Month: January 2012

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
         —Mark 1.16-18

Among the clamoring voices
in your littered marketplace,
the shouting and hungers and choices,
the complaints and the advice,
the ones that cry, “You need this!”
and “You must!” and “This is so,”
you’ll only buy hurry and madness.
Stay calm, and let them go.
Walk down to the lake and the fishermen,
and the light, and the bark of the gulls,
and the sound of the waves again and again,
and the water patting the hulls.
Listen there for a calling
—not a plea or a pitch or demand—
like breathing, rising and falling,
like someone’s hand in your hand,
a leaning toward something within you,
not a dream of a far-off prize,
the voice of mercy, of Someone
who gives you mercy’s eyes,
who opens your windows for seeing
with a question whose answer is you,
who speaks you into being—
follow that one, and be made new.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Under even the greatest oppression, a select few people have what they need. But this is not true justice. True justice is a whole society that is just; therefore there is no justice until there is justice for all. For this reason the struggle for justice is never-ending; there will always be setbacks, but never a reason to give up.

Even under the worst tyrant, there may be a powerful few who are free to act as they choose. But this is not true freedom. True freedom is a society in which everyone is free; therefore there is no freedom until all are free. For this reason the struggle for freedom must always set people free; freedom can never be achieved by coercion.

Injustice is always hidden, disguised as the way things ought to be, protected by social habits and assumptions that we never question or confront. Seeking justice always requires that we dismantle existing social structures. Those who seek justice will always meet resistance, but it is a struggle of truth against fear, and truth is stronger.

The freedom and justice God intends for us (part of what Jesus called the Kingdom of God) is not a far-off fantasy; it is a gift implanted within us at our very creation. It arises as a gift when we treat one another with reverence. It can’t be enforced or manipulated or brought about by fear, violence or threat. It can only be set free in us. It can only be achieved by nonviolence.

Reverence overpowers coercion. It may take great time and sacrifice, but it will not fail. Even in offering its opponents the freedom to reject it, nonviolence has succeeded in setting all parties free. Even God does not threaten, coerce or manipulate us, but offers us grace and reverence. The cross is God’s nonviolence.

Our reverence toward others, including our enemies, regardless of the cost to us, even the cost of our lives, unleashes the infinite, world-changing, life-giving power of God’s grace in us. Just as an exploding bomb releases itself into the area around it with destructive force, a loving person releases herself into the world with creative power. This is the mystery of resurrection.

Martin Luther King, Jr. lived the resurrection life. Give thanks today for all those who have given of themselves for the sake of freedom and justice. And pray that you may have the courage, faith and compassion to stand among them, to join in the sacred struggle for “justice and liberty for all.”

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
         —Psalm 139. 1, 4

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
         —John 1.47-48

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
         — 1 Corinthians 13.12

                  I

Even the most secret place in my soul,
the darkest hidden cave in me
where I know God has never been,
the dreams I’ve not yet had,
their meanings layered in murk and mystery,
the things I don’t know I know,
locked and buried beneath a mantle of ignorance,
the most well-veiled secret prison cell within me,
the remotest, most desolate moon of my thoughts
that surely God could never imagine,
even the things I will never have guts to consider,
even the absolutely unknowable in me
God already knows like a nest,
thought of first, saw how it got that way,
knows where the blessings are.

                  II

Jesus is scary to follow,
because I know in his gaze
I’m going to see
more of myself than I want to.

                  III

Who knows what unseen forces pull on us,
what invisible wounds we protect,
what untold stories have given us our place and our name,
what tyrants we fear,
what side effects of ourselves we suffer,
what twisted ways seem in our blindness
the path of nobility?

We can’t translate the poetry of our own cries.

But the author of our souls sees, blesses,
misses nothing.

                  IV

The struggle between good and evil
is mostly a struggle
between awareness and unawareness.

                  V

Maybe I would judge less
if I knew how much of myself
is invisible to me.

Maybe I would wound less often
if only I saw how much mystery
entangles even the simplest gesture.

Maybe I would fear less
if I had the eyes of the One Within
who sees all and never recoils, but leans close,
who sees even my most awfulness,
tiny as it is amidst so much glory.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

People say the point is to be good
and so to make God happy
so you can go to heaven.

But God is already happy.
God is infinite bliss itself,
and there is no greater or more unshakable joy.

God is walking on air, seriously delighted.
Even with you. Perfectly euphoric.
What makes you think you can change that?

You’ve seen a mother with her newborn?
Then you know what I mean.
She knows what I mean.

You can’t manage God’s happiness.
It’s infinite. Neither good nor evil can sway it.
You can either dance with it, or not.

So what is there to do,
but join in the laughter,
let go of all that stops up the delight,

and rush off to tell your neighbor
how ridiculously pleased God is,
holding them in her arms?

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Present One,
I don’t know what this day will bring;
so I pray that by your grace I will receive it
with faith and equanimity.
When people talk to me, I don’ know
what they will say, or what it really means to them;
so I pray that I will listen
with compassion, humility and curiosity.
Whatever happens I don’t really know
whether it’s good or bad;
so I pray that I may be present without judging.
Whatever I encounter, no matter
how many times I’ve seen it, I don’t really know
what is there, or how it truly looks;
so I pray that I will be open, mindful and attentive.
I don’t know the outcomes of my actions,
what will become of me, how your grace works,
or the landscape of eternal life.
So I pray that I may trust without knowing,
love without judging, accept without understanding.
You who Are,
today may I be fully, deeply, and lovingly present.
Amen.

