Author: Steve

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

In this Sunday’s Old Testament reading David dances before the ark “with all his might,” apparently pretty scantily clad. He’s “girded by a linen ephod.” Whatever an ephod is, it isn’t up to dress code. Michal, the former king’s daughter, reams him out for it.

Meanwhile in the Gospel lesson, Herod’s daughter dances at his birthday party. She is applauded, and rewarded with anything she asks—and agrees to ask for the murder of John the Baptist.

Two dances: one soaked in depravity yet praised; the other an honest act of prayer, yet scorned. One is entangled in secret desires and schemes, in bitterness and revenge; the other is free and simple. One dancer reveals too much joy, too much of himself; the other reveals too much fear, too much of the palace’s corruption. One dance is caught up in calculations for getting what one wants; the other is a pure gift. One is designed to please others; the other is offered without regard to what others think. One is a coin passed through many hands; the other a a song sung once.

And here’s the rub: the one that becomes murderous is the one that fits in, that follows the rules, that functions as an acceptable tool of those in power. It’s the dance of the system. The one that is pure worship, the dance of the heart, becomes a scandal.

Pure love never fits in. It exposes us, makes us look foolish. It comes from a place where who we are, our naked self, is lovely, and offered without reservation. It breaks rules, and it often evokes resistance. Fitting in to get what we want is usually rewarded, often by something no less awful than exactly what we wanted. And then by being used by someone else for what they want.

You’re going to dance. The question is not whether, or even how. It’s why.

May God give you both good reason and courage to dance.

Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Right in the middle of his gospel about Jesus, when Jesus sends out his followers to preach and heal, Mark tells a long, sordid story about Herod’s execution of John the Baptist. Herod actually likes listening to John, though he doesn’t get most of what he’s talking about. But among the things John criticizes is Herod’s marriage to his sister in law. So to appease his wife he has John thrown in jail. No particular reason. Just being snotty. Then at a party, the wine flows, everybody gets a little loose, and Herod’s daughter gets up and dances. He likes it so much he promises her anything. She consults mom, who says, “the head of John the Baptist.” And that’s what she asks for. Well, Herod hates to look like a jerk going back on his promise, so has has John killed and his fresh head brought in on a platter. A really nice platter.

The abuse of power, the sleazy inner workings of a dysfunctional family, the easy disregard for life by the powerful, the disasters that come from trying to please others, the poison of resentment, the horrors of corrupt leadership, the destructive power of fear, and, oh, yeah, the tragic price paid by people who tell the truth. Wow. What a slimy tale. Sounds like an episode from The Sopranos. What does that have to do with Jesus? What the heck is it even doing in the Bible?

It’s there because, well, it’s here. That’s the world Jesus sends us out into. We’re sent to be gentle, forgiving, truthful and having integrity among people who are fearful, conniving and self-serving by pleasing others. We’re supposed to be different. It’s also a hint that behind every execution there’s probably a pretty sad backstory full of fearful abuse by those in power. Count on it. People never humbly, courageously condemn others to death.

Today I’m mindful of people in prison, most of whom are there unjustly. (In the US we have over 2 million people in jail, mostly poor black men, mostly there for nonviolent crimes. Nice.) They may or may not have actually harmed society any more than the rich and powerful who put them there. Their real crime is that they are powerless. They are pawns of a system in which people use human life to assuage their fears and maintain their sense of power and social status. You don’t have to be Herod to be part of that story. (The Corrections Corporation of America makes a tidy sum keeping black people in jail. They even promise a 90% occupancy rate. How thoughtful of them.)

The moral of this sad story? Be nonviolent anyway. Don’t use people. Tell the truth. Stand in solidarity with the powerless. And reject the for-profit prison system. The alternative: enjoy the party— and don’t forget to take home your party favor.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

A great old tree has fallen
and taken a few more with it
in its tumble, swept trunks bare,
and left some leaning, bearing bodies.
The one armed pallbearers will stand
a hundred years without regret.
Beneath its jumbled heap of tragedy
great wounds of earth gape brown and fresh
where limbs have pierced and gouged.
The ferns look upward quietly.
A sapling, beech, bent over double,
turns a hand up to the sky.
What lives still in this mess will live,
rooted in these fertile ruins.
There is no surrender,
they are not coping,
but simply, as always,
reaching for the light.
Beetles have already taken notice,
and the ants begin.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Last week they found the Higgs boson! For all you non-calculator-carrying mystical meditating un-geek poetry-reading hippie types, this is a really big deal.

When scientists came up with the math that explains how the physical universe holds together, they had a perfect equation, except for one thing. It explained a universe in which nothing had any mass—there was no substance. In order for things to have mass, there had to be one more factor, that they called the Higgs field, named for the guy who did the math. It’s a dimension of the physical universe that gives things mass when they interact with it. If it’s there, the math says, then there should be a tiny particle, called the Higgs boson. If they found that particle, it would prove almost everything. Trouble is, for 48 years, since it was predicted in 1964, nobody’s been able to find it. It’s been humorously called the “God particle”—not by scientists, but the popular media. In fact some scientists have suggested calling it—pardon the scientific jargon here—the Goddamn particle, for its elusiveness and the trouble and expense it has caused among those trying to find it. Until last week.

