September 2011 – Page 2 – Unfolding Light

A postcard from God

Dearest,
I’ve been walking around here, sightseeing. I love looking through
the trees into the meadow where the sun is playing knee deep. Or
among kids in yards, into that magic space between them. And
through the silences of an old couple, making up after a hurt. It
seems like all the good stuff around here is in between things.
Fascinating.

Now I’m back at the hotel, feet up, looking into your heart…

All the best,
God

__________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Fill my cup

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

I was thirsty, in a barren desert,
and I cried, “Fill my cup!”
and held it out with trembling hands.

And it rained and rained
and turned the desert green,
and I threw my cup into the river.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Justice

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.


The Israelites gathered the manna, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.
         —Exodus 16.17

The laborers were paid, each the usual daily wage, regardless of how long they had worked. To those who expected more the landowner said, “Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
         —from Matthew 20. 10-16

If your enemies are hungry, give them something to eat.
         —Romans 16. 20

We tend to think that “justice” means that people get what they deserve. It is some kind of equal payment for what people have done, good or bad, in the past. The “bad” are punished and the “good” are rewarded.

But God’s justice is something different. It means that people get what they need. The Good News is that although we all fail to fully embody the love in which we are created—“we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”—God does not measure that out on a scale and repay us for that, but offers us grace instead. God is not chained to the past, but frees us in the present moment to receive what we need to live deeply. God’s “repayment” is always a gift, not a wage. Notice how often the word “justice” in the Bible is part of the phrase “justice and mercy.”

God repeatedly demands that we “do justice.” God is telling us to stop trying to judge what people “deserve”—there is no such thing—but to provide for equal sharing so that everyone has what they need. Yes, Tea Partiers, this is a clear “redistribution of wealth.” Why in the world would anyone need more than an omer of manna? If you have more, it’s probably someone else’s. Justice means sharing. It usually entails forgiveness for the wrongdoer (though their victims may need restitution), empowerment of the oppressed, acceptance of the stranger and outlier, equal access to money and power for the poor. It also entails generosity for the wealthy, humility for the self-righteous, and limitation of the power of the mighty. Among people Jesus met what many needed was not a lecture but healing. The rich you man needed to sell everything and give to the poor. Mary needed to lay aside her labor and be quiet with Jesus. His executioners needed forgiveness.

Of course the capitalists will complain that equal sharing forces everybody to be the same, but they think that all that matters is what we have, not who we are. In real life, if everyone has what they need we can all live abundantly as God created us to.

Devote yourself to justice, to sharing so that everyone has what they need. Attend to the needs even of your enemies. This is what saves us from our selfishness and connects us to real, deep, eternal life. We do it not because we “ought” to, but because we need to.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Manna

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.


In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron “You have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Then the Holy One said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” … In the morning thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Holy One has given you to eat.” The people of Israel called the bread manna.
         —Exodus 16. 2-4, 13-15

We sigh as we sit hungrily in our tents, amidst fields of manna. We never seem to recognize it at first, and even when we do it’s a mystery. (“Manna” is Hebrew for “What’s that?”) But God provides for us grace we haven’t earned, a harvest we never planted, blessing that comes from the heart of God.

Every day is manna. Each breath is a feast of life, granted by the hand of mystery, full of infinite blessing, offered for us to have abundant life. Every moment is a gift, overflowing from God’s grace, connecting us with God, inviting us to digest that grace, to take it in and make it a part of ourselves. You can’t analyze it, understand it, or make sense of it; you can hardly describe it, or even name it. “What’s-it?” may have to do. All you can do is receive it, take it in, and live on it.

Every moment is manna. It looks unremarkable or even unidentifiable, but it’s God’s grace. Today, look for the manna. Take what you need.

_________________

Weather Report

Bread.
A low-pressure system of extravagance
will rain blessing upon us,
coming our of a direction we never suspect.
Despite partially clouded awareness,
low-lying hearts may be inundated with gratitude.
Expect flash floods of grace today and tomorrow,
with drifts of blessing reaching two feet—or two hands.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

One heart

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

We held an interfaith prayer service on the church lawn last night, praying for healing for the world. Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish prayers lit the darkness like candles. The Beatitudes were chanted, the Koran recited, Bible passages read, heartfelt thoughts shared. We lit candles, sang together, rang a bell and stood in silence. As we left, I heard two Methodists say to each other “Om Shanti,” and a Muslim saying to herself, “Jesus wept.”

When God created the world what God was doing was praying. When we touch another’s suffering, we spin the fibers of the universe. When we join our prayers with anyone else, of any tradition, we weave the threads that mend the world.

We are one people, one life, one heart. Each of us is a part of the fabric of humanity, the garment that God wears, sad and beautiful, that fits her just right, as she walks through the world, shining.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

What the silence says

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.


When the towers of what you know collapse,
          what do you know?
Beside the great abyss that has swallowed
          what you cherished,
          where do you stand?
Before the darkness of war
          closed the eyes of your heart,
what did you see?
What does the vast, swirling silence say?

