Category: Reflections

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

        In the morning, while it was still very dark,
        he got up and went out to a deserted place,
        and there he prayed.
                  —Mark 1.35

Very dark.
In mystery. Not a puzzle but
the presence beyond our minds.
The infinite gathers around you.
This is where prayers speak to each other
like stars in the dark sky
though we do not hear them.
Our prayers become us in the night.

A deserted place.
Solitude, where you are a soul,
nothing else. None to judge,
to interpret you, to revise.
You are in God
as the silence is in the night sky,
the deep silence in your heart
heard as clear as a white moon.
We are all alone together.

Our prayers move beyond us.
In the openness,
like an eye in the dark,
not a feeling—too dark for that—
a presence beneath.
In the silence, the space between,
no words, not an answer…
a yes.

Deep Blessings
Pastor Steve
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail
write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com.

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
      
         Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever,
         and they told him about her at once.
         He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.
         Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
                  —Mark 1.30-31

How straight the energy flows
through his healing hand,
through her hand reaching out to him,
to her hands serving them.

How smoothly God draws us
into this dance, taking our hand:
Yes, you are broken,
yes, I seek you,
Yes, you are needed,
you have gifts to offer.

We who are barely mended
are one with the little man
with holes in his hands:
we are his hands now,
our wounds his wounds in us.

         
         
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 unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com

Beloved,
this day, whatever I have to do—
a driveway to shovel free of snow,
a desert to cross,
a deathbed to attend,
a sorrow to bear, a joy to share,
papers on a desk—
I do it with you,
one moment at a time,
each step, each tick, each page
a moment with you,
a petal of your presence,
your hand on my hand,
your breath in my breath,
this my holiness, to be here
without the need
of certain feelings or outcomes
or demands of the moment,
but only you in the moment.

         
         

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

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write to me at unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
      
         
                  
Inside this little hut
you made with your hands
of sticks and straw
are taped up pictures
of great cathedrals
and rules to live by.

Outside
the horizon lies with you,
the vast, intimate air
breathes you in,
someone walks
toward you.

         
         
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 unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com

      
         There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
                  —Mark 1.23-27

Yes, he has come to destroy them.
Demonic forces that wreck people:
do not doubt that he has come
to cast them out, all of them,
not merely to touch individuals
but to disarm evil itself,
to reclaim the cosmos.
Demonic spirits of injustice
that dehumanize,
that possess people,
that bind us and blind us
with hate and diminishment of others,
with hard heartedness and violence,
demons of fear and self-protection—
he has come to do away with them.
He is not afraid of the loud voices,
the convulsions they will incite.
He has called all his beloved
to share in the baptism of his power.
He comes with authority.
For this love has the power, yes,
to overcome evil.

O Mighty One, Loving One,
O Capable Hand, O Willing Heart,
cast out my demons,
my fear and inadequacy,
and fill me with your Spirit instead,
the power to resist evil,
to set free from the grip of the demonic
what is human, what is fragile and beautiful,
what is yours.
         
         

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
      
         “A new teaching—with authority!”
                  —Mark 1.27

         Authorization
God, you give me authority to heal,
to confront evil, to reveal your grace.
I embrace the role you give me.

         Expertise
Jesus’ knew what he was talking about,
and his acts and words harmonized.
May I live out your true delight.

         Power
You gave Jesus power to resist evil,
power to effect change.
I accept the power you give me.

         Authenticity
Jesus didn’t teach a list of beliefs,
but gave of himself.
Help me to be authentic and present.

         Authoring
Jesus wrote a new story in people’s lives.
Use me to me create anew,
to write a new page in the story of your love.

By your Spirit in me
help me be
your living, authentic teaching.
         
        

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 unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
      
         
                  
Three feet of snow, drifts up to five,
the silence of heaven,
spread over the streets, the yards,
a prayer shawl about the city.

It will take time to dig out.
There’s no escaping this.
Walk through snow thigh deep
or snowshoe in the woods:

step high, lean carefully,
balance yourself, go slow.
Feel its arms around you.
Feel yourself belong to it.

Yet how we traipse
through this God-thick world
waist deep in glory
as if we were somewhere else.

____________________
Weather Report

God,
all day,
all over.
Not letting up.

         
         
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 unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
      
         
Here in New England we’re having a great blizzard. We have a couple feet of snow and it’s still coming down. And God is in the blizzard. Yesterday moving some heavy stuff around in the shed to get at the snow blower I strained my back, so shoveling won’t be fun. And the snow blower won’t start. God is in that, too.

As I often do I might think of some metaphors for God in all this, like “getting a sermon out of it”: God’s grace piles up around me… God’s presence is vast and my effort so small…I can only make my way with God’s grace… I should plan head or ask for help. And God might “come to me” in a particular way: I’ll shovel anyway and God will sustain me… or the machine will start.. or I’ll borrow the neighbor’s… or Beth and I will clear three feet of snow with soup spoons and good humor. But beyond all outcomes, beyond all my metaphors, no matter what happens or how I experience it, The Holy One is simply here. This, too, is holy. God’s presence is as pervasive as the storm, as deep as the snow, as intimate as the pain in my back. But God is beyond and beneath and before all those thoughts. This day is not an illustration of God; it is the presence of God.

God is in this blizzard with me: in the snow and wind and cold, in my back, in my wife, in our warm house, in my minutes and hours. God is with you, in the desert southwest where it’s a nice day, in northern Canada where it’s been a blizzard for months, in Australia or South Africa where it’s a midsummer evening, in England and Kazakhstan and your own little town. God is with you in your grief and your hope and your struggle and your relief. In your chronic pain, your deep questions, your wordless joy, your ordinary day, God is there. God is not in certain things but in everything. God is there, with you, in you, in this moment.

Everything you do you do holding hands with God. You don’t have to search for God. Let God be present.

      
         
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 unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
      
         
                  
There is a young man
I woke up loving,
whose being I cherish,
his fingers, his kidneys,
his humor, his kindness,
his mornings and evenings,
all his loves and desires,
and every sob and guffaw
in his heart’s dark seedbed.
He is mine. He lives in me.

There is a little child
taking apart his world
with delight and curiosity.
He doesn’t know who I am yet.
He is learning to walk
inside my chest, my legs.

The Loving One from whom
this splendid Creation blossoms
loves you infinitely more
and more particularly
than I my son or my grandson,
nor feels any less delight
when you come near.

         
         
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 unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com

Beloved, for you my soul waits in silence.
         My hope is hidden in your silence.
Life of my living, you are my earth.
         You are what cannot be taken.
In the gravity of your grace I rest.
         In your silence is my deep belonging.

I trust in you, Holy One.
         I pour myself into your hands,
         into this light, my resting place.

Rich or poor mean nothing;
         they are an illusion.
I abandon my little “happy” and “sad.”
         They are both lint.
Do I catch myself trying to gain?
         Ah, ignore all that fool’s gold.
         Ignore it. Let it go.

I keep hearing this in the silence;
         the silence says it over and over:
the only power is Love,
         and love, all love, is God.

Beloved, you live, you speak, you resound
         in all we do.

         
         

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight3(at)hotmail.com