(Higgs Boson walks into a Catholic church. Priest says, “How dare you call yourself the God particle! Blasphemer! Get out!” Higgs Boson says: “Well, OK—but without me, you can’t have mass!”)

One thing I love about this whole thing is the “faith in something not seen” they had. Another is the sense of wonder. And another is the Higgs field. Present in all the universe, it gives things mass when they interact with it. Isn’t that sort of like God? God is present in all the universe, and when you interact with God, you are given substance. Nothing else gives you substance, not what happens to you, not what you do, not what others think of you. It’s God’s interaction with you. You aren’t responsible for the substance of your existence: it’s a gift from God. In a way you are a God particle, a tiny manifestation of the holy mystery that holds everything together.

So celebrate with the particle physicists. Like the Higgs boson, it turns out you’re more than just a figment of the world’s imagination. You’re proof of the existence of God.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

I went on vacation for a week.

The world went on without me;
         Another bore it carefully,
         whose world it is, not mine.

I was purely who I am,
         proving nothing.
         earning nothing.

I was present for no end
         but to be present.

It was lovely.

This is the gift of Sabbath.

May it come to you again and again,
         like breathing, like a heartbeat,
         a Word from God.

Shalom.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

God of Sabbath, Master of infinite playfulness,
bless those who are on vacation.
Protect them from the worries of home.
Guide them, that they may become lost
in a new place, with no way but to wander.
Shepherd them to still places.
Watch over them, that they may not stumble
into work or obligation.
Grant them wonder, delight, renewal and release.
Run the world without them.
May their fireworks be grand, their campfires lovely,
their beaches uncrowded, their traffic at peace.
When they are renewed,
bring them home safe, whole and changed.
And may the savoring pace of their absence
stay with them, by your grace.
Amen.

•

I’m off. See you July 9.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         
         

Your life is an open doorway
where God enters the world.
What you say and do,
what you notice,
what you hold and set down,
each is a portal.

The passage is best left open,
not filled.

Fully formed opinions
are of no use,
nor are collections
of little buttons,
things you’ve done right,

only the space
to let God by
and maybe a little
of the breeze
of heaven.

         
         

Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
                  —Mark 5.34

The sacred blood that flowed twelve perfect years
was never stanched—the healing was not such.
Drawn by the Heart most wounded, salved in tears,
still flowing and too sacred to be touched
she surged through calloused throngs; and stained his cloak
and heart with dark, unclotted faith, her true
blood sacrifice, her tithe of pain, that spoke
of life within her flowing, flowing through.
Heart pierced, he blessed his new blood-sister’s flow;
they both the holy mystery revealed
of wounds blood-sanctified, in which we know
that life is uncontained, and we are healed.
The cross thus washed in double flow of blood,
the curse thus hemorrhaged, life renewed its tide,
a welling up, a sea released, a flood
of life her tear-stained face could never hide.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
                  — Mark 4.36-40

Storms will come, count on it.
Times may come when you feel God is asleep,
not taking care of you, protecting you.
“Don’t you care?” you will pray.
Of course God cares, but just isn’t worried. Not at all.

You see, you are perishing, my dear, bit by bit.
God won’t take that from you,
won’t come between you and the storm,
but will go through it with you.

Even as the waves of your fear
wrap their white knuckles around your boat
there he is, curled in the stern,
unworried, vulnerable, babylike, willing.
Do you think he’ll let it sink if he’s in it?

When Jesus, drenched with your life,
cries, “Peace, be still,”
who do you think he’s talking to?

The calm of a storm-free life
might indeed be, as the writer says,
a dead one.

And if this really is the last chapter of your life,
won’t you have had
exactly what both of you want the most—
to be together through it all?

Storms will come.
Peace, be still.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Yesterday at 7:09 p.m. (Eastern time) the sun crossed over the equator. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s now summer. But you folks in Australia and Sough Africa who are starting winter can keep us honest: for everything we experience, there’s another perspective!

In the summer the days will get hotter…but not longer. We’ve had the longest day of the year; they’ll get shorter from today on. The hot days of summer don’t come until after the sun has done its great strenuous work, and the days are already shrinking. In its waning season, the sun is most powerful. Even in these sunny days, the darkness is growing. Even in strength and power, there is still loss and diminishment. In the midst of life, there is death. Balancing the Northern Hemisphere is the Southern.

We long for the light, but God has so tempered the world that there is not pure light, but night and day, summer and winter. We can’t become attached to any one extreme. But we can be attentive to the shading of things, and to the peculiar mix that is in the present moment.

Having passed another birthday last week, I am aware of the linear nature of life: it proceeds in one direction, and will never come this way again. But the solstice reminds us that it is also cyclical. Maybe we move in a spiral. Maybe time is neither strictly circular nor linear, but cumulative, like rings of a tree. We don’t leave the past behind; we add to it. Life is past and future mingled in the present: life and death, attaining and losing, suffering and deliverance, summer and winter, each present, each passing. Therefore even death is not final. There is always more life. Always.

Even in the summer of your life, winter is working. Even as life is growing in you, so is death. Be mindful of both life and death. Honor them both, for they are both blessed. The darkness shines in the light, and the light cannot overcome it.
         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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