Category: Reflections

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         

         In the beginning was the Word.
         In the Word what has come into being was life,
         and the life was the light of all.
                  —John 1.1, 4

         You are the light of the world.
         Let your light so shine before others,
         that they may see, and give glory to God.
                  —Matthew 5.14,16

Maybe Jesus doesn’t mean some special light—
your faith, your righteousness, your goodness.
Maybe he just means you. Your self.
Who you are, your creatureliness,
fashioned by God’s delight,
coming into being through the Word,
granted life, the light of all.
God said, “Light,” and it came forth
in the little paths of your nerves,
the villages of your hands,
the beauty in your eyes,
the continents of your mind,
the great sea of your soul.
(Once, every bit of you burned in stars.)

Let the light of yourself shine, he says,
all of who you are,
created by light.
Shine in people’s darkness,
so they can see, and glorify God.

And even if they don’t see
(he came to his own and they did not know him)
still God sits there,
the light on her face, smiling.

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 unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Something happened to me last week. In the course of a poetry and prayer weekend, as I led people in practices of deep listening, and preached about Jesus calling the disciples, I myself heard a call. It wasn’t as bold as Jesus’ invitation to the disciples to leave their nets; it wasn’t as clear as guidance into a new career. But it was a call, a call to follow, a call that echoes and haunts me as I listen to what it means. It was a voice saying, “I am here. Come be with me.” I could easily conclude it’s a call to move, though I won’t, or merely a call to lead more workshops, though I will, or even to quit the ministry and do poetry full time (now there’s a way to make more money). The call is more inward.

Jesus’ call isn’t usually a career path. But it is a vocation, a vocalization, a spoken invitation, a voice asking you to come closer. You don’t have to go off to Africa and become a missionary, though you might. It’s seldom a call to leave the place you are. No, it’s a call to go deeper. Christ calls you deeper into what you are here to do. Deeper into the present moment, deeper into relationships, deeper into the life you are already living. Deeper into the truth that is already before you. Deeper into the Presence that is already within you. It is most often not a call to go elsewhere but a call to be otherwise, to become new, to allow yourself to be transformed.

Like the fishermen and tax collectors I have made a comfortable place for myself in my life. Now Jesus calls me to let go of that familiar place and move deeper, to go on an unknown adventure on an untraveled road right where I am. It may lead me to other changes, but it will certainly lead me to a new awareness, a new way of being, a new sense of my calling, which is Christ calling to me— and so a clearer sense that I am not on my own; I am called; I am led. My life is a continual journey, an unending discovery that what I think of as “where I am” is actually “how I am being led.”

Listen for that call. It’s quiet. But it will not leave you or forsake you. It comes over and over. The Beloved wants you near, while traveling that road deep into your own life; and you must follow.

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.
         
         
                  

Sometimes it seems
I am being carried in the dark
in steady, gentle arms
upstairs after the long car ride
to my blue-quilted bed,
and I am already asleep,
already dreaming.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         Blessed are the poor in spirit
         for theirs is the realm of heaven.
                           —Matthew 5.3

When you have nothing
         then God fills your life.

When you are powerless
         there is nothing but the infinite power of God.

When you are stripped naked
         you are clothed in the glory God gave you.

It is in darkness and chaos
         that God creates.

When you are on the cross,
         you are where God saves;
when you are in the grave,
         you are where God raises us up.

When you are weak and discouraged,
alone and hurting,
in that lowest place,
         you are in the very place where Christ comes:
         you are accompanied;
         you are blessed.

What we most fear is all we desire:
         to lose everything,
         falling in love until all we have is love
         and the Beloved.

Empty your life
         and all will be God.

         
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 unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Sometimes when you see something awesome you just say, “Whoa.” This last weekend I led an event at an Episcopal church on poetry as a form of prayer. It was a significant event for me as well as the other participants. (Thank you, Grace!) Partly it was just so much fun. I fell in love with a whole church. But also something shifted, something awakened in me, something about my calling, my vocation, my life.

So how did I react to that wonderful experience? I got sick. Monday night I was pretty deep in it.

