Category: Reflections

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Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.

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Some day death with her seasoned hands

will come and change your bed,

lift the stale sheets from the mattress,

wrap her arms around you

and bear you off to the laundry,

and you will become clean and smooth.

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Then why not let her once in a while

run her soft, ancient hands over you,

her long, steady white fingers,

and smooth out your wrinkles a little?

Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

A woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”

— Luke 7. 37-49

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For all the sappy crayon drawings,
for the hopelessly cheap cards
sent by those who’ve never had to before,
for all the thanks that come from so far behind
they seem like pranks but are not,
for the secret favors, possibly wasted,
given in tangled thanks
for widely unrecognized but life-saving blessings,
for songs of heartfelt praise sung loudly and out of tune,
wearing a totally inappropriate dress,
for the hymns of prostitutes and the tears of drunks
and the awkward deals and ridiculous vows
of ex-cons, recovering creeps and former sleaze-balls,
for their laughable attempts, both noble and pathetic,
at some kind of tribute for the miracle
of being able to put one day in front of another,
for all the bizarre attempts at tokens of appreciation
botched by the invisible disfigurements
of the bullied and abused,
for all the slipshod, embarrassing, unacceptable ways,
in ignorance, poor judgment and terrible taste,
that the redeemed have found
to voice gratitude and amazement
at the simplest things,
at lives that are not as mangled as they started out to be,
for the once-cruel lover, restored,
who can’t stop laughing to tearseven in crowded places,
for the sloppy embrace of the slut
who’s been hit by the lightning of forgiveness,
for the homeless man, reeling from the novelty of respect,
who gives away his best piece of cardboard,
for the woman who bursts into sobs in church,
for every raw disclosure of the heart,
however garish or inept,

for these the Lord holds still,
and follows each tear on his feet
and gazing steadfastly says,
“Friend, thank you.”

And all you accomplished people
in right minds and good clothes and polished hearts
who have kept your composure and your treasure:
goofy as he looks doing that,
behold— he really means it.

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Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Touch the river
and you touch the mountain top,
the glacier, the dizzying waterfall.

Touch the river
and you touch the sea, vast and deep.
rumbling with whales.

Touch this moment
and you touch God, holy, infinite and eternal,
here, in this moment.

Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

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Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.

Today Beth and I are celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary. In all the blessing, the love, the riches, the struggle, the self-discovery, the joy and the surprises of these thirty years, the greatest mystery is this: that through it all, in idyllic times and troubled ones, when it was easy and when it was hard, whether she felt like batting her eyelashes or rolling her eyes, she never left me, never gave up, never stopped loving me, never ceased to draw out of me my love for her.

Marriages go long and short, deep and shallow. Not everyone is as lucky as I. But I know this and trust it as surely as gravity: that love is at the heart of Being itself. Beth’s love is not an oddity in this universe. It comes from somewhere. And thought it’s taken hard work, my love is not a product of my effort. It’s a gift. These thirty years are a glimpse of eternity. The deep love we’ve experienced is a part of a greater, infinite love that burns at the heart of all things. There is One who loves you deeply, unfailingly, gently, despite all your faults, including the most terrible things you’ve ever done. The Loving One, the Embracing Mystery, knows you at your worst and loves you. She also knows you at your best, better than you know yourself, and draws you toward that perfection with a strong and tender force. The Infinite Spirit of Love does not judge “worse” or “better” in you; she simply loves you and holds you to the truth of who you are.

“The Lord has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit” (Isa. 54.6).

There is always more, deeper love to be had. That’s the part that takes hard work, commitment, self-examination and sacrifice. But it’s always, miraculously, abundantly worth it, a hundred times over. All you have to do is stay with her. Stay attentive, stay faithful. Receive her blessings. Learn her wisdom. Submit to her call in your heart. Serve her without hesitation. Love her. No matter what, give thanks. And riches beyond measure or deserving will be yours— now, for many years, and to eternal life.

Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

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Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.

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God, today I pray

for gentle patience,
as the earth that holds me, whatever I do;

for the hospitable acceptance of what is,
as the breeze that blows as it is led
and flows around what it must;

for curiosity,
as the plants that seek light;

for steadfast strength,
as the weeds that return;

for a light heart,
as the geese that fly overhead
laughing at each other;

for deep compassion,
as the sun and the rain that fall upon us,
giving us light and life and beauty.

God, today I pray for your eternal Spirit
by which you create the world each new day
to live in me, to create me anew,
to make me beautiful and kind,
to make me yours.
Amen.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

_______________________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

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Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.

As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

— Luke 7.12-15

If we take the gospel seriously it leaves us with a heart-wrenching question: if Jesus could raise the dead once or twice, why didn’t he always? What good is a miracle, even if it leads us to believe, if it’s nothing that’s ever really going to happen again? Why should we believe that he could raise the dead when in fact he won’t?

I don’t know.

