Month: June 2016

         Now there was a great wind…                   but the Lord was not in the wind;          and after the wind an earthquake,                   but the Lord was not in the earthquake;          and after the earthquake a fire,                   but the Lord was not in the fire;          and after the fire a sound of deep silence.                            —1 Kings 19.11-12

Beneath the earthquake, wind and fire          that are always here I listen for your silence          that is always here, your deep, luscious silence          speaking to me, singing.

I listen to your deep silence          breathing in me. I listen for the sound of it,          its great sea moving,          its stars whirling. I listen into the deep          that welcomes me.

Beneath the noise and rush and flame          your silence unfolds in me, the great rose of you           opening to my own silence and I become your silence          unfolding into the world.          

__________________ 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.           This morning our New England Annul Conference is considering a motion (overwhelmingly passed in a non-binding vote last night) that we “not conform or comply with the provisions of the Discipline which discriminate against LGBTQIA persons.” The Spirit is moving. I invite your prayers.

Deep Blessings, Pastor Steve

                           Praying with Psalm 42

As a deer longs for flowing streams,        so my soul longs for you, O God.

                  We cry out with those who long for justice,                   who long to know your mercy and your comfort,                   who yearn for a place of safety and belonging.

My tears have been my food day and night,        while people say to me continually,         “Where is your God?”

                  We hollow out a space in our hearts for those                   who are wounded by our words, our actions and inaction.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,          and why are you disquieted within me?

                  We mourn in solidarity and cry out in anger                   with those who suffer persecution and bigotry. By day the Lord commands steadfast love,           and at night God’s song is with me,           a prayer to the God of my life.

                  We give thanks for your love that prevails,                   that lives on in the hearts of the faithful,                   and we repent of our closed and stony hearts.

I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?           Why must I walk about mournfully            because the enemy oppresses me?”

                  We acknowledge the gifts of those who are oppressed,                   the beauty we have cast away from us.

Hope in God; for I shall again praise the Holy One,           my help and my God.

                  You give us the faith do justice;                   you give us hope in your grace;                   you give us love that we may love                   on earth as in heaven. 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.

         As they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes.          a man of the city who had demons met him.                   —from Luke 8.26-39

Jesus meets a man under the power of something foreign to his own soul, but not just a man: a people, a world. But he sees the person beneath the demon.

The man lives among the dead, cherishes, perhaps, the aura of death. His demons lead to violence; all violence is demonic. They are “Legion.” There is more than one: it is an army (a Roman legion), a culture. Neither blaming nor curing one man will bring peace.

The demons cry out against Jesus. There is always resistance to healing, rage at the offer of mercy.

Jesus casts the demons into a herd of swine. Who would eat the meat of so many unclean beasts but a legion of the Roman army? Jesus casts the Roman Empire into the abyss.

The locals are afraid. They take up the demons’ cry and cast Jesus out. There is always resistance to healing, rage at the sight of love. The man, now restored, wants to follow Jesus but he sends him back to his city, his world, living proof of God’s transforming grace.

So many systems are at work, legions of demons, cultures, communities, armies of fear. The drama is local but the struggle is cosmic. Jesus, too, works with a power beyond his own soul, a power that heals people and cultures, love that sees persons beneath labels and sets them free, that sends fear into the sea, that re-orders the cosmos.

We face legions and their weapons; the enemy is never one man and his demons. But when Christ heals even one person the world tips and plunges evil into the sea. Love destroys what the Empire of Fear feeds on. We are at the edge of the abyss, the dark waters of Creation, where God calls forth light. And those who have been set free go through the city as the light of what God has done.

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.                    There is no longer Jew or Greek,          there is no longer slave or free,          there is no longer male and female;          for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.                   —Galatians 4.28

It is so hard to avoid categorizing, judging, labeling. I do so in anxiety about my own judgment. I want to be “the way I’m supposed to be.” I want to be “good enough.” So in fear I distinguish and judge. I hate in others what I fear in myself. I find others offensive so that I can feel acceptable. Without realizing I’m doing it I define “normal.”

I participate in systems — Legion — that distinguish, judge, define and dehumanize people. My language and culture devalues women, gays, foreigners, introverts, the traumatized, those whose bodies aren’t like mine. Cancer? You’re brave. Schizophrenia? You’re crazy.

And when my normativeness is religious — when I curse people on behalf of God — it becomes murderous. Someone deports a bus full of immigrants, or massacres a reservation full of Indians, or shoots a club full of gays or a church full of blacks, because for God I have already killed them.

