Category: Reflections

Generous God, in the woods the trees are bare; they have let go of everything. But I confess my fear. I imagine letting go of what I cling to, and I am afraid. I am paralyzed. Beloved, being one with you is the only treasure I desire; everything else is a burden. Yet I cling. But I want to be in the grip of love, not fear. Heal me, and set me free of these heavy loads! Set free my paralyzed heart. Even if my fear clings to me, I open my arms to you. You are my only security, my only rest. You are the spring within that I trust enough to let go of the autumn leaves. Help me to want you more than what I cling to, to be eager to be free. Bless me, that generosity will be for me not a test but a gift. Amen.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com

                  

Unless the Holy One builds the house
         the carpenters are hammering illusions.
Unless the Beloved holds the city
         the guards are all asleep.
You get up early and stay up late for nothing,
         chomping down your anxiety bars.

The Beloved blesses you
          in sleep.

The love you generate
         is God overflowing.
The love with which you surround yourself
         is God’s gift to you.
Like flowers in a bride’s bouquet
         your love makes your life more beautiful.
Happy is the one
         whose arms are full of them.
You will hold your own
         in this busy, warlike world.

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
         

What you have to offer is enough.
Hold nothing back.

The blessing is not in the treasure
but in the letting go.

In your simplest offering
God finds delight.

Reach into the small pocket of your heart:
there is all the treasure in heaven.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

                  Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

No matter what choices we make today,
what wisdom or folly we give authority,
what greed or compassion we give voice,
what prophets or scoundrels we give power,
no matter who wins and loses,
God is at work in the world,
and the world belongs wholly to God.

Our work and our choices matter,
and God uses them as a master uses tools;
but God also has far greater, unseen powers,
at work in the world beyond our knowing,
before whom all our laws and leaders are puny.
Whatever dreams or fears we empower today
it will not be enough:
we have neither saved nor ended the world.
Grace will abide; and the work will go on:
the gentle man with holes in his hands
will continue to feed the hungry and heal the sick
and tear down the scaffolding of evil,
will continue to die with the outcast
and rise with healing in his wings
and his children in his arms,
and will continue to call his laborers
into the field to lay their hands
on the great harvest of life.

Make your choices today,
and cry out with the voice of peace and mercy.
And trust that greater by far
than all our human triumphs and suffering,
greater than our nations
and the walls be build around them
is the Realm of one whose power and glory
is infinite, the steady, healing hand of One
whose very name is Love.

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 unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com.

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

My prayer is that you will vote
in love, not in fear,

that those who govern
will act in love, not fear,

and that you will make every choice,
large or small,
every day, all your life,
not in fear, but in love,

for this alone can heal the world,

and I believe it shall.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
 
For the saints of all the ages
who have baked the bread of faith
and allured us with the aroma,
we sing praise.
 
For the saints in our own lives
who, finding their way through the dark
became our light,
we give thanks.
 
For the unseen saints in this world
who hold it up with their prayers,
whose hope and labor save us
without our ever knowing,
we cry glory.
 
For the suffering saints
who are our only hope in this world,
who languish in prisons and slums,
reservations and townships,
who labor in fear,
who are trafficked and tortured,
who die of hunger even as we pray,
we ask blessing.
 
May we all be made holy
in wonder and gratitude
and steadfast loving kindness
toward all that lives.
 
 
 
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved, 
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
When you shelter beneath an 80 mile an hour wind,
and see it flatten great trees
and fill a city with the sea,
you feel small.
When you watch a drought erase a farm,
when you stand a quarter mile from a forest fire
and feel its heat,
when the sky clears and you see stars,
you feel small.
 
As small as you are in the storm,
the storm is smaller, so much tinier
than the love of God,
the infinite tender mercy.
The whole universe is small
in the hurricane of God.
 
 
         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
 
__________________     
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and peace to you.

Everything is slow today.  Trees are down, roads are impassable, bridges are flooded, businesses are closed, power is out.  But everybody knows and is patient with it all.  A big tree came down in our yard, taking out power lines, phone, the works. (I’m writing from church.) The tree crew came and happily cut up and removed the tree and moved on to the neighbors.  

It’s not so bad, living by candlelight.  We’ll be without power for a few days, I bet.  But how can I complain? Others have been flooded out, homes destroyed, livelihoods damaged.  We all have different lives.  For some people today means no work; for others, more work.  For some people yesterday was a frightening disaster; for others, a lovely, calm evening.  In many places people will greet each other this morning with a casual “Hi.”  But in some places, even with strangers, they’ll ask, “Are you OK? Do you have what you need?” There will be offers of food and water, extra rooms and showers. 

In trying times what is usually secret is exposed: we are all vulnerable and needy and anyone you meet is likely to be facing challenges that you don’t know about.  The only way to go through life is the way we go through disasters: with compassion, patience and mindfulness.  Imagine if we always asked “How are you?” with the same concern we have after a disaster.  Imagine if we always treated people as if they deserved the respect and sensitivity of someone recovering from a difficulty—or, for that matter, someone celebrating a great joy.  We wouldn’t baby each other, but we wouldn’t ignore each other, either.  

In all our lives, as different as they are, it turns out that the one universal thing that is always needed, and always powerful, is simple kindness.  You may not be walking through visible wreckage, but never doubt that others are.  Just be mindful. 

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

The power we lost for a few days
was nothing.
The tree we lost, a trifle.
And yet they were great gifts,
greatly to be treasured,
greatly to be praised.

There are those who still have no power,
or food or water,
or house.

A young friend lost her husband Tuesday,
far from the hurricane.

Whatever you take for granted
is already lost in the storm.

Be grateful for everything.
The sun. A toaster.
Hold out your hand and look at it.
Be amazed and grateful.
Tell the people you love
that you love them.

Every day, thank somebody for something.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Here comes Hurricane Sandy, which looks to be a wicked storm. We might feel a little like Job, nobly enduring the undeserved suffering of a natural disaster with courage, dignity and resourcefulness. But we ought also to feel a little humbled by facing the hidden consequences of our own choices. Certainly, we didn’t cause the hurricane, nor does God “send” weather as punishment. But maybe we contributed to making this storm as bad as it is. Recent increases in the intensity of storms, droughts and other weather patterns are due in part to global climate change, which is partly our own fault. Hurricane Sandy might not have been so bad if it hadn’t been for us and our greenhouse gasses. Like war and pollution and economic crisis, we’ve brought this on ourselves.

Now this observation might make you feel even more small and helpless than the storm itself does. But what I’m saying is that your choices have a greater impact than you can see. All these large patterns are the result of lots of small decisions. If your choices contribute to global carbon imbalance or economic collapse, they can contribute to global healing, too. It’s hard to imagine that your kindness can change the world, but it can and it does. If you can make a hurricane worse, you can also make a society better.

In the next days not many people will do anything heroic that will make a huge difference in the history of the world. But many people will do small things to help each other make it through the storm. And those small things can add up to a world of blessing. That is God’s promise, and our choice.

If you don’t hear from me tomorrow, it just means that our power is out. No big deal. Love your neighbor anyway.
         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight5(at)hotmail.com