Month: January 2014

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
        I said, “I have labored in vain,
                yet surely my cause is with the Lord.”
        The Holy One says,
        “I will give you as a light to the nations,
                that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
                        —Isaiah 49.4, 6

You do not see your own face..
You can’t hold your work in your hands.
You can’t know the whole tapestry
into which you are woven.
God’s grace works within, unseen.
Go with the mere faith
that you are God’s thread.
You won’t see the face of God,
who is so delighted in you.

No star can guess its place in the heavens,
which are nonetheless glorious.
The Beloved is continually making this world,
saying, “Let there be light:”
and you walk out into the darkness,
and God says, “It is good.”
The miracle rolls on to the end of the earth
until all is mended, all is beautiful,
all is blessed.

         
________________________
Weather Report

Low lying fog,
with visibility often reduced
so that you cannot see
the good of your life,
dissipating later;
clearer at higher elevations.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         When Jesus had been baptized,
         just as he came up from the water,
         suddenly the heavens were opened to him.
                  —Matthew 3.16

This love,
it’s as wide as the sky.

The gate to the holy,
it’s as open as the morning.

This blessing,
it’s as eternal as light.

This mystery,
it’s as deep as all of space.

This presence,
it’s as enfolding as the heavens.

This welcome
opens like all the way.

This life comes near
the way the whole universe touches the ground.

This grace,
there’s no way out of it.

         

              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         

         “You are my Own, my Beloved,
         with whom I am well pleased.”

This is as unalterable as the heavens:
you are God’s Beloved, God’s own.
Nothing you do or fail can change that.

         I will tell of the decree of the Lord,
         who said to me, “You are my offspring;
         today I have begotten you.”

You are anointed with the promise of the Messiah,
the task of bearing God’s will into the world.

         “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
         my chosen, in whom my soul delights.”

You are upheld in your work.
Unseen though it may be,
and seemingly unimportant,
it is God’s desire; it is God’s delight.

         “So gently so as not to break a bruised reed
         or quench a dimly burning candle,
         you will faithfully bring forth justice.”

Nonviolently as Christ, without force or coercion,
with only love for all,
you will act for the fullness of life
for all those to whom it is denied.

         “One who endures suffering
         and is acquainted with weakness.”

The promise is not happy trails
or the comfort of triumph
but the mystery of the cross, dying and rising
as you enter the suffering of the world.
                  
         “You are my Own, my Beloved,
         with whom I am well pleased.”

It is not your power or success
but your belovedness,
and that of all whom you meet,
that you bear gloriously into the world,
that transforms it.
Go in peace, and serve the Lord with joy.

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         

         

In this world that can be so cold,
so cold,

the cold that brings on bitter hurt
and numbness,

keeps us hidden in our wrappings,
hearts bundled in private defense,

withdrawn, not touching,
insulated, enfolded in ourselves—

what could make God happier
than this,

that you give
a little warmth?

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Yes, these days come, too:
gray, banal, post-epiphany,
the child in hiding,
the gold spent,
the myrrh lost on the way to Egypt,
the wise men long gone
to a country too far to hail,
the wailing over but
the sadness not,
the road leading
nowhere in particular,
starless.

Remember
it was often this way,
the star lost in fog,
the road drifted over
by weariness.

Still, something led you on.
Someone walked in you
those miles, bore your heart
deep in their robes,
safe from the swirling,
deadening sands.
That is how you have come
to this dreary day.

The promise is not glory,
not certainty, but presence.

This gray
is the inside of God’s robes,
bearing you,
without your guiding,
by another road.

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

         
         

In the beginning was the Word.
What has come into being through the Word was life
and that life is the light of all people.

         +

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness cannot overcome it.

         +

“Where is the child who is born king of the Jews?
For we have seen his star at its appearing
and we have come to pay him homage.”

         +

By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.

         +

Pay attention to this,
as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

         +

The eye is the lamp of the body.
If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

         +

You are the light of the world.
Let your light so shine
that others may see and glorify God.

         +

And there, ahead of them, went the star.

(Jn. 1.1, 4, 5; Mt. 2.1; Lk. 1.78-79; 2 Pet. 1.19; Mt. 6.22; 5.14, 16; 2.9)

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
                  —Matthew 2.1-2

They looked up and saw
what eyes could not see
A shining invitation

A kind of awareness
that was not knowing
but being led

A path unfolding beneath you
a map drawn as you walk it
of ever diminishing distance

Seeking more than facts
a kind of looking that already sees
light where there is darkness

Searching for the way
of humility of gifts
the way to pay homage

Finding glory
in ordinary places
the hidden heavenly light

A whole life on a road of light
a question of presence
a journey of wonder

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com