Dearly Beloved,
Grace and peace to you.

          The devil took him to a very high mountain
          and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;
          and he said to him, “All these I will give you,
          if you will fall down and worship me.”
          Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
          ‘Worship Yahweh your God, and serve God alone.’”
                           —Matthew 4.8-10

I confess: I seek a place in a world
that is not Thee.
I seek belonging in a realm of dislocation,
this world’s imaginary kingdoms.
I read the world’s opinion and believe it;
I covet the esteem of ignorance,
the delusion of my loyal subjects
upon the throne of elsewhere.

Teach me to be at home in you,
to rest my hand on a desert rock
until I see they are the same.
To float in the sea until I know
myself to be in you.
To walk among men and women
and know that they and I and you are one.

I abdicate my throne for you,
and here, bereft,
belong.

          Then the devil left him,
          and suddenly angels came
          and waited on him.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and peace to you.

         Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness
         to be tempted by the devil.
         He fasted forty days and forty nights,
         and afterwards he was famished.
         The tempter came and said to him,
         “If you are the Son of God, command these stones
         to become loaves of bread.”
         But he answered, “It is written,
         ‘One does not live by bread alone,
         but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
                           —Matthew 4. 1-4

God, I confess
I want to turn these stones to bread.
I want to turn this prayer into piety,
this day, this life, into something else.
I want the power to make something
what it is not.

I will let the stone be a stone
and this moment be what it is,
and hunger hunger.
I let go of the illusion
of power to unmake what is
into what I wish.

Without judgment or willfulness
I will let each stone be its stone,
and most: myself what I am,
for only thus, not as I wish or fear,
but truly, do I know you as you are,
loving beyond my desire or imagination.

+

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily e-mail,
write to me at unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and peace to you.

         Then the devil took him to the holy city
         and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him,
         “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down;
         for it is written, ‘God will command the angels concerning you,’
         and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
         so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
         Jesus said to him, “Again it is written,
         ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
                           —Matthew 4.5-7

We want to survive.
Our ego craves security—
that what we think of as our “self” endures,
safe and free and whole in itself.
Pain and suffering press against that craving;
we don’t like them.
Mortality assaults our security; we fear and fight it.
We wish to be able to escape harm
(our superheroes can do it).
We’re afraid the world’s treatment of us,
our suffering and pleasure,
is a measure of our deserving.
Wrapped in our ego-cocoon,
we equate comfort with security
and security with being an enduring self.
But we do not endure separate from God.
We are just dirt rearranged—
except for God’s Spirit in us.
So rather than try to preserve the dirt
we choose to live by the Spirit.
Today someone will smear mud on our face
and tell us we are dust,
and to dust we shall return, no escape.
We are forgiven,
set free from the lie of “deserving,”
free to live by the power of the Spirit alone.
Rather then wanting to escape, alone,
we return, dust and all, to God,
who holds us tenderly
and re-creates us each breath,
this grace our only security.

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 unfoldinglight(at) gmail.com

Coming down from the holy mountain
we know we have not escaped the world’s darkness,
we’ve found how light is hidden here.

It was no different from the rest of our lives;
we just took the time to remove our sunglasses
and see for a change.

Even ordinary light is miraculous and holy.
Christ lives and shines with infinite love and divine glory
in our passing days of laundry
and crabby co-workers and scrubbing the kitchen table.

Give thanks for momentary glimpses
of the fullness of God’s glory,
but don’t stare at the sun.
Know it’s here,
and look for the light where you are.

A little girl waits for the bus,
singing a nonsense song to herself,
and stops, silent, staring at trees.
I swear, she casts shadows.

Jesus said, “if you want to become my followers
deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.
         Give us grace, God, to follow in the way of the cross

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John
and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.
         We come to you not by our own design, O Christ,
         but by your loving invitation.

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun,
and his clothes became dazzling white.
         You are our dawn and our light, O Christ.
         Fill us with the light of your love.

Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
         Fulfill your Word in us, not by mere obedience or prophecy,
         not in mere knowledge or lawfulness, but in love.

Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here;
if you wish, I will make three dwellings here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
         Save us, O God, from our temptation
         to capture and control our lives, your gifts, and even you.
         Give us grace to be alive in the present moment.

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them.
         O Loving Mystery, overcome our knowledge with wonder,
         that in a cloud of unknowing we may love you.

And from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved;
with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
         When you call us to follow in the way of the cross, help us listen.
         In every moment of our lives, help us listen.

When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground
and were overcome by fear.
         We confess our fear of the unknown, fear of the light in us,
         fear of your grace and your presence that overwhelms us.

But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
“Get up and do not be afraid.”
         Help us always to know your touch, to hear your voice:
         “You are my Beloved. Do not be afraid.
         You are my Beloved. Do not be afraid.”

When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
         Our visions are not of another world, but this one.
         Open our eyes to see you in our daily lives.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them,
“Tell no one about the vision
until after the Human One has been raised from the dead.”
         Help us proclaim our faith, not in triumphal self-confidence
         but in humbly following in the way of the cross,
         trusting in resurrection. Alleluia.

         Jesus began to show his disciples
         that he must undergo great suffering and be killed.
         Peter said, “God forbid it, Lord!”
         But Jesus said, “If you want to become my followers,
         deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.”
         Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter          
         and James and his brother John
         and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.
         And he was transfigured before them,
         and his face shone like the sun.
         And a voice said, “This is my Son; listen to him!”
         Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision
         until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
                           —from Matthew 16.21-17.9

The transfiguration is not just about Jesus shining with glory. It’s God’s affirmation of the way of the cross: the way of forgiveness and love even of our enemies, the way of solidarity with those who suffer, the way of deep self-giving, the way of vulnerability for the sake of justice. On the mountain Jesus shines with the light of resurrection. The way of the cross, that dark path, is full of light.

If Jesus is only shining with glory we won’t have gotten the story right. Not until we have seen the suffering and the resurrection can we speak truthfully about it.

Above the way of suffering there is a brightly lit sign saying “Entrance.” God help us to see, and to follow.

In the snowy woods
the branches are all bare, resting.
But here is this little shrub,
green leaves peering out from the snow,
taking in every bit of sunlight it can.

God, I want a little evergreen in my heart,
always open to you,
always taking in your light,
even when I am not thinking of it,
always taking you into me.

Your light pours in
and I become light.
Bless my little evergreen.

Under the snow there is a path.
I know where it is.
The rest I don’t know.
The trees are bundled
in their many-sleeved white fur coats,
meditating.
Mice do their shopping in tunnels unseen.
Here some tracks appear—
a squirrel—and there disappear.
The sound of a woodpecker echoes,
but I can’t find it.
The brook moves under its disguise of sleep.
The earth is turning,
the season, dressed in white,
making her slow walk down the aisle.
Sitting in prayer, most of what goes on
is not what I can see.
But it is a beautiful thing
to stand in the woods
and let the sun move
and listen to the wind.