Category: Reflections

         
         
God of Love,
in a world great with darkness
I drink your light.

In a world of violence
I soften my heart.

In a world of fear
I deepen my breath.

In a word of grief
I enlarge my embrace.

In a world of shouting
I open my roots.

In a world of fragments
I let myself belong.

In a world of walls
I go out into the streets:

I bear you to those
who are mad with hunger for you.

In a world of fissures
I return to you,
always to you.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Renounce the hope
that in the Second Coming
Christ will act more like Caesar
than Jesus of Nazareth.
God meant it the first time,
and it will be no different.
The cross is not God’s B game.
God comes among us
not conquering but asking for love.

Christ lures us away from supremacy.
Christ is an outcast,
whomever we reject or despise
(“so marred was his appearance”)
to heal us of our resistance to love.
Christ is homeless, a refugee, a migrant.
Christ is black, queer, alien.

The only barrier between us and heaven
is the limit of our love.
God comes as the Other
and asks us to love
and the Kingdom comes no sooner
than we see her and love her.
The Second Coming
has come a million times
and we keep missing it.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?”
         Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king.
         For this I was born, and for this I came into the world,
         to testify to the truth.
         Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
                  —John 18.37

No, you are not a king.
You claim no authority, or power.
You will not come now or in end times
to conquer, to coerce, even to insist.
You neither receive nor offer
the smugness of supremacy.
You are not a king in a beggar’s disguise,
but a beggar,
not clinging to heaven, but utterly empty,
choosing the life of a slave
in suffering, weakness and rejection
sure to confuse our earthly delusion.

No, you are not a king—
but what word do we have
for love that can’t be defeated,
love that triumphs even in tattered lives,
that turns back even our worst sin?
What word do I have for the One
who stands over all that I fear,
whose love orders my life
like the laws of physics,
whose gravity holds me so?
What word do I have
for one who so owns me
and sets me free,
for a love that gives me
my life, true and radiant,
rising from my own ruins,
and— I am powerless over it—
makes me want to follow,
to obey with all of my being?

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Every now and then
we leave off our pious yearnings,
and even our righteous ire,
and sit down to the hard work 
of being sad for the world.

It takes guts, God knows—
not anger but sorrow;
it tires prophets and psalmists alike.
The wolf that cries in the long valley,
the sea that chants its lament
over and over with sighs and tears,
the hermit on sore knees,
the angels at their posts
taking turns offering up their
aching hearts,
even Christ weeping,
they can’t do it alone.

In the end it is
the broken hearted
in whom we find
the deepest companionship.
We come away wet with grief
yet oddly strengthened
with the fibers of hope.
In grief for the world we touch its worth.
In sorrow we find each other,
and there, the substance of joy.

Weird, isn’t it, how that alone
is the healing balm we ask?

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Deep in the dark, tangled bone
is an original wound unhealed,
terror at a missing god,
despair bent to rage and loathing.
For eons we’ve borne the shadow,
generation to generation.
No one invents or refines it,
but merely passes it on,
stick in hand.

But even deeper is a root of light,
and within that, open space,
and within that a song,
and someone singing.
No wound can erase the space,
no darkness still the song,
no rage frighten the one singing.

There is no difference that matters
but loyalty to the wound or to the song.
There is no religion but the healing.
It is never impossible to choose
as the Gentle One did
the afternoon the light failed.
Be balm. Let the wound go,
breathe deeply
and sing that undying song.

.
.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         
         
A sob in the night
awakens us from dreams,

a crack opens in the wall
and in seeps the dark stream

with pieces of broken things in it,
and blood, and our own ragged edge,

and in seeps the light,
and the voice singing.

We want to pull the wall around us,
the sorrow pouring in,

but it is breached now,
it is only an illusion,

and we are out in the dangerous light,
the fragile street,

tender as everyone else,
ready to duck, ready to weep.

We are all refugees now,
foreigners, except to foreigners.

It’s the egg that is cracked,
the stone rolled away.

If there is a place for love,
for your own brave soul, this is it.

The cord in another’s heart
knotted in yours,

the hand reaching for you
you can reach out to.

