Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Last week our son Erin presented his capstone project for completion of two Master’s degrees, in Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning. His project is a brilliant plan to turn a toxic Superfund site landfill in Washington, D.C. into a beautiful, job-producing, educational, community-building park and museum. It’s really complicated. It would take decades to turn a seven-story tall mountain of garbage into a beautiful park?and it could only happen if a lot of people and agencies cooperate. It involves toxic waste remediation, new land structures, parks and plantings, roadways and riversides, community centers and teaching sites, and a lot of politics and millions of bucks. He thought about how everything fits in: flowers, trash, jobs and bikes, buried refrigerators and nearby neighborhoods, plytoremediation, water flows and tourists. Everything is a part of it.
Jesus told stories about how God is turning the toxic waste dump of human history into a beautiful, life-giving, community-building blessing. It’s complicated, and it involves multiple dimensions of personal and communal transformation. The Realm of God involves prayer and politics, hard work, healing and miracles. There are a lot of working parts.
And you are one of them. Each of us is gifted to be a part of God’s restoration of all Creation. God breathes Spirit into us for this purpose. You may not see how you fit in, but you do. None of us can see the whole thing. (Erin did a lot of research and knows a lot of Stuff that didn’t show up in his presentation.) You have been placed in this life and given certain gifts for the sake of the mending of the world. Like even a humble clump of grass in Erin’s plan, your love, courage or forgiveness may not seem like much. But God is counting on it. Even your limits, your struggles and your failures can be a part of the plan.
Trust the mystery of God’s healing of the world. Accept your part in it, even if you do not see it. Look for signs of love’s healing power. Pray that God may bless the world through you. The New Creation is coming—it’s a brilliant plan—and you’re one small part of it.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
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Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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