Month: April 2020

Inside the world’s noise,
beneath its tangled silence,
a solitude unfolds. Be still.

Unreachable by the fearful future,
hidden in the city of this moment,
come to the garden.

Here in this place of no one else
kneel on the soft ground
with the one who is with you,

who though haunted, though hunted,
was here before you and will abide
and hold your place forever,

who, though you mean to stay and pray,
but fail and sleep instead,
still is earnestly praying for you.

Here, though troubles await,
there is one who listens.
There is peace. Listen:

the Beloved, breathing in you.

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

April 6, 2020

          If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand,
         I do not belong to the body,”
         that would not make it any less a part of the body.
                    —1 Corinthians 12.15         

Now we are beginning to understand
we are one body.
We are all dependent and intertwined
with so many, even far away.
A stranger’s hand-washing is my health,
a worker’s delivery is my life.
The well-being of my neighbor
is my well being.
I love my neighbor as myself—
not just as much as myself but
as the rest of of myself.

Blessed Oneness, Divine Wholeness,
bless our unity, that in it
as readily as we spread disease
we may spread love.
Give us your compassion to
care for the least,
for what we do to them we do to you,
and to ourselves.
May we trust the global impact
of our individual actions.
May your one Spirit bring together
our one humanity.
You who are the One, may we be one.
Bless our one, holy, ailing body
with your mercy and your grace.

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

April 3, 2020

We wave our palms,
our cheers made dark
with tears unbidden,
crying “Save us, please,”
our cruelty barely hidden.
Soon enough we will betray.
Behind our walls
we wail, we wait
we dig graves
where no one
will congregate.
We watch the future
shrouded, we lament:
this is not
what we meant,
this pain
we long to avoid.
Inside our hollow “Hosannas”
there is no sound. A void.
We gaze at the ground,
at the grave,
at our fears, the sharp edges
of our tears. Who might save,
might touch that wound?
Amid our sorrow,
our hate,
in our doomed Jerusalem
we wait.

And the little man
of God, of grace,
unafraid to enter,
to embrace
in love
as we wait
rides
toward the gate.

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

April 2, 2020

         Save us, we beseech you, O Love!
         O Love, we beg of you, give us success!
                  —Psalm 118.25

This is our praise.Hosanna does not mean Hooray!
It means Help!
We offer no flattering words,
but confess our dependence
and confidence in you, O God.

Our praise is our trust,
our turning to you: the One
who can save, none other, no less.

That we throw ourselves in your arms,
the we expect grace and mercy from you,
this is our praise.

From our sin and our sorrow,
from our our greed and our graves,
rescue us, O Holy One.

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

April 1, 2020