Month: March 2016

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         “I tell you, if these were silent,
                  the stones would shout out.”
                           —Luke 19.40

Silently, they cry out.
The stone the builders rejected
has been made the cornerstone.
God gave Moses the tablets of stone.
God is able from these stones
to raise up children of Abraham.
Command this stone to become a loaf of bread.
You who are without sin cast the first stone.
No stone will be left on another.
I will remove your hearts of stone.
Your bother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
The stone was rolled away.
Even the stones know they are dust
and to dust they shall return,
evolving always toward gentleness,
toward each other.
The stones cry out, all Creation sings
praise to God’s love made present,
wails in lament for our fearful cruelty
and the cry of the dispossessed,
those who are trampled, thrown,
treated like dirt, stoned,
used for our wars and imprisonments.
Even the stones shout
hope for the word to come.
Listen to the stones.
Let your heart join them.

 

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 said, “Blessed is the king
                  who comes in the name of the Lord!”…
         As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying,
         “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day
                  the things that make for peace!
         But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
                  —Luke 19.39, 41-42

Let them have their warriors and demagogues.
I will have only you,

humble and riding on a donkey,
king not of might but of love.

Ride into the city of my heart,
its prideful palaces and their corruption,

the dark alleys of fear,
the crowded hovels of inadequacy.

Ride in and be my sovereign:
endure my shouts and curses,

rise above my judgments and certainties,
and reign over me in love and forgiveness.

Then let me be your loyal subject in this world,
this day ruled by other kings, other laws.

Show me how to reign, not dominate.
teach me the things that make for peace.

Keep me close to you in this fickle crowd,
steady amid the yelling and fighting,

gentle in the face of brutality,
mighty with the awesome power of love,

my lord, ruler of the universe,
little king with the holes in his hands.

 

 

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.

 

 

After long icy months
the little frogs emerge,
thaw out and sing
their joy to be able
to sing for joy, sing wonder,
sing their longing, and ours,
a more than mating call,
naively throwing their hope
into the air, and ours,
not just for the more
but for the someone.
There’s little to do about it
but to notice the longing
and make a habit of knowing it,
even without words,
trusting it, even just
the high, earnest sound
of our mating call for God
and the faithful waiting,
married to the promise,
which has also been faithful
for millions of years.
You walk along the pond and listen,
let your heart rise a little,
and wait.

 

 

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.

 

Though I know better
the trees look dead.

 

Here and there a little prison
of ice is forgiven.

 

Little green hands reach up through leafmold
and I can’t let go.

 

A door opens inside me
I didn’t know was there.

 

________________________
Weather Report

Possibility,
which only recently
seems to have become possible
though it has been riding upper currents
from the other side of the world.
A clear front develops
as everything emerges from within.
Expect variable conditions,
and completely predictable
intermittent surprises.

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.

 

 

The Beloved
holds your feet.

 

The Holy One anoints them
with her tears.

 

Let the aroma of her joy
and sorrow fill your house.

 

Let her
hold you.

 

Even when they pierce
your feet with nails,
fragrance will spring forth.

 

 

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.
         
         Mary anointed Jesus’ feet.
         Judas said, “Why was this perfume not sold
                  and the money given to the poor?”
         Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it
                  so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.
         You always have the poor with you,
                  but you do not always have me.”
                           —from John 12.3-8

Jesus ponders his recent raising of Lazarus from the dead. He ponders the nature of death and mortality. He knows he is going to die soon. The future haunts him.

The disciples don’t see it, but Mary does. She anoints him with oil of comfort and healing, of protection and honor. A whole pound of it, a full jar, for that is how much she loves him. Even suspecting the sorrow to come, in this moment she pours out the perfume of her joy. She blesses these feet that soon will have to bear a terrible burden. The fragrance fills the house. And for this one brief moment in this long, brutal story, someone does something kind for Jesus.

Time stops; the moment shines. It feels good on his feet, good in his heart. For this moment he is at peace; he is loved. Mary has brought him from his memories and fears and responsibilities into the present moment—where there is overabundant blessing.

