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”

How do we Pray for Peace? Prayer

God
We admit
Confess really

That we do not know how to pray for peace.
We want it to be a magic incantation.

One where we have picked the right side.
So peace happens

There you go God
the mystery of Shalom-Salaam is solved.

But Salaam-Shalom isn’t about sides,
You can’t take the word apart like that
You cannot take the world apart like that

These things are not meant to be broken

There are no sides to peace

Shalom-Salaam
the mystery of wholeness, health
hospitality, healing
peace

No wonder peace is
Created
Constructed
Made

It took a Carpenter-
Or at least someone who worked with their hands
to teach us that.

Blessed are the
Builders of Peace
For they Shall Be
Called.Invited.Named.
Children.Having the Nature of.Inheritors of
God
Allah
Yhwh

Salaam-Shalom (Have I said the spell enough yet, God??)

Our tongues ache
From the words of war
(revenge)

And we know
That we have
Taught it

My soul aches
to teach war
No more
no more
no more

Shalom-Salaam

Teach me
to sit with peace
To hammer
weapons into
Planting tools

Teach me
how find the broken pieces
to plant
And to mend
To nurture
And to tend

To sow
Until we find the wholeness
teach us the mystery of this binding

Salaam-Shalom,
Us
Because we Do Not Know How
And none of Us can do it alone
Salaam-Shalom us,
We Pray.

Amen.

Feel free to use/adapt/Share with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord.com”

Banksy Dove with a Bulletproof Vest https://www.thenationalnews.com/weekend/2022/08/05/banskys-west-bank-dove-and-the-palestinian-shopowner-who-met-the-elusive-artist/

#Advent 2 RCL

Isaiah 11 Advent 2 assumes we are broken and withered,

No one is healthy and whole

We are the remnant in need

and need care, the shoot comes from the stump

And glorious rest is promised at the end

That is The Emmanuel

Advent promises

Give everyone sick leave

medical care

housing

And mental health care

Art by Katy Stenta on Canva, feel free to use

Narrative Lectionary: Thoughts on John 4:46-54

Restoration: from the Latin seriously it actually is 😉

restore – Online Etymology Dictionary

Restoration c.1300, “to give back,” also, “to build up again, repair,” from Old French restorer, from Latin restaurare “repair, rebuild, renew,

Katy’s Definition to simultaneously destroy and resurrect something at the same time

Image

God Restores us, healing our hearts AND binding our wounds: Forget Ps 140, I’m using Ps. 147:3
Image

kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery by filling the cracks with amalgam mixed with powdered gold, I was awestruck. Kintsugi is translated as “golden joinery,”  The new, reformed whole contains both the remembrance of that which was before and also what is now – something that had been broken into pieces and is now reformed, containing the additional joining amalgam that is noticeable and traceable.

Viewing kintsugi pottery brought to mind how quickly Western culture discards the broken – broken objects, broken people, and broken relationships. We fail to see what the broken might look like if we put the resources into mending the broken.

Katy’s Synonyms Kintsugi, Restoration, (w)holistic Christianity, Shalom, Fullness, Overflowing, Give me your tired/poor/hungry, Brokenhearts, wholeness, complete,  Image

What a great Valentine’s Day text (love it when it works out that way!)

There is a Balm in Gilead folks!