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
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”
I admit
I was relieved
When someone said
Let’s go
to a sanctuary
Come
Let us God
And Seek God
For I need to rest
my weary
soles
soul
something
somewhere
And my house
is way too messy
And before I knew it
My soles
soul
were standing at your gates
And we were knocking on heavens door
And I realized
that God’s Kin-dom
is unlike any other
Binding together people
who I had never seen
or known
And my heart leapt
To my throat
and I wanted
to scream
cry
and lay down
and rest
and never get up again
For here is a place
where everyone
would come up
and be welcomed
There are no locks
in heaven
and as I put my hand
On your door
my soles
felt the ground
itself
welcome me
And gratitude
Spilled from my lips
Unbeckoned
And Judgement Came
And it sounded like this
“Peace will radiate from you,
It will be part and parcel
of your homes, your walls,
your cities
It is promised
Even in our messy
houses
cities
churches
governances
countries
and streets
And that peace
will hum from our throats
And we will sing
greet
and radiate to one another
“Peace be within you”
And so
We will go
And seek
Good and Sanctuary
For the sake
of this
needed
Sanctuary
That my soul
and the itchy
Soles of my feet
ache for
I will
keep seeking it
And catch moments
of respite, whenever I can
Because God knows
We need it.
Tears roll down the face of Starlette Thomas, of Bowie, Md., as she holds a chunk of pavement from the Black Lives Matter mural, Monday, March 10, 2025, as the mural begins to be demolished in Washington. “I needed to be here to bear witness,” says Thomas, who was present at the 2020 George Floyd protests. “For me the Black Lives Matter sign etched in stone was a declaration of somebodyness and to watch it be undone in this way was very hurtful. To walk away with a piece of that, it means it’s not gone. It’s more than brick and mortar.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Image
God
I’m gonna have to be
reminded
of your steadfast Love
once again
Because the truth is
I might be grasping
onto it,
by threads
these days
For it might be
one of the few things
That makes my heart sing
and reminds me
that there are good things to eat
and that art is worth making
in this world
For truly
sometimes
everything seems to be full
consumers–
you know them
the dullards
who for some reason
want to BURN everything
Down
And they seem to
multiply
like weeds
And at time Evil seems to flourish
And spread
Nothingness
Wherever they go
And so
I meditate on
you God
and remember
How Evil
fell once before
And I count
my blessings
And how you
reach out to me.
I remember all the enemies
—my enemies, but really
our enemies, because they
are the enemies of justice,
equity and good—
You have defeated
on my behalf before
that my eyes have seen
my ears have heard
internal
external
I have proof
And I take a deep breath
and remember
God I know that you
grow justice
blooms, fruits, flourishes
It becomes mighty
and beautiful
solid and wondrous, Like a towering
oak that I could build a treehouse in
and nestle in to sleep–
and that will continue to be safe even
in its oldest years.
And God
as I nestle, may I remember
you are always full of justice
even when all else fails
You will always stand for equity.
I can sleep knowing that.
Amen.
Breathe
I hear the Holy Spirit whisper
as I try to figure out
what it is I am feeling
Anxiety?
Excitment?
Grief?
Fear?
I am trying to catalogue
Natural Disasters
Wars
Politicians
Name-Calling
Which let’s be honest God,
the last two are the same thing
(usually)
Now this violence
Breathe, I hear God
And I think about
how my family,
where allergies and asthma runs prevalent
says joking
but not
that breathing is highly
Underrated
Breathe, says Jesus
laying down a pillow
Inviting me in
to take sanctuary
to rest
But I don’t have an answer
a solution
I haven’t even figure out
how to tell the story
of what is going on
In the universe
and how to relate to it
all
God nods
And I nod
and sigh
and my eyes begin to droop
And I realize
that God knows all of these things are important
Breathe in: God will see to the humans
Breathe out: It’s ok not to have the answers
Amen
Image of breaths in Blues and slight pinks and yellow “Breathe on me breath of God” “Vene Sancte Spiritus” “Bo Ruach Elohim” Entitled: The Promise of the Holy Spirit from https://boruachelohim.com/tag/breathe/
Signs of God: Making Sanctuary
Call to Worship
God you make this a sanctuary for us
Giving bread to the hungry, Rest for the weary
Surely those who look, will find God
Come, let us build a house of justice and sanctuary for God
Confession: God we confess that we often confuse peace with being subdued or quiet. We forget that true sanctuary means a place to not just feel but be safe. Help us to be safe with one another we pray. Help us to build your sanctuary, we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon. God’s peace is from everlasting to everlasting, know the good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God’s mercies are renewed every morning. God’s mercies never come to an end. Let us go into the world renewed by God. Amen.
Hymns: Be Thou My Vision, Room at the Table, Great is Thy Faithfulness, Because He Lives, Worthy is The Lamb,
With Children: Chalk and Eraser Board Jesus can cleanse you every single time you make a mistake. Jesus wants you to keep trying!
If you find my work useful, please consider giving to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing https://gofund.me/70a114f9. It is a “working theologian’s” doctorate where I preach, write and share my work with the world all at the same time. If your church uses my work extensively and could use a receipt email me at katyandtheword at gmail and let me know!
God, as we gather, once again, outside the sanctuary, the wind is blowing colder and we are gathering what seem to be feeble surveys to figure out what to do.
We miss you God, we miss the radiance of a full flung organ, piping praises to the heavens
We miss the quiet stillness of the sanctuary just before worship, we miss the table & the font, means of your love passed down to us in full view of the sanctuary
But you remind David, as he wonders whether or not to build God a beautiful cedar house, that you are present in your people
And you remind me God, that when I miss you, I am really missing your community
For Jesus has made us the amazing promise that we can demand a miracle; that whenever two or three people gather in the name of Jesus, God will be particularly prsent
I miss you God, because I miss your people
I miss seeing how your grace weaves together us fumbling, silly community; I miss how you make worship in the sanctuary so beautiful in spite of, or perhaps because of, our imperfections
So when I miss gathering “like usual” God remind me of all the ways I have seen church: in Prayer over Zoom, in waves and window conversations in the parking lot, in the daily ministry of cards and phone calls.
Turns out you were here all along, as usual, remind me again and again I pray.
Amen.
A congregation came to Jesus and said, “Good teacher, what must we do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said, do the commandments. “Love and respect your neighbor. Have courage to do new things. Enter the world to support those in need. Gather as God’s family and honor everyone as human. Render to no one evil for evil, learn how to be more than nice. Pray and support those in need, and open yourselves to the community”
And the congregation said, “Lord we have striven to do all of this”
Jesus said, “Then there is one more thing, give away your worship space to be a place of sanctuary for the rest of the community”
And the congregation went away grieving, for their sanctuary was a very beautiful and well cared for space.
Then Jesus said “Trust the Lord with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind, and remember you security is not in possessions or ownership of space and time, but is in God.”
Mark 10
katyandtheword 