Category: Reflections

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         “Whoever does the will of God
         is my brother and sister and mother.”
                   —Mark 3.35

Forget family, he says, forget
blood and house and inheritance,
identity and loyalty and honor.

It is not blood,
but the desire to do God’s will
that makes us kin,

I and the stranger, the opponent,
the foreigner.

These are my own,
in the streets and marketplaces,
for whom I care as deeply
as my sister, brother or mother,
for whom I would do anything,
share everything?

What accidental betrayal is then at hand,
what unforeseen dishonor?
How many chances
to be unfaithful,
to fail my duty,

to be blessed,
to be known,
to belong after all?

__________________
Weather Report

Kinship,
continuing despite passing conditions,
thick fog obscuring
that all the branches
are of one tree.

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

God,
sometimes I just want you to hold me.
I’m not asking you to fix me,
though I wish you would.
I’m not asking you to fix my world,
though I really wish you would.
Just hold me.
The whole earth and all the galaxies
in one arm and me in the other,
held to you close,
where I discover who I really am.
Just for now I don’t need faith or insight,
don’t need to repent, don’t even
need to pray.
I just need you to hold me.

__________________
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

 
         No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property
         without first tying up the strong man;
         then indeed the house can be plundered.
                  —Mark 3.27

Jesus is able to cast out demons because he has already overpowered the “strong man.” He has robbed the demonic of its power.

What am I most afraid of? Is it being wrong, or being alone, or being powerless? Pain, failure, insecurity, being unloved, the shattering of my self-image? What is it? What is the deepest fear that will derail me today from loving perfectly? Take a moment to reflect.

When I feel this fear how might I react? What behaviors are red flags to me that I am afraid of the strong man?

Stay still for a moment. Breathe deeply. Be mindful of this: God has already overpowered that which I fear. Love has already disarmed it. Once, perhaps as a child, it made sense to fear it, but no longer. What I fear is now powerless to harm me.

I am free to walk into that fearful house and plunder it, to take life and beauty and grace. I am free to live deeply, to love perfectly, to know joy.

With trust, courage and gratitude I take this strength, this grace with me into the day.

__________________
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.

         

These clouds come from another need,
have gathered patiently,
give themselves without regard.

We carry such small handfuls
beneath this great giving and receiving,
forget so quickly the cup, the sea.

Of what is made of rain, much or little,
brown floods or green flowering,
we ourselves will make something.

And brother drought,
the times of wide, dry waiting
teach us the holiness of our longing.

Baptized into this
we only flow and do not pool,
proceed but do not end.

The rivulet, the drop,
the warm evaporating sea
go somewhere, and go on.

In our gathering and releasing,
being formed and borne and spent,
how dependent we are, how part.

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.

         We know that the whole creation
         has been groaning in labor pains;
         and not only the creation, but we ourselves.
                 —Romans 8.22-23

        You must be born from above.
                  —John 3.7

God is creating more of you than you have yet brought forth. Each of us often feels a yearning, a swelling of our souls, a discomfort that may feel unwelcome but is something new and holy waiting to be born from within. This new birth will require pain and struggle, but will come by the will and the help of God.

Sometimes it is we ourselves who are being born, brought through a narrow passage, a dark valley that seems to be the valley of death but is actually a birth canal. We are pushed by a force of life greater than our own will, drawn by a love beyond our capacity to know. Even difficulty imposed on us from outside us can be a means of new birth.

Sometimes we have come through such labor pains and have been brought out into a new world, in new light, held in our Mother’s arms even more intimately than we were in her womb, gazing into each other’s eyes. There are no expectations other than to be together in this moment; we don’t yet even have a name. We simply rest with God. We have been delivered.

You can’t choose which place to be; you can’t decide. As with childbirth, you can only wait and see, and work with what is. Pay attention: is there some new life stirring in you? Are your difficulties the labor pains of something sacred? Or is this not a time for pain and struggle, but a time to rest in delight with this new life God has brought forth from you? Is this a time to push, or a time to rest in your Mother’s arms, made new?

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

Mother, Son and Holy Spirit
you gaze at each other
with such tender love

Feminine grace
strength of resolve
gentle welcome

Not creating right now nor saving
being here together
a sabbath moment of rest in the day

The chalice of your laps
the oneness of your three
you are all there is

The space emwombs you
the empty place among you
opens to me

This love
this beauty
this being here

I am the fourth
I enter
I become one of you

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

      
         You must be born from above.
                  —John 3.7

Holy One
I am born from you
each moment.

You labor to give me life,
with life-giving pain and travail
in love.

My life emerges from you,
continues you,
delights you.

With each breath I receive life,
entering the new world,
made alive again.

Even amidst harshness or loneliness
you are birthing me in love,
always giving new life.

There is no shame, no destiny,
only this moment,
only your delight.

You hold me to your breast.
I do not live without you.
I am always coming into your arms.

I am yours.
I am free.
I am beginning.

__________________
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

      
         
Oh, my people,
the confetti of stars,
the birds calling “Surprise!” from every tree,
Spring standing again on your front porch
in her flowery dress with an armful of blossoms
if only you would open the door,
the little rise in you when you see one glorious thing,
these are my prayers to you.
The ache for me in your meditations,
the questions your heart asks without you,
the invisible possibility that this enemy
could become a friend,
these are my prayers to you.
Those words in the closed book, the unopened letter
about forgiveness and release,
these are my prayers to you.
Your sorrow over the world and its woes,
your hesitation at the news,
your deep weary sigh,
these are my prayers to you.
The mystery of the light
folded into what is,
what I am about to do,
these are my prayers to you.
Oh my people, in your mercy,
hear my prayer.

__________________
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 whose lives have been taken by war,
grant your mercy O God.
For soldiers, civilians, those wounded and neglected,
grant your mercy, O God.
For earth despoiled and living beings sacrificed,
grant your mercy, O God.
For our glorification of war and violence
and our willingness to hurt others
to defend ourselves,
grant your mercy, O God.
We give thanks for your beloved
whom we have sacrificed;
we ask blessing for their loved ones,
confess our need for your grace,
and pray for the redemption of society.
Spirit of compassion and gentleness,
in the name of the One who was sacrificed,
save us by your grace,
and grant us 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.
      

         We do not know how to pray as we ought,
         but the Spirit intercedes
         with sighs too deep for words.
                  —Romans 8.26

Without your knowing
your lungs breathe, your heart beats,
nerves fire, even while you are asleep.

Deep within you, beneath your knowing,
the Spirit prays.

You are the vessel.
Prayer is simply mindfulness
that God is praying in you.
Your deepest prayers
God is silently uttering for you,
forgiving what is past,
blessing what is,
moving toward what may be.

Be still.
It doesn’t matter what you pray,
what you think, how you feel.
God is praying in you.
You are simply here,
the rose unfolding from the bud.

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