God, I repent of my murderous distinctions.          I renounce normal. Help me shed my judgments,          extend only mercy, and stand against the evil of my own culture,          even my own church. Help me cast out the demons,          beginning in myself. Open my eyes that I may see only your children,          all your children.                            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

Your heart beats in my heart. Your breath flows through me.

I breathe in the sorrow of the world. I breathe out mercy.

I breathe in the fear of the world. I breathe out mercy.

I breathe in the pain of the world. I breathe out mercy.

I breathe in the rage of the world. I breathe out mercy.

I enter the Great Wound, and I breathe mercy.

You breathe mercy in me, breathe deep mercy in all of us.

__________________ 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

          My dear beloved, I hold you in my hands because I want to. You are my delight. You are perfect. You are perfect.

I love you more than you imagine ? how can you know, small as you are, what love I have for you that pours out of my heart without your asking? When you are hungry or upset how can you think of my joy in you? ? but there it is. I love you for no reason, no reason at all, and you can’t change it, your mood or your behavior mean nothing. You may cause distress for me and those who love you but you cannot disappoint me or make me turn away because I love you for no reason at all, and I will love you the same, now and always, no less than when you were newborn.

__________________ 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.                    A woman in the city, who was a sinner,          stood behind him at his feet, weeping,          and began to bathe his feet with her tears….          He said, “Do you see this woman?”                   —Luke 7.37, 44

No, we do not see. To one of Jesus’ most arresting questions, we have to answer: we don’t see her. We see our prejudices and stereotypes. We see our fears and projections. We don’t see this woman; we see what we think of her. We see a sinner. We see someone disrupting our dinner. We see someone who makes us uncomfortable. Which is to say, we see our judgment, our expectations, our discomfort. We see our own stuff. We don’t see her.

But Jesus saw this woman, really saw her. He saw her pain and her strength, her gratitude, her courage, her transformation. He saw the precious value of her gift. He saw her soul at work. He saw God’s grace in her.

Jesus really saw people. He saw who they were and knew their story, not because he had ESP but because he paid attention. The woman at the well, the bent over woman, the rich man, Bartimaeus, the woman who touched him in a crowd… he really saw people because he wanted to. He paid attention. And there was healing in his seeing. What he saw in people was not their flaws but the mercy of God. And seeing the grace was like sunlight on plants: it made people heal and grow and bear fruit.

God, help me really see. Help me set aside my feelings and judgments, and see whole people, your beloved, precious souls. Help me see myself: help me notice my projections, and name my fears and expectations; help me confess my blinders and set them aside so I can see. Beloved, help me really see people, really see your grace, really see at all. Beloved, I want to see.  

          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.          

         A woman who was a sinner began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. She continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.” …          Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”                   —Luke 7.37-39, 50

Your faith is not your steadfast belief, not certainty beyond questions. Your faith is not what you think of God or God’s anointed, for you yourself have done some powerful anointing. Your faith is giving your gifts, without questioning how valued they are, without questioning how worthy you are, but simply offering what is in you.

What saves you is knowing you are received without price, without judgment. The Savior’s love is indeed powerful, but how precious is what you have done for the Beloved.

God’s giving and receiving are married in you.

All that is broken is forgiven, all that is wounded is healed, all that is offered is cherished.

All that is broken is forgiven, all that is wounded is healed, all that is offered is cherished.

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

Holy One,          Life-Giver, Womb of all Being and Unfolding of All in joy,          we thank you, for everything is a gift. Every moment is pregnant with your grace          and every difficulty bears your presence. Every person reveals your beauty;          every being is a Word of your mercy. Each created thing hides blessings we cannot comprehend;          your wonders exceed our imagining. Ours is not the power,          nor the wisdom nor the glory. All our labors are only to birth your grace.          All our knowledge is only to behold your mystery. Every moment is a newborn child;          we hold your miracles in our hands. Bless us that we my live in wonder and gratitude,          that we may honor your gifts, that we may care tenderly for all you have given us          and cherish your delight. May your love sing in our hearts                  and your mercy in all that we do. Miraculous God, we thank you,          we ask your blessing,          and we trust your grace. 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.          

          We are waiting for the birth of a baby, waiting and laboring past due.           We pray, how long, O Lord? And you answer, this long, this long.

We are not waiting not for the clock, not waiting for this to become that,           but waiting for the unfolding of your mercy, gestation’s blessed delay.

We wait not for our desire, our favored outcome, but for you alone.

We wait for the desire to control to leave, the despair that all’s in our hands.

Your grace is in this world unseen, your presence embracing, unfurling.

In grace you work your delight even now, in love you wait beside us.

For all who wait for healing, for all who wait for joy,

we pray their waiting be fruitful, that their waiting be for you.

They don’t see but they already know. Blessed are they who wait for the Lord.

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