Leaves lost, cloak sundered,
summer’s green muffler gone.
Open to November winds
picking through your belongings,
your scarf unwrapped
from your neck, so exposed.
The last mitten taken from the hand
of the high twig flutters down.
So this is you,
without all the leafy romance,
the generous bosom,
the welcome shade,
just arms of wood,
wooden sinews, rising, twisting,
thinning toward the top,
your ten thousand fingers,
and all this empty air, the blank
between branch and branch,
the wind you can’t hold,
this is you, this
strenuous absence,
this brave emptiness
with no visible heart.
Where are you now,
in the root,
deep?
In the wind?
Or here, invisible,
in the presence,
the persistence,
the openness
to what winter will
breathe
through you?
O, beautiful bareness,
you will prevail,
and if I attend,
bring me with you.

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

November 12, 2020

We honor all our heroes.
We honor our military, especially the war dead,
the maimed, the traumatized.
And we honor the greater number,
the civilians killed or wounded.
We honor the other heroes, those who served
and even gave their lives resisting war.
We honor the conscientious objectors
who refused to participate.
We honor the protestors
who spoke out against violence.
We honor the negotiators
who sought better avenues.
We honor the leaders and planners
who created alternatives.
We honor citizens
who formed relationships across boundaries
to defeat the illusion of “them” and “us.”
We honor the saints
who prayed not for victory but for peace.
We honor them all. They all served.
They all sacrificed. They are all heroes.
May their memories be a blessing to us,
and stir us to join in the mending of the world.

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

November 11, 2020

        The one who had received the five talents
         went off at once and traded with them,
         and made five more talents.
                           —Matthew 25.16

To trade you let go.
         To invest you surrender.

God give me courage to let go
         of myself,

my great investment
         in the world you desire,

my self-spending
         without which there is no return.

Today I give myself to the world,
         banking on your grace,

not kept in fear,
         not buried in inadequacy,

but spent with confidence,
         and patient with the wait,

for the return
         that is not mine but yours:

the world, blessed,
         and myself, with interest.

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

November 10, 2020

Trees stand leafless
     in the falling cold.
          They do not fret.
               They know.

Geese fly over, stopping,
     some, to float the pond,
          then leave again.
               They know.

The little brook flows down,
     now strong, now slow,
          but flowing down
               and down.

You do not need to know
     how wisdom works,
          or how they understand,
               but only what

you, too,
     in all your rising darkness,
          and in your doubt,
               your long unknowing,

know,
     a gravity, a drawing in,
          a voice inviting,
               “Come.”

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

November 9, 2020

But the wise bridesmaids replied,
“No! there will not be enough for you and for us;
you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.”
—Matthew 25.9

They are too “wise” to share,
having brought only enough for themselves,
putting the burden on the poor—
“wise” according to the religion
of Selfishness and Individualism.

Sharing would have avoided the whole mess.
“You do not know the day or the hour,”
Jesus says—the hour to share.

There are whole political parties
whose platform is Not Sharing.
It’s a good way to miss
the best part of the wedding:
the sharing.

___________________
The Sea Today

Enough
to fill the ocean,
the water throws itself
to the land,
and returns,
always returns.

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

Nov. 6, 2020

God, we live in darkness, unseeing.
We close our eyes, and see your light.
We walk a path untrod,
only your footprints before us.

Forces of anger and evil surround us,
the power of selfishness unleashed.
We fear for our future, unknowing,
yet your love is supreme, unfailing.

Children waiting for the war’s end,
we long for the noise to stop.
But beneath the raging, your Silence
that calms our trembling hearts.

Beloved, hold us in the darkness,
our unknowing trust your praise,
your love our gravity, our end,
and tomorrow’s willing embrace.
We wait for the morning, we wait,
but your light is already here.

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

November 5, 2020

Breathe. Walk.
Brush your teeth.
Lament.

Our sickness is greater
than we let ourselves think,
our wound more profound.

But so is our love.
Our grief and even despair
are the work of the Spirit in us.

Let your flesh feel your rage,
your voice find your sorrow.
Let the river flow.

We are not called to end the winter
but to bear the light
that will become the spring.

The road is long.
The Suffering One walks with us,
bearing something. Come along.

The mending of the world
is threaded with simple
kindness and courage.

Attend to the small miracles.
Even as the cold descends
we can love. We can love.

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

November 4, 2020

Choose this day whom you will serve…
but as for me and my household,
we will serve the Holy One.
—Joshua 34.15

Choose, this day.
As for me, I will follow the Beloved.
I will spurn violence and all claim to dominion.
I will stand for justice:
that all may be included in the blessings of life.
With the Crucified One,
I will cast my lot, and my vote,
with the poor in spirit, and those who mourn,
with the gentle, and those who hunger for justice.
I will stand with the peacemakers
and those who are persecuted.
I will follow the one
who fed all who were hungry,
who healed all who wanted to be healed,
and welcomed all who were pushed to the margins.
I will speak only the truth, and only lovingly.
I will examine, confess and resist
my own complicity in systems that harm,
and surrender what I can
so my living may be a blessing for the poor.
I will accept the power God gives me
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves.
I will live with hope and gratitude,
with courage and generosity and kindness.
Choose this day whom you will serve,
but as for me, I will serve the God of love.

[Friends, pray for America…]

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

November 3, 2020

With tears we cry to the Beloved,
        for our hearts are heavy in the night.
Dread blankets us as the darkness;
       but the voice of the Beloved is close.

“The people will pass through a narrow place,
       and fear will seize many like a trap;
they will turn to violence and shame;
       they will seem an invincible army.

But my passion for justice will rise like the sun;
       my mercy will flow like a river.
My Spirit will arise among the gentle
       and my love will bear you up.

You will wield truth instead of a sword,
       and mercy as a shield.
You will not threaten like the weak,
       or lie and blame as those who are afraid.

My spirit of peace will strengthen you,
       and my hope will enlighten your eyes.
My love will give you courage
       and my gentleness, wisdom.

Even in the narrows, the spaciousness
       of my spirit will enlarge within you.
Though the forces of fear may march onward,
       I will give you my peace.

My children, do not fear: I am with you.
       My love will never fail.
Carry my hope in your hearts;
       take courage, and love gladly.”

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

November 2, 2020

You will hear it said
Halloween originated
in the tradition
of dressing up in scary costumes
on All Hallow’s Eve
to frighten away the demons
before the honoring of the saints.
But, no, it is not quite that.
We are dressing up
not to scare the demons
but to set them free,
for they are not out there in the dark,
the demons are within.
Halloween is when we take off our mask.
What is your worst nightmare
about yourself?
I mean, not just your pet peeve,
but your most troubling horror?
Dress it up to the max.
Now, finally, you are not pretending.
Let people see it.
Send it out into the world.
Perhaps neither of you will want so much
to see its return.
Let it go. Let it go.

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

October 30, 2020