Month: November 2015

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         
         
A sob in the night
awakens us from dreams,

a crack opens in the wall
and in seeps the dark stream

with pieces of broken things in it,
and blood, and our own ragged edge,

and in seeps the light,
and the voice singing.

We want to pull the wall around us,
the sorrow pouring in,

but it is breached now,
it is only an illusion,

and we are out in the dangerous light,
the fragile street,

tender as everyone else,
ready to duck, ready to weep.

We are all refugees now,
foreigners, except to foreigners.

It’s the egg that is cracked,
the stone rolled away.

If there is a place for love,
for your own brave soul, this is it.

The cord in another’s heart
knotted in yours,

the hand reaching for you
you can reach out to.

Terror and the stillness,
and the voice singing.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         Many will come in my name and say “I am the one!”
         and they will lead many astray.
                  —Mark. 13.6

Many indeed. Preachers claim to have the one Gospel, religions claim to be “the one way,” candidates claim to be “the one.” I myself come in the name of Jesus and claim to have the true faith. But I am at best only a student, often just a wannabe, and sometimes an outright impostor. It’s not that hard to tell who’s an authentic bearer of Christ, God’s anointed one, and who is a fraud. Jesus said “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15.12). Paul says “If I have faith so as to move mountains but have not love I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13.2). All of my political theories, all of my religious knowledge, spiritual wisdom, strong faith and impressive deeds are nothing. Only love. I am true to Christ only when I act toward others with the self-giving love I have received, the same unconditional, life-giving forgiveness, attentiveness, healing, kinship and encouragement that God has given me. Candidates, preachers, religions and we ourselves are impostors and will lead many astray unless we practice love and teach love, especially toward those most needing it.

         +

I behold your love.

         +

I receive your love.

         +

I practice your love.
         

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

         How can I give you up, my beloved?
                  How can I hand you over, O Israel?
        My heart recoils within me;
                  my compassion grows warm and tender.
         I will not execute my fierce anger;
                  I will not destroy you;
         for I am God and no mortal,
                  the Holy One in your midst,
                  and I will not come in wrath.
                           —Hosea 11.8-10

I am not your enemy.
I am for you, not against.
I am not like your anger,
I am not your fear.
I am your joy, your peace.
I am your breathing, your heartbeat,
your blood, your Being.
I am the fullness of you,
unfolding as you let me.
I have only blessing for you,
like a mother for her newborn.
I am your perfection, longing for you.
My judgment is not harsh, but pure mercy,
my seeing your brilliance folded in the bud,
my knowledge of your beauty waiting in you.
I do not judge your doubts
but give you strength to tear them open
and find in them the mirror of your grace.
I know your childish fears,
your helpless lashing out,
I have seen the rage seeping into you.
My wrath burns not against you but that lie.
I will hold you until you quiet in my arms.
You are angry because you are afraid
that I am not here for you
but I am here
                   for you.
Be still, and let me hold you.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

         
         

For all who have served their country I pray:
for soldiers and resisters, laborers and mothers,
those who fought and those who prayed,
I pray for your mercy.

For those who sacrificed— in combat, in jail,
in sorrow, in prayer, in protest—I pray for your mercy.

For those who sacrifice to heal us of our violence
and bring true reconciliation, I pray for your mercy.

For those who choose war, who plan violence,
for all who find security in armament instead of you,
I pray for your mercy.

For our nation, that we may be loyal to one another,
not only to some, and not to our fears,
I pray for your mercy.

For our world, that we may be healed,
I pray for your mercy.

For me, that I may work for peace,
for healing and reconciliation,
that I may resist the violence in my heart
and in my world, I pray for your mercy.

For your grace that alone saves us and protects us,
that alone asks our loyalty and allegiance,
I pray, and trust in your mercy. Amen.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Great trees, towering clouds.
“Look, Teacher, what large stones, what great buildings!”
The leaves are all falling, the clouds passing away
in great cities, among large buildings.
Not one stone will be left on another.
The wind gathers and scatters the leaves,
they huddle in corners and windrows.
What would you do, if only for a season?
I rake leaves, I turn the compost.
The towering prayers of the saints,
the great faith of the people I admire,
the lives of those I love,
they tumble and blow.
My great deeds and mistakes,
the stones of my flesh,
it all will be thrown down.
Under a tree now bare, in North Dakota,
under a showering of leaves,
is a grave for me, my wife,
our sons and their mates.
The beginnings of the birthpangs.
When will this all be?
There will be wars and rumors of wars.
Leaders come and go, markets and rise and fall.
Papers gathered and scattered by the wind.
Many will come and say, “This is it!”
The oak by the road holds its leaves into March.
Don’t be alarmed.
Look at the trees who believe in winter,
the buds hardening under their coats.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

         
         

I am this morning meadow
         into which you pour yourself.

I am the still air
         in which you rise, a mountain, huge.

I am this city street
         which you walk, a crowd
         with your stories, your nations.

I am this bird
          and you are flight, and song.

I am the ocean
         and you are my water.

I am the desert
         and you are my stillness.

I am this heart
         and you are my beating.

You are this day
         into which you pour me, 
         breath by breath.

Together,
         we are this life.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
      
         

Maybe when you open the sacred book
the little bits of truth come flying out
like birds and if you’re lucky
one of them lands in the tree of you.
It doesn’t have much to do with
penetrating the world with your wisdom,
just being there waiting.

Maybe when you open the book
they all hold very very still
like frogs in the pond
and you have to be as still as they
to see one of them move.
They are not hiding, just waiting.

Maybe you are the book
and none of the birds in you are caged
and none of them ever fly away.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight (at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         Then the fire of the Holy One fell
         and consumed the burnt offering,
         the wood, the stones, and the dust,
         and even licked up the water that was in the trench.
                  —1 Kings 18.38

The prophets of fertility and satisfaction cry
from the pop up ads and the sports channels,
the campaign trails and the tanning beds,
commanding the gods.
But the fire of the Holy One
is not summoned.
The flame in your eyes,
the fire in your hands
does not satisfy: it consumes,
even the dust.

It falls from the trees,
the flaming colors fall, the orange flames,
the red and yellow and russet flames
consume the wood and the stones,
the embers cover the stones and the dust
and even the water in the runnels. It falls,

and either you stand back
or you catch.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
                  —Mark 12.

True poverty and riches are in our hearts,
         not our pockets.

Fear is the only prison that prevents us
from loving deeply,
from giving freely,
from living richly.

Generosity is the power that sets us free.
It melts the prison bars.
It fills the coffers of our hearts.

In generosity, regardless of circumstances,
even the penniless are not poor,
even the destitute are not alone,
even the flat broke are not afraid.

Give everything you have,
all you have to live on,
and you will be free
and unafraid.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
                  
They speak to us
through the curtain
of trees,
who have befriended
the shadow
of light,
they shine
down the long hall of time,
who have surrendered
to their own infinity.
They have leapt over the abyss
between this world
and the unseen
to tell us
there is no abyss.

Our mourning is not tragic,
but part of the deep colors
of the wide, turning earth.

What they have let go now
is their love,
and it flows
forever.

What they are trying to tell us
in their loving silence
is that we are free.

.
.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com