But I do know that life is full of mystery, that death is real, and that compassion burns at the heart of all things. I know that death and suffering will not simply disappear. But I also believe that Love encounters us on our way, walks with us on each Via Dolorosa, and interrupts our funeral marches. And that therefore anything can happen. Our dead, even the most dearly missed and needed, even the most unjustly dead, are not likely to revive. But something is. I don’t expect that I ever know what the miracle will be. But I know that it is not impossible.

I’ve done enough funerals as a pastor, shared through enough people’s mourning, and lost my parents and a childhood friend, to know not to expect anything other than the permanence of death and the usual process of loss and grieving. But I also know that I don’t know everything, that Love changes things, that the unexpected can happen, and that new life rises—not in the body of the deceased, but among us nonetheless. Sometimes some weird miracle does happen.

I don’t know why Jesus doesn’t just do more miracles. But for me not knowing leads to openness, not despair. Because I don’t know, I know that anything can happen. Anything.

Be open.

Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

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O Holy Presence, Power of Life,
we praise you.
We praise you with our saying and doing;
we praise you by being.

Our life doesn’t come from powerful people;
it’s not soldiers who make us free.
What they control dies with them:
it’s little stuff, not what’s deeply life-giving.

But unbounded life wells up in us
when we open our hearts to your love for all,
when our hearts fall into the Heart
who is at the heart of all things—

you— who create galaxies,
who handmade the earth;
who filled the oceans drop by drop
and gave them their tiny and huge creatures,

you who never give up on us,
who liberate the oppressed,
who are food for the hungry
and who lift those who are bowed down.

O Love, you set us free
from whatever imprisons us;
you open our eyes when we are blind;
and in you we discover deep love.

You are present in the stranger;
you are the hope and dignity
of the homeless child, the single mother,
the strength of the vulnerable ones.

Hose who turn to you
you feed with life,
but the spirit of selfishness
you starve to death.

Holy One,
you love the world into being.
Amazing!
Amazing!

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Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

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A composer labored over a symphony,
creating with ordinary instruments
the very music of heaven.

Even before its debut,
word spread of its beauty,
of its power to transfigure the listener,

and the honor
the masterpiece would bring
to their little town.

Tickets to the performance
were ridiculously expensive,
granting the highest social standing.

On the day of the concert
people fought their way in,
though the composer sat in the back.

As the orchestra began, people were swept away.
Within the first few notes they were weeping.
Within a minute they were in ecstasy.

Before the orchestra had even played through
the first theme, the audience was shouting,
hailing as a genius the startled composer,

whom they carried on their shoulders
out of the theater and into the square,
where they soon erected a statue

of the composer, whose masterpiece,
beyond the first few measures,
to their dying days, they never actually heard.

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Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

God of life, on this day we honor those who have sacrificed in the service of their country in the military. Bless their gifts, and bring healing to those who have suffered and comfort to those who have lost loved ones.

We honor those who have sacrificed in the service of their country by working for peace, nonviolence and reconciliation. Bless their gifts, and bless us that we may receive the spirit of peace, the spirit of Christ.

We honor those for whom there is no national day of remembrance: for civilians who have suffered from war, and for the soldiers of other nations, who have also served their countries, who, but for fleeting circumstances, would be our friends.

We confess our collective sin of war, and lament our participation in actions that have caused suffering and loss. We repent of our violence, and ask you to nurture in us a deeper reverence for life. We confess our failure to speak out against war, violence and coercion; our willing participation in injustice for our own protection comfort; our failure to live nonviolently.

We pray for peace, for the healing and reconciliation of all peoples, and for the coming of your reign of mercy and justice according to your promise. In the spirit of those we honor today, those who have bravely served their country with arms, who have given of their time and hearts and bodies and lives, grant us deep reverence for life and your spirit of peace, so that we may serve the human community with courage and gentleness, in hope of the day when all people and all living beings will live in peace as you have intended. Amen.

Deep Blessings,

Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

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Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.

Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
— Proverbs 8.1

When the Spirit of truth comes,
she will guide you into all the truth.
— John 16.13

But you won’t hear her at first
because you were expecting a man,
someone in charge, someone who would
tell you what to do, how to think,

not the quiet voice of a woman
who’s already given and lost so much
without regret that she’ll let you
ignore her, without ceasing to love you,

someone who’s given birth enough to know
to let go and never let go, to care
and not to care, to hide her secret
in the strange language of your guts.

But sooner or later you give in
and learn to wait while she stares
into the stirring pot of your eyes
and listen long enough to hear

as well as she does, listen with
the tuned drum of your heart,
the wisdom of your pulsing cells,
the body of God in you,

vibrant and yearning and at peace.
Knowing where her joy lies in you,
sensing what it longs for, how it feeds you,
when it stirs, when it rests, you wait

not for a command but a touch, an unspoken
connection, the looks that dance between
you and your confident sister,
your close companion, the Quiet One.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

_______________________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com