Floods Drown it
Be the Love Amidst us That outlasts This flood We pray Amen
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka KatyandtheWord
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”
God I remember–when you came out of the closet– Flaming!
And Moses, said, What are your Pronouns? And God says, I am what I am
And Moses says, Cool, I gotch-you, You’re the God of Pronouns!
And, God says, Good, because I have a feeling, This will get more complicated!
And then People were doing Violence to one another So God turned the World On and then Off again
And sent the animals two by two Upon a boat And hung up God’s weapon, a Bow (that’s an old school gun)
And said, I’m hanging up my weapon, so you will hang up yours As a sign that Love is Love is Love is Love
And Noah said Cool And God said, Cool, Because I have a Feeling this might get misconstrued someday
God I remember when Joseph Draped themselves in a Lady’s Coat
And their bros made fun of them And tried to feed them to the Lions
And God said, Nope, I claim the Queer One And then we “retranslated” it as a Rainbow coat, so no one will understand them as Queer
(And you laughed again God, didn’t you? You mysterious and all knowing I Am)
And then Joseph said what you meant for Evil, God meant for Good No one can take away my God, And God said mmm-mmmmm
And I remember Isaiah, where the prophet saw God, And clearly identified God as multiples, and referred to God as them
And scholars thought up a new word Trinity– And we ignored the singular/multiple thing–and God waited, patiently as only God can, for it to dawn upon us.
And then there was when Ruth declared her love and devotion for Naomi And said where you go I will go, your people will be my people, your God will be my God
And God laughed and said, this will be the foundation text for weddings This found-family declaration between two women, shh! Don’t tell the Conservatives.
And then came Jesus who instructed us, “Care for the Least of these” and “Let no one revile you in my name” and “Welcome the Stranger”
And we nodded along like we knew what he meant and then we disciples whispered among ourselves about exceptions
And God, God you knew You knew. You knew before we knew
You know, the Bible is so Queer; It would not even be the Bible, if it did not include rainbows and flames
It would not be Holy without found families and radical, unconventional love
God only knows, that it is not us who gets to say who belongs to God; it is but our job to practice welcome and hospitality
Someday, perhaps we will get the laughter of angels right
Amen.
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
A Rainbow Prayer for the Methodists After all the rain A promise written in the sky that violence will cease Love will be covenanted kept and celebrated
A rainbow prayer for the world that the world will call you by your chosen name that your chosen family will be found nestled in sanctuaries you can escape to
when needed
A rainbow prayer for all the children who cradle the wonders of the wonder when they look at the rainbows and see Dreams Wonder and Beauty
Rainbow Prayers Breathing in the Alleluias Even as tears stream down reflecting tiny rainbows of the world as it will be When we all realize
the Fierce and and Wonderfully Made Beauty of the Rainbow
Amen
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
Here’s a prayer for the Nonbinary those who are represented in the Twilight the Dawn And all of the beautful shades of gray in the world which can contain a rainbow of colors within it.
Here’s a prayer for the Nonbinary Those who are both/and The ones who feel at home in the Trans* community and those who are created in the image of God Male and Female
Here’s a prayer for the children Who should be safe in their identity Beloved in their Zir Xyr Eir Full selves Able to Name and Claim Who they are
And yes Use the bathroom Without peering eyes questions or even a second of discomfort Is that not what we want for all of our children?
Here is a prayer for the Nonbinary the ones who understand the importance of a well-placed pronoun those who ones who live bravely in the thin places the in-between for we know that those places are blessed and Holy
You are Holy
Here’s a prayer for the Nonbinary For you are Beautifully and Fiercely made
Don’t let anyone tell you differently
For you are a Child of God Who created you, loves you exactly as you are and calls you by your chosen name Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
If you want a document version of this entire series for easy viewing and formatting just email me at Katyandtheword at gmail and title it Narrative Lectionary and I will be happy to send it to you.
If you would like to support my work, please give to my gofundme for my D. Min in Creative Writing or in an exciting new prospect become a Patron for only $3 a month!
Call to worship: Our God is the God of storms and rainbows.
The God of doves and the God of promises
Our God is the God of mighty waves, and calm peaceful seas.
How mighty is our God
How trustworthy is our God
Come let us worship God.