Maybe it was a random virus; maybe it was exhaustion. But maybe, at least in part, it was my body saying, “Whoa.” Sometimes that really means “Whoa.” Stop. Maybe my being sick was my body’s way to keep me from rushing on to the next thing. When we experience something significant (or maybe anything at all) we need time to absorb it, reflect on it, stay in that space, before moving on. Even now I’m moving slow (you didn’t hear from me yesterday, did you?), trying to stay in that reflective place, letting the mystery gestate in me.

Honor and cherish what is given to you. Give yourself permission to take time to grieve, exult or ponder. Don’t rush on. Say, “Whoa.” Give yourself time, even unconsciously, to wonder, to be changed. Don’t worry about the word and all its haste. It will catch up to you when it’s ready.

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 unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
I’m off to lead an event on poetry as prayer this weekend at Grace Episcopal Church in Bainbridge Island, WA., so I’ll be off ’till Wednesday. But first, a thought.

         “Follow me, and I will have you fishing for people.”
                  —Matthew 4.19

I won’t catch anybody, hook anybody, reel anybody in.
But Jesus, I’ll be your net.
Weave me into something more than me
and throw me into the deep green mystery of the world.

I’ll be your bait. Pierce me with your love
and dangle me in this day. Let them taste me, bite me,
consume me: they’ll only be getting you.

I’ll be your lure. Tie me to you with your secret knot,
cast me where you want me, still invisibly connected,
and let your light flash in me
as you draw me closer and closer to you.

I’ll be your fly, dancing on the water of this day,
willing to be flung and returned,
letting all of life be catch and release,
knowing that whether or not we catch anything,
you have had delight on this fine afternoon.

         
         
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 unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
                  —Matthew 4.19

We already know how to weave a net,
strands whose meaning is in each other.
We know how to fling away what is in our hands,
let it fall and disappear,
how to trust the unseen,
reach into depths,
receive from below.

We’ve seen what it is to be raised up,
hauled into a higher world beyond our life,
gasping round-eyed in the light.

We’ve already answered,
already gone.

Still, unseen shoals of fish move through the deep.
A silvery listening happens beneath us,
flashes breifly, recedes.
There is always the voice calling us on,
and the One within, calling,
the One who throws himself into the deep,
calling us to sail on an even more invisible wind,
to let go and to go,
to be led,
to be lured:
not farther, but closer, deeper,
to let ourselves be woven and flung.
Even in this day’s dreary average
there is always the voice
calling us
to follow.

         
         
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 unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         
         Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
                  —Matthew 4.17

Wake up. God is present.

                  +

Let go of your attachments. The real world is beyond them.

                  +

Turn from your obsessions and participate in the world that God is unfolding around you.

                  +

Abandon your self-serving ways. Belong to God’s world instead of the one inside your head.

                  +

Renounce your cynicism. God is already keeping the promise.

                  +

Give yourself to God. You will be a part of infinite beauty.

                  +

Re-tune your life to the music of God.

                  +

Turn yourself inside out. God will meet you.

                  +

Look! Glory!

         
         
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 unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Martin,
Lamb of God,
laid down with lions,
had a dream for us all.

Don’t weep for him in his death,
or mourn him in his absence:
he is with us still,
freed now from his little place,
still praying, preaching, marching,
in everyone who cries out for justice,
everyone who bears light
into the darkness.

We are not alone now,
nor was he, nor all the saints:
from from the day of Cain
it was the One who cried out,
pleading, singing,

We shall,
We shall….

         
         
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 unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
                  

The rising sun lifts every frozen thing
into another world.
All are wearing robes of white,
and crowns of silver and of gold.
Mist is raised in curls of light
from pools of ice repenting.
Vapor hovers off the ground,
a choir of light, a host of heaven,
Spirit brooding over dark Creation’s waters.
Branches dressed in stars,
their glinting millions,
stand in perfect contemplation,
bathed in newness.
Snow in silence gives itself to air
in lucent breathing.
Eden’s swords of flame pierce morning’s woods,
whose streets are paved with gold,
making every thing begin again.
Now nothing here, not even you, is old.

         
              
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