Jesus’s defense of her prodigal act is not ignoring the poor, or the disciples’ need to feed them. He is inviting them back into the present moment, where she has brought him. She is preparing his body for burial while she can. This is her chance. Jesus says, “You can help the poor as long as you live, and you should—but we are here, now, in this moment. You will not always have me.” Live in the present moment. Choose while you can. Bless while you can. Love while you can.

You will not always have each other. May God give you the faith to pour out the jar of your love this day, while you can. May it be for those who receive it a blessing for what they have suffered, or what is to come. May you find abundant grace in the present moment. Even now the Tender One is bathing your feet in her oil of gladness.

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

         
         They gave a dinner for him. Martha served,
                  and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.
         Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard,
                  anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.
         The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
         Jesus said, “She bought it
                  so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.”
                           —John 12.3-4, 7

                  1

The losses you have borne,
the hill of skulls yet to climb,
         he knows.

                  2

Around the table the twelve celebrate.
His thoughts are elsewhere,
         still weeping outside that tomb,
         already weeping in Gethsemane.

                  3

Grateful, she who has lost
         offers a fragrant gift.
Seeing, anoints him as a prophet.
Wounded, comes alongside,
         covers his feet with healing balm
         for the nails to come.
Bowing, brings perfume for his tomb.
         Does she already know
         she won’t need it then?

                  4

Accompanied in pain and humiliation,
blessed for what is to come,
he will know
         to wash their feet.

                  5

Death and healing mingle
in our journey
         that is not for ourselves.

                  6

Between death and death
the fragrance of self-giving
         fills our house.

                  7

The cup, the font, the basin
         have shadows deep as a grave,
         light bravely borne.

                  8

Before your harrowing journey
         a baptism of tears,
         gentle hands on your feet.

__________________
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.

 

Walking in the dark
you bump into something,
can’t say what.
But there’s light in it.

A gash opens on your leg,
blood trickling out, gently.
There’s light in it.

You cry out, your voice
trickling out into the darkness.
There’s light in it.

There is no answer,
only the soft thickness of the darkness
like an animal’s mane
and the light in it.

Your cry has a lump in it,
a lump of deeper hurt, very old,
not in your leg.
Yes, there’s light in it.

You go on in the dark,
wondering about all this,
and the wonder is like
a piece of candy in your mouth.
You don’t want to swallow it,
you just want to savor it.
And the light.

 

 

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.

What reptile robbed the nest of me,
what godlike voice so unlike God said not
to call myself holy,
to know myself home?
What crafty serpent convinced me not
to know myself beautiful,
to trust myself beloved,
to feel myself enough?

A worse refusal than of my sin
is my sin itself, that cloaks the luminous.
I renounce the devil and all his ways,
his lies about what I’m not.

I can learn the poem of myself
even if its meaning escapes me,
being in a foreign language,
and chant its beauty in crowded streets.

On the long road home
through the desert of denial,
the wilderness of not seeing, not trusting,
the narrow path through the old ruins,
a great bird has flown up from me,
and leads the way.

 

 

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

         
         
O Prodigal God, wastefully loving,
recklessly extravagant with grace,
excessively generous with forgiveness,
liberal with tender mercy and compassion,
lavish with hope and delight:
you shower us with love
that we are not prepared to receive.
You know the hurt beneath our fleeing,
the fear enclosed in our anger
and our clutching of what is deserved.
You embrace us freely and passionately,
free from our past, knowing and healing our pain,
in the present moment, celebrating.

You have recklessly given us your love:
may we spread it wantonly, give it all away,
spend it on the unlovely, waste it on the unworthy.
May we set aside our pride and practice delight.
May we claim again the siblings we have spurned,
and gladly celebrate those we have excluded.
May we offer hospitality to the unlovely,
forgive where it is unwarranted,
and love when it is unreasonable.

In your love may we love lavishly,
without exception or measurement.
Yes, it will break our hearts;
we shall be taken advantage of, and worse—
we shall be crucified, and only your love will remain.
And then for us, who have died and are alive again
you will give a great feast.
By your grace may this life be a reunion,
a celebration, a resurrection,
that in prodigal love we may know your joy,
your giving, dancing, feasting, running, embracing joy.

__________________
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