__________________
Weather Report

I don’t know.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Just before sunrise in the east
the stage lights are heating up.
But in the other direction the moon,
pale, patient and perfectly round,
quiet as a maid, prepares her bed,
and smiles serenely toward her trees
and lays herself in their arms.
And so begins her guileless disappearance:
tonight she will show less, a bit,
and so the next and the next and the next,
slowly becoming sky, until,
still fully present but unseen,
like God, she carries the light
entirely within her,
and lets our wonder loose
upon the whole sky.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Yesterday in worship we heard the story of the baptism of Jesus. We reflected on the baptismal blessing: “You are my child, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We did a baptismal renewal liturgy. I sprinkled everybody in the church with baptismal water using a cedar branch. “Remember your baptism and be thankful.”

Then I invited people to come forward for a blessing. One by one they came forward. I made a cross of oil on their forehead, laid a hand on their head and said, “Nita, born of water and the Spirit, may you faithfully bear Christ into the world.” They lined up patiently. The stepped up one by one. Dozens of them, old and young, some whom I know well by now, some still nearly strangers to me. I looked them in the eyes. “Born of water and the Spirit…” Some smiled, some looked searchingly, some bowed their heads, some held their hands open. “May you faithfully bear Christ into the world.” One little boy said, “OK.”

Toward the end I began to get a little teary. It’s a powerful thing to behold so many people, one by one, as God’s Beloved, and look them in the eyes and bless them, bless them all. Ones who are pure in heart and ones who are all messed up, not that I can tell the difference, ones that are so happy and ones that are longing, aching for something new— none of them unworthy, all of them God’s Beloved. They were like a deep, long river of belovedness, flowing around me, a river that I stood in like Jesus getting baptized in the Jordan. Their belovedness began to sing. I saw the heavens torn open. I wish you could have been there.

So here’s a gift for you. Go out somewhere today where you’ll see a lot of people: a work place, the street, the mall, it doesn’t matter. Look at each person one by one. Say to yourself on their behalf, “You are God’s child, God’s Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.” Bless them all, one by one. Keep doing it. (Maybe you can make a habit of it.) Bless them, all, and see what it does to you.

_________________
Weather Report

Wind brooding over water,
grace raining incessantly,
water and the spirit.
Monsoons of blessing,
unseasonably warm with Presence,
clearing occasionally to a vision of unity,
since this storm of grace covers the planet.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

Star shining from deep within
the far distance,

whispered music,
delicate, indestructible light,

wisdom not of this world,
calmly other-wise,

lead me.

(A thread of light
through the middle of the world
the world knows nothing of.)

Gentle child, unafraid
in this crowd of life,

healing by your presence,
creating with your gaze,

draw me.

(Listening for a voice
made of light, a word
you can barely see.)

Mystery, friend of darkness,
not of Herod,

tended to in wakeful trust,
always home,

bear me

by another road.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
         “Where is the child who has been born king of the Judeans?
For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
                  —Matthew 2.2

         “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me.”
                  —Mark 1.7

Merry Christmas. Today is the 12th day of Christmas. The holiday feels like it’s long gone, but the Incarnation is not over. The Present One is still with us. We may pack the decorations away, but the Beloved will not leave us.  As we leave behind the holiday, the holy days, and move on into “Ordinary Time,” the temptation is to forget the Christmas good news that all ordinary time is holy, that God is present in ordinary places, that ordinary people are Beloved. Even as we enter the season of Epiphany the temptation is to lose sight of the star that guides us. The temptation is to be kings who are too comfortable to leave the familiar, too invested in being right to bow to another wisdom. The temptation is to forget that the purpose of the star is to lead us somewhere, not just to guide us to the manger, but to guide us out of the holidays and into the world.  

John the Baptist and the magi had purpose and direction, not because they were self-directed, but because they were wiling to be led. They oriented their lives to the light of one who was greater than they. They had no illusions they they were in control of their lives. They had turned them over to a higher power, a greater love.

Enter the new year with purpose, with obedience to a love that is greater than you, and no matter what unfamiliar territory it leads you through, you will not lose your way. Stay mindful of the Presence that accompanies you even in the long haul of the ordinary times, and all of your days will be holy days. Never mind the pretty lights. Keep the eyes of your heart on the star of God, the light of grace.   And don’t just ooh and aah. Follow.
         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
         As Jesus was coming up out of the water,
                  he saw the heavens torn open
                  and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
         And a voice came from heaven,
                  “You are my Son, the Beloved;
                  with you I am well pleased.”
                           —Mark 1. 10-11

Every moment
you are coming into this moment,
coming into this life,

this one,
coming up out of the water,
breathing in, opening your eyes.

Emerging from the womb of God,
everything is being created,
everything is beginning.

The heavens,
the heart of things, torn open
for you,

God’s spirit
your spirit,
breathing in you

and saying: “You are mine,
my child, my Beloved.
In you is my delight.”

What else do you need
to guide you in this new year,
this new life, this eternal life?

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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