Call to Worship
God we long for your care
Help us when we need your care
Lead us to the still waters
God renew your covenant with us
God we give thanks to the God of peace
Come let us praise God’s Holy Name
Invitation to Confession: God’s compassion is wider than the sea. Come Let us confess ourselves to God.
Confession: God, I confess that I do not understand that potency of your promise. What does it mean that you made a covenant with Noah and all future generations? What does it mean that you permanently hung your bow, your weapon, in the sky? I confess that my wonder at the rainbow is still just a beginning of the understanding of your promises and covenants. Help me to dig deep into your promises I pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Just as the storm will be calmed, as certain as God hangs God’s rainbow in the sky, we can be certain God loves us, God knows us and God forgives us, Let us proclaim the good news to one another In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen
Call of the Day/Dedication: God may we continue to seek your promises, and to know that your joy is in creation and love, and you are with us. Remind us to be a people of your promise as we go, we pray in your most Holy name. Amen.
Children: Talk about the rainbow as God Disarming Godself. God promises never to weaponize anger against us. Book Suggestion “Where the Wild Things Are” “The Napping House” “The Napping House”
Hymns: God of the Sparrow, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need, Wherever I May Wander, I’ve God Peace Like River,
If you want a document version of this entire series for easy viewing and formatting just email me at Katyandtheword at gmail and title it Narrative Lectionary and I will be happy to send it to you.
If you would like to support my work, please give to my gofundme for my D. Min in Creative Writing or in an exciting new prospect become a Patron for only $3 a month!
Today I think that the most prescient thing God ever did was to hang their rainbow in the sky.
God knew what God was doing when they hung up the bow after the storms
Knowing that we needed the reminder that every storm runs out of rain–as Maya Angelou put it.
Knowing that it would be claimed and expanded by all of God’s queer children, proclaiming that love is love is love is love and that God created a multiplicities of genders and sexualities–just like God created a rainbow with thousands upon thousands of hues and in-betweens.
We need rainbows, because God knew
Before sociological studies and microscopic and macroscopic science; before we did our Genesis job of naming all of the people, places and things of the world, you knew that very naming would make us create divisions.
Before we made elaborate charts to discover and explicate the mystery of the Trinity, God, you knew
You knew how much we need rainbows
You knew racism would be a stumbling block of sin,
that normalcy is a illusion of bigotry
that being neurotypical or not is a spectrum….which is another word for rainbow
and that gray can beautiful color, and sometimes we sit in the gray–
God I always imagine that the Trinity is gray, in between and a part of the rainbow world you created.
And God, you knew that you, the Almighty and Many Breasted God needed to symbolically and in all practicalities disarm Godself.
Promising never to send natural disasters as punishment.
Never.
And putting the most powerful weapon of the time, the equivalent of a gun, up. Forever.
Because if God can disarm Godself, then it is clear what we should do.
In the midst of horrific gun violence in the US, the state imbued violence in the United States and Colombia, and in the midst of border wars in Armenia-Azerbaijan, climate asylum and violence in Syria, and the oppression and apartheid conditions in Gaza.
God you know we need to figure out how to live in concert and beauty in rainbows–and how to first and foremost disarm ourselves as you did thousands of years ago.
Thousands of years ago.
God, thank you for your prescience.
And for all the rainbows
And for giving us the time.
And the promises within the rainbow, that it won’t always be like this.
when you looked into Joseph’s face, laced with drama;
when you saw their heart–full of queer notions…
And their coat/cloak/princess dress that was rainbow to its core.
When you truly got to know who Joseph was.
Then, and only then did you call them by name.
I know this, because you are God, and you are with us.
You don’t call us as strangers who might be able to help.
You call us as beloved children who you know can be more fulfilled serving others.
You didn’t ask Joseph to take off their rainbow dress, or to change, or to be better–you just asked them to come.
And it is beautiful that you can take a dreaming child, who was too flamboyant, and dramatic, and talked to much, and turned their dreams into hope.
First for all of Egypt, and then for the very siblings that betrayed them.
May we all have the grace to remember that God calls us exactly as we are. Remind us, that just as God knows each and every star, God knows and calls us all by name.
We pray in the Holy Names of Christ
Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
katyandtheword 