That those who cause pain and those who receive it
          fall into the same grave.
That lost in the wreckage every time is
          the only God worth having.
That we have seen days dark enough
          for resurrection.
That wisdom is born of vulnerability.
That evil is not a monstrous power
          but a sinuous thread,
the will to disregard
          in service of our fear.
That there is in all of us a great hole,
          under a pall of smoke and sorrow,
in which we meet each other
          and know each other deeply.
That not victory, but tenderness
          will save the world.
That before the dust falls upon us,
          we who ourselves are dust will have chosen
to be people of might or people of grace,
          one or the other;
and that it is in choosing that we are human,
          and in choosing well that we are blessed.
That we are not worthy of our self-confidence
          and yet God, still weeping,
resolutely trusts us
          with her most fragile hopes.
That our flesh is sackcloth.
That we who are covered with the ash
          of our failure, our fear of ourselves,
          are yet beautiful,
that we who are certainly lost
          can point the way.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

A prayer for forgiveness

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.


Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if someone sins against me,
how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you,
seventy-seven times.”
          —Matthew 18. 21-22

Forgiving One, you unbind me from all my guilt,
from all the hurt I have caused you and others,
loving me perfectly. I thank you.

You hold in your heart the hurt I have received.
My pain does not separate me from you.
You work your grace for my healing.

Receive my anger, my desire to give back my pain—
for you are the one who receives
all the pain that I cause.

Free me from judging myself according to my pain,
or judging one who has hurt me according to my pain.
Deepen my trust that we are both souls in you.

Silence my conviction that I know what they deserve,
and give me instead compassion for them,
knowing that one who hurts others can only be hurting.

Open my heart to your infinite love for me, and so for them,
love that is impervious to our faults,
love for them that is undiminished by my suffering.

Remove all that prevents my loving them perfectly.
I pray for them with heartfelt love and blessing.
I find in their blessedness your joy, and in their forgiveness my own.

         I pray this prayer as many times
         as it takes to feel it deeply, to say with joy:
         Amen.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Toward

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.




Sit in the chair
facing out the window,

waiting and still, but not
without a certain leaning.

The peace into which you fall
is not your own,

but given, deep within,
beckoning.

Look out at the world of people,
brilliant and struggling.

The love into which you fall
was already there for you.

Inward or outward,
the movement of your heart

is never away
but always toward.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

The treasure

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Someone you know was walking through the woods alone, just following his whims, when he looked down into the hollow where a dark stream flowed. On the other side of the stream he saw something gold glinting in the darkness. It was out of his way, and looked difficult to reach, but the mysterious thing beckoned to him. So he left the well-maintained path, and descended the steep bank. He made his way, with great effort, through painful brambles and resistant thickets. Beyond the stream he could see the gold thing, shining in a tiny shaft of sunlight. As he stepped into the stream he realized that it was much deeper than he had imagined. He paused, thinking this was a silly obsession. What would people think of him going to all this trouble just to find a piece of trash beside a creek? But that thing seemed to be calling out to him— not from across the stream, but from within him. And he thought, “What better have I to do than to pursue this mystery?” So he plunged into the stream. It was over his head, and cold, and the current was surprisingly strong. He imagined what would happen if he drowned, and they found his body here. How would they explain that? It made him laugh. But he had resolved to make this little journey, so he swam across the current.

On the other side he waded through the mud to the treasure. It was certainly nothing that anybody else would want. It was an old picture with a gilded frame, dirty and mostly caked with mud, but shiny along one edge. He wiped off the glass. What he saw astonished him. It was a portrait. To someone looking on it might have looked like nothing but vague shapes of light and shadow. But among the dreamy shapes, he saw a portrait of himself! Only it was more noble and beautiful than he could have imagined. In this picture he had purpose. There was a look in his eyes of deep joy and wisdom. And it was clear that whoever had painted the picture had done so with great love and tenderness, with respect for even the tiniest and most ordinary details. Amazed, he stared at it for a long, long time. The afternoon passed away.

Finally, clutching it to his heart, he returned across the stream. But in the strong current the picture slipped from his hands and it sank into the unreachable depths. At first he wanted to dive down and find it; but then, floating on the water, he realized that it did not matter. He had seen the picture, and it was engraved in his heart; that was all that mattered to him. He crossed the stream and found a new road, eager to go home and, though it seemed impossible, to tell his wife.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

Labor Day

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.


Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work…. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
         —Deuteronomy 5. 13-15

For ancient Hebrews, the Sabbath was more than a religious observation: it was a weekly labor strike. Once a week they laid down their tools and walked off the job, refused to work, refused to contribute to the economic machine of the powerful and the wealthy. A weekly day of rest was unheard of in the ancient world. Rest and leisure was for the ruling, wealthy class, not the working class. And it certainly was for people who were free, not for slaves. Yet the Jews observed it, and as more than a labor negotiating strategy—it was a commandment of God. God desires that people be free, and be valued unconditionally for their very existence, not according to the profit they can gain for another.

The Sabbath is a day to relinquish our hold on our earned worth, and rest in the grace of God. And it is a day to grant justice to those who labor, to free them from the having to earn their keep, and remind us that our economic world exists within the greater world of God’s desire for justice. Taking a day off reminds us that our life is more than our work, and our work is more than our job.

Although Labor Day is a secular holiday, it is an opportunity for Sabbath. It is a day to acknowledge our dependence on those who labor, especially in the most menial, dirty, dangerous and dreary jobs, who make a more leisurely life style possible for everyone else. It is a day to remember God’s demand for justice for those who labor, and freedom for those who are in bondage. And it’s a day to affirm that in the Real World, we do not earn our keep: it is a gift.

Whether or not this is a day off for you, remember those who labor, especially those who receive no rest. Give thanks for those who pick your fruit, mine your coal and make your clothes. Pray and work for the day that the rich do not oppress the poor and the poor are not indentured to the powerful for their survival. And give thanks for the gift that without having earned it you are beloved.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve