Author: Steve

             For our sake God made Christ to be sin
                    who knew no sin,
             so that in Christ
                   we might become the righteousness of God.
                                             —1 Corinthians 5.21

Righteousness is not being right;
it’s being in harmony.,
being in tune with God, and one another.

We are chronically out of tune;
but Christ meets us, matches our flat notes,
makes a love song with our wayward noise.

We try to make a solo,
but God sings along and makes a duet,
a whole chorus, a symphony, a choir of angels.

Despite our discord
we become part of God’s beautiful harmony.
We become the righteousness of God.

This miracle, this flash of genius,
music where there was none,
can become the song of one’s life.

As we listen,
as we tune ourselves to this grace,
our lives become more and more beautiful.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             The younger son said,“Give me my share of the property…”
             The older son said, “You never gave me so much as a goat…”
                         —Luke 15.12, 29

Gracious One, I imagine your sadness
that we only pray for the stuff we want—
not for you, for your closeness —for your sake.

“Please fix this disease.
Thanks for the sunset.
Protect my child.”

There is so much I want,
so much I worry about.
I lay them all down.

I just want you. No stuff.
Let me be near to you.
Beloved, hold me close.

Not for me, but for you, for love of you,
may I always, most generously,
extravagantly, give myself to you.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Fear is Satan’s press secretary.
It will try to convince you of all kinds of lies.

Dread of the future is sometimes justified—
but be wary: it wants to kidnap the present.

Sit with your fear, and listen.
Do you fear losing something?

Then beneath your fear is grief.
Grieve, then, as if all is already lost.

Grief, of course, is love made powerless.
Well, we were powerless to begin with.

Let your fear sink into grief and rise as love.
Bereft now of all but love, nothing else to lose,

you are not captive to your fear.
You carry it, like a costly treasure.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Imagine a story about a recklessly extravagant man
who has lost two sons to two different shades of pride.
To each he goes out, forgives, welcomes, offers his wealth,
and invites them in to a party, because he is happy.

Imagine his joy withstanding their selfishness,
two sons who only speak of what they want from him,
who distance themselves from him and each other—
and still his joy overflows.

Imagine a God so prodigal with grace and blessing,
who loves us who have strayed
and us who think we’re more deserving,
and, free of our past, embraces us all, and is happy.

Imagine being a prodigal of God, extravagantly loving,
spreading it wantonly, forgiving the undeserving,
living in the present moment, totally free,
trusting God’s abundance, and full of joy.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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O Homeless Heart,
may mine be yours
till you are not.

O Love, O Leap of Joy,
may yours be mine
till it is everyone’s.

O Broken Heart,
break wide in me,
that I may be made whole.

O Sorrowing Soul,
whose tears are love,
your grieving is my hope.

O Meekest One,
whose only might is not your own,
your powerlessness be my strength.

O Crucified God,
your death be my birth,
your risen life my life.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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I am on my deathbed.
Here are gathered
my most beloved,
nine around me,
and behind them twenty more,
and beyond a million more,
a great circle of those to whom I belong.

As the great eye closes
they start to fade.
—But look! It is they who depart, not I!

I am here in my present moment,
in my belovedness forever.
But they are drifting off into mystery,
into unknown futures, hidden wonders,
unseen dangers, unimagined losses.
I worry for them.

I lean against the fading.
I push my way back.
I come to them alive and vibrant.

Now. I have this time, these hours
or decades,
to love them well,
to love them fully and fiercely
before they are taken from me.

My life is my deathbed,
and nothing but love my final act.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             “Let the tree alone for one more year,
             until I dig around it and put manure on it.
             If it bears fruit next year, well and good…”
                         —Luke 13.8-9

God, your judgment
is not punishment but mercy,
what nourishes me,
even if it comes in disruption,
and having to deal with some shit.

Holy One,
how are you digging around
in the soil of my soul?
What are you disturbing?
Loosening? Unearthing?
Give me patience to abide,
and wisdom to attend.

Show me how I might be nurtured
by the crap I endure.
Your will is not to punish or to test,
but to enrich the soil of my heart
so I may grow in trust and generosity,
and bear the fruit of your love.
In all things, God, feed my soul.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Beloved, God of peace,
          I listen for your voice alone.

Amid chaos and disturbance
          I tune my heart to the silence within.

Amid the swirling, the urgency,
          I surrender to your serenity.

Despite the shouting of hate and greed
          I seek harmony with your love.

Despite the noise of force and threat
          I tune myself to your song of peace.

Even despite my fear of unworthiness,
          bring my heart into perfect pitch.

Tune my heart to your love,
          that I may live in harmony with your grace.

Amen.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             Do you think that because these Galileans
             suffered in this way they were worse sinners
             than all other Galileans?
             No, I tell you; but unless you repent,
             you will all perish as they did.
                                      —Luke 13.2-3

To repent I begin by trashing my list
of those whose sin is surely worse than mine.
The point is not to judge how far someone is
from perfect love, but how far off I am.

When I separate myself from them—
even those I despise—who are my own flesh,
I diminish. I wither. I perish.

Instead, I accept the profound evil of the world,
and that I am part of it.
Goodness is not anyone’s, but God’s alone.
All of us, equally sinful, equally forgiven,
are one Body, warring against itself,
one flesh, unwell and graced.

In this mystery is peace,
a baptismal drowning and rising,
in which I am serene, humbled,
given courage, and ready to repent.

Not by being better, but by being one,
I face even the cruelest
without pride or fear,
with the generous strength of mercy and grace.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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There was a moment
she stood in a doorway
dressed as a princess,
holding a plastic pitchfork,
lit from behind with magic,
and she looked perfect,
even the pitchfork,
little angel and little devil,
because she had just
totally trashed the play room.
And he knew
both the princess and the imp
were costumes; the real girl
was deep inside.

That night he watched her sleeping,
watched her a long time,
wondering at the real girl
she still was, deep inside,
even sleeping, still her,
for whom his love would not change.

Now these many years later
he remembers that,
sitting by her mother’s bedside
in the memory unit where,
costumed in harsh bewilderment,
she is more imp than princess,
and most of the time neither,
but hardly there,
and yet
there she is, the real person
deep inside,
all the costumes shed now,
so much of her mostly sleeping,
and yet, still there, still her,
for whom his love would not change.

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