Some Pharisees said to him, “Herod wants to kill you.”
           He said to them, “Go and tell that fox,
           ‘Today and tomorrow I am performing cures.’
           Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often have I desired
           to gather your children together
           as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…”
                           —from Luke 13.31-34


Holy One, my Beloved, my Savior, my Chief,
you choose to be a hen in the realm of the fox.
You choose kindness in the face of evil.

Give me faith to do the same,
to heal instead of hurting,
to choose kindness even when threatened.

Give me courage to be a mother hen
in a world of foxes,
for always I am under your wings.

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

            The devil said, “To you I will give the glory
           of all the empires of the world
           and all this authority if you will worship me.”
           —Luke 4.6-7
                           

Evil men (yes, it seems it is men)
seek empire and its power and authority.
Twisted souls seek glory.

Such empire only ends in flame and ashes,
in hearts or buildings crushed, or both,
in weeping in the streets.

Beloved, do not seek power or authority or glory.
You already have them.
The realm is within you,

the realm of unearned kindness and mercy,
the empire of grace and healing,
the commonwealth of cherished belonging.

Even in the shadow of tyrants,
awaken to the realm where you abide,
the realm of shared bread and open hands,

of steadfast friends, and mothers who tend their children,
of voices raised in songs in a thousand tongues.
For love outshines every ruler and undoes every empire.

Don’t leave, in lust for a dream,
the world where you already belong,
and shine, and reign as royalty.

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

           The devil said to him,
           “If you are the Son of God,
           command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
           Jesus answered him, “It is written,
           ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”
                           —Luke 4.3-4

So much we are hungry for that does not feed us.
So many stones we wish we could turn to bread.

Call them to mind. Hold these stones in your hand,
feel their grey mass, their lightless insides,

the weight of disappointment, the hard edges
of refusal, the dense failure to satisfy.

You can’t change them. Cease gnawing on them.
Let them be stones. Set them down.

In the breeze feel the breath of the Present One,
moving among the unmoving stones, light and sweet.

Let yourself be nourished by that wind, freely flowing,
invisible, rich with grace, thick with energy.

Even among the hungering stones the Spirit lives;
even in barren places love offers its merciful bread.

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

We are dust and breathing—
sadly, more attached
to the dust than the breathing.
We are the mark of sorrow,
not a body but particles:
ashes of grief, borne on wind,
ash of 9/11, of towns burned,
dust of Mosul, of Kyiv,
of a million dead,
of ten million enslaved.
Time’s faint dust settles on us,
till we ourselves become
a faint layer in the earth.
Living among death and its dealers,
we stand at the edge
of our own grave.
Our dust cries silently
not merely of our evil
but most deeply of our sorrow,
our need to be saved,
to be revived, to regain our breath.
And so, Forgiving One,
you both stain and anoint us,
mark us and heal us:
we bear your agony on our foreheads;
you bear our sorrow,
so we may bear you.
You who breathe us into life,
Spirit that blows where you will,
gather tenderly our grieving dust
up from the earth
and breathe into us once again
that we may become a living being.

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

To shrive is
to hear one’s confession
and to impose penance
and to forgive.
All of them.

Before Lent even begins
God has heard your sorrow and regret
and you already know what you need to do
and now—before all else—
you are forgiven.

The Beloved whispers to you
every morning,
“I know you are broken.
There is a way forward.
I will love you no matter what.”

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

When injustice strides so easily,
when evil reigns
and you feel there’s little you can do,
remember we are all one.
You are part of the Great Oneness
—some call it the Body of Christ—
and what you do affects the whole.
You can choose goodness.
When you change your life you change the world.

An immense grace hums beneath
the noise of this world.
When you live in harmony with it,
you intensify the great music of life
that renews the earth.

You are a voice in the chorus,
a string on the Beloved’s guitar;
when you change your note
you change the whole chord.

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

God of mercy, by whose grace
in all who suffer is Christ crucified,
we pray for those in danger today,
for all who know oppression, injustice or fear,
whose land is invaded,
or whose home is unsafe.
Be with them and shelter them in your love;
give them courage and hope;
enfold them in your grace.
Touch their wounds; heal their trauma.
May the strength of the earth be theirs,
the freedom of the sky, the peace of the trees.
We bear in our hearts all who are afraid.
May they bear our love in theirs, for we are one.
In the unity of your Holy Spirit
you hold us together as one humanity,
one world, one body, one hope.
May your Peace change the hearts
of those who misuse power.
May the Peace of Christ
be with us all.
Amen.__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

            Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
           “This is my Beloved, my Chosen; listen to him!”
                           —Luke 9.35

Set aside what you believe. Listen to him.
What is he saying to you,
in this moment?
Let go of what you think:
what do you hear?
Become a calm meadow
and wait for the breeze of God
to whisper.
Wait for a small bird
to settle and sing.

Reading the texts,
saying your prayers,
silence your thoughts.
Shut out the preacher,
listen for a fainter voice,
from so deep within it’s from beyond,
purer than words,
the voice that wants you,
loves you,
creates you.

The voice may surprise you,
contradict or confuse,
but it will shine with light
from beyond all death.
Listen for the voice
that calls you from your tomb
into the light.

The breeze stirs,
the small trees bend.

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

           Peter said to Jesus,
           “Master, it is good for us to be here;
           let us make three dwellings,
           one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”
           —not knowing what he said.
                           —Luke 9.33

Set down the camera.
You can’t capture the moment.
You can only be in it.

This world, yes, this one,
with the bloody wood on the horizon,
is a wonder of beauty and delight. Be in it.

To watch the elegant heron fly
you must let it fly.
Allow, and behold.

This heaven-spangled world,
riddled with the divine,
is always a beginning

which you are always leaving
without staying,
but ever in.

Waken now. Look. Listen.
This wonder,
be in it.

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

           Suddenly they saw two men,
           Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
           They appeared in glory
           and were speaking of his departure,
           which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
                           —Luke 9.30-31

The Transfiguration is a resurrection appearance.
Jesus, having given himself to death,
appears already in resurrection light
as he turns his face toward the cross,
toward his “departure”—
which in the Greek text is “exodus.”

Yes, resurrection is a departure.
As Moses leads his people out of Egypt
Jesus leads us out of lives we know
into the unknown. We sometimes look back.

The bad feelings are easily surrendered,
the habits more wrenching to give up,
but the part of yourself you thought was you,
the self of yourself abandoned to God,
that is the sorrowful departure
at the dark heart of exodus,
the shadow hidden in the light of resurrection.

If you plan to be raised from the dead,
plan to say goodbye,
to feel the hand slip from your hand,
to walk into darkness with only this Light,
to waken among strangers who don’t recognize you,
you who have departed
and become someone new.

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