We had hoped that he was the one
to redeem Israel.
— Luke 24.21
But that wasn’t hope. It was wishing.
It was too small, too maybe-maybe-not.
Married to peace but flirting with despair,
fooling around with wait and see.
Listen. God’s quiet presence is absolute.
Your sins can’t budge it. Death can’t touch it.
Beware the illusion that the Beloved has gone,
that you are alone, or doomed.
Even in tragedy, the collapse of everything,
the Beloved walks with you, toward grace.
Don’t be afraid to go into your sadness,
to walk that long dusty road of your shame.
Jesus took your despair with him to the grave,
the finality of disaster, the last possible dawn.
Now the stone has been rolled from the tomb.
Longing has been raised as true hope,
trust in the One who can’t be kept away from you.
Behold: both of you, eternally, are alive.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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