Terror and the stillness,
and the voice singing.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         Many will come in my name and say “I am the one!”
         and they will lead many astray.
                  —Mark. 13.6

Many indeed. Preachers claim to have the one Gospel, religions claim to be “the one way,” candidates claim to be “the one.” I myself come in the name of Jesus and claim to have the true faith. But I am at best only a student, often just a wannabe, and sometimes an outright impostor. It’s not that hard to tell who’s an authentic bearer of Christ, God’s anointed one, and who is a fraud. Jesus said “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15.12). Paul says “If I have faith so as to move mountains but have not love I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13.2). All of my political theories, all of my religious knowledge, spiritual wisdom, strong faith and impressive deeds are nothing. Only love. I am true to Christ only when I act toward others with the self-giving love I have received, the same unconditional, life-giving forgiveness, attentiveness, healing, kinship and encouragement that God has given me. Candidates, preachers, religions and we ourselves are impostors and will lead many astray unless we practice love and teach love, especially toward those most needing it.

         +

I behold your love.

         +

I receive your love.

         +

I practice your love.
         

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

         How can I give you up, my beloved?
                  How can I hand you over, O Israel?
        My heart recoils within me;
                  my compassion grows warm and tender.
         I will not execute my fierce anger;
                  I will not destroy you;
         for I am God and no mortal,
                  the Holy One in your midst,
                  and I will not come in wrath.
                           —Hosea 11.8-10

I am not your enemy.
I am for you, not against.
I am not like your anger,
I am not your fear.
I am your joy, your peace.
I am your breathing, your heartbeat,
your blood, your Being.
I am the fullness of you,
unfolding as you let me.
I have only blessing for you,
like a mother for her newborn.
I am your perfection, longing for you.
My judgment is not harsh, but pure mercy,
my seeing your brilliance folded in the bud,
my knowledge of your beauty waiting in you.
I do not judge your doubts
but give you strength to tear them open
and find in them the mirror of your grace.
I know your childish fears,
your helpless lashing out,
I have seen the rage seeping into you.
My wrath burns not against you but that lie.
I will hold you until you quiet in my arms.
You are angry because you are afraid
that I am not here for you
but I am here
                   for you.
Be still, and let me hold you.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

         
         

For all who have served their country I pray:
for soldiers and resisters, laborers and mothers,
those who fought and those who prayed,
I pray for your mercy.

For those who sacrificed— in combat, in jail,
in sorrow, in prayer, in protest—I pray for your mercy.

For those who sacrifice to heal us of our violence
and bring true reconciliation, I pray for your mercy.

For those who choose war, who plan violence,
for all who find security in armament instead of you,
I pray for your mercy.

For our nation, that we may be loyal to one another,
not only to some, and not to our fears,
I pray for your mercy.

For our world, that we may be healed,
I pray for your mercy.

For me, that I may work for peace,
for healing and reconciliation,
that I may resist the violence in my heart
and in my world, I pray for your mercy.

For your grace that alone saves us and protects us,
that alone asks our loyalty and allegiance,
I pray, and trust in your mercy. Amen.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Great trees, towering clouds.
“Look, Teacher, what large stones, what great buildings!”
The leaves are all falling, the clouds passing away
in great cities, among large buildings.
Not one stone will be left on another.
The wind gathers and scatters the leaves,
they huddle in corners and windrows.
What would you do, if only for a season?
I rake leaves, I turn the compost.
The towering prayers of the saints,
the great faith of the people I admire,
the lives of those I love,
they tumble and blow.
My great deeds and mistakes,
the stones of my flesh,
it all will be thrown down.
Under a tree now bare, in North Dakota,
under a showering of leaves,
is a grave for me, my wife,
our sons and their mates.
The beginnings of the birthpangs.
When will this all be?
There will be wars and rumors of wars.
Leaders come and go, markets and rise and fall.
Papers gathered and scattered by the wind.
Many will come and say, “This is it!”
The oak by the road holds its leaves into March.
Don’t be alarmed.
Look at the trees who believe in winter,
the buds hardening under their coats.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com