Lord, I want to see.
Heal me of my resistance
to seeing what is before me.

Help me behold what is
without the veil of judgment,
the distortion of fear.

Help me see your glory
in every person,
especially those in whom it is hidden.

Help me see myself with your love.
Help me see your grace in all things,
your hope in all things.

Let me see with the wonder of a newborn.
I ask knowing that as I see
it will re-create me.

I will no longer go my own way:
I will follow you, and stay near,
keeping you always in my sight.

__________________
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

         
         Some Pharisees said, “Herod wants to kill you.”
         He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me,
         ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures.’”
                  —Luke 13.31-32

         When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh—
         my adversaries and foes— they shall stumble and fall.
                  —Psalm 27.2

         Stand firm in the Lord.
                  —Philippians 4.1

         Do not bring us to the time of trial,
         but rescue us from the evil one.
                  —Matthew 6.13

God,
you have given me the great power
of refusing to let other people’s energy
determine my own. I am free.

Help me resist the adversaries
of other people’s expectations,
my foe, my desire to fit in.

I have joined a gang: it is Christ.
We live his ways, not other people’s ways.
Help me stand firm.

Help me be gentle when others are violent.
When others yell, remind me I don’t have to.
When others blame I can listen.

When the culture is violent and unjust
and resists opposition,
I can stand for healing and justice.

You have taken me into yourself.
Why should I be afraid, even in a cruel place,
to stand firm in love?

__________________
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.
         

        Some Pharisees said,
                “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
        He said, “Go and tell that fox,
                ‘I am casting out demons and performing cures
                today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’…
        Jerusalem, city that kills the prophets!
                How have I wanted to gather your children
        as a hen gathers her brood under her wings!”          
                  — from Luke 13.31-35

The fox prowls,
the hen spreads her wings.

The fox will kill,
the hen give life.

The fox will live,
the hen will die.

The fox knows what he is doing
but not as well as the hen.

The fox too will die,
his killing unfinished.

But on the third day
we will see what it is

to choose
to be the hen.

+
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

Loving God,
let me die in your arms.
I am your child;
take me up in your loving hands
and wash me clean of all that I have been,
so that I may be made new.
In your love, I shed my illusions;
I surrender my desires,
I offer you my broken heart.
Forgive me and heal me.
Draw me close to you and hold me
where I can truly become myself.
Create in me a clean heart, a newborn spirit.
Write your love on my soul.
I die in your mercy: I surrender my life to you,
so that I may have your life alone,
and rise to bear the fruit of your love.
Open my lips, Beloved,
and my life will sing your praise.
Amen.

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

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Morning walk
Ten below

Though minus 23
Celsius sounds better

Even brief exposure hurts
My nose, thumbs and knees notice

The frozen brook clicks
Bubbles move under the ice

Vapor rises from the sun-touched ice
warmer than the air

Silence is sharpened
The sun points its narrow finger at me

Beneath my layers is warmth
from that narrow finger

Beneath my layers
I am earth I am sun

Sparrows chatter in a bare tree
Even the bareness is beauty

Even my nose praises
Even the shadows praise

+
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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,
         where for forty days he was tempted.
                  —Luke 4.1-2

A place of harshness
and subtraction.
Shadows splinter and deceive.

How sweet, then,
in this unyielding place,
to possess, control,
never to hunger or hurt or fail,
perfect undepence.

He had to admire them first,
not some devil’s trick
but secret loves,
had to see them stark
against the heat’s pavement,
cherish them, so fetching
among stones, places of skulls,
hold them in his hands, so lovely,
pinned by the nails of the sun,

had to feel the clutching,
had to know how alluring the gems,
singular, untouched, untrue,
and want them badly,
to leave them to the dust
for something even better.

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         “If you belong to God,
         command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
                  —Luke 4.3

And then this boring meeting to become a circus,
this flabby body to become a work of art,
this life to become something else.

You can spend your life (oh, how we do)
inside a bubble of judgments and desires,
and never know even a simple stone.

No, stay here.
Let the stone be a stone,
the traffic be traffic.

Even this broken life,
this troubled soul,
this difficult time.

Otherwise how can a joy be joy,
a wonder a wonder?
Life is this, not something else.

This is the mystery of the fast,
the hungry day that is a hungry day,
free from the dictates of desire.

Nothing needs to be what it isn’t.
There is glory enough in the stone.
And in you, already a child of God.

You can’t command the transformation,
but only present yourself to God,
who can.

Just smile at Satan and say,
“No thanks.
I’m good.”

+
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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
I have a small vial of clay
that used to hold my father’s ashes.
They’re on a hillside in Montana now;
the vial is clean and empty,
ready for me.

I should keep it in my pocket,
hold it deep in the folds of my coat,
until I am folded into my little vial of clay.

It asks me, what is the difference
between you and clay?
The answer is water.
That, and love.

The little vial of clay says daily:
drink water while you can,
and love.

+
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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Preparing to descend into Lent,
its sorrows and surrenders,
the death that opens to new life,
we stand at the threshold
on this day named for shriving,
which means hearing confession,
and also imposing penance,
and also granting absolution.
All in one.

Even before Lent begins
we are shriven,
having confessed
and been offered a new way
and been forgiven,
before we even begin.

Eat those pancakes, then,
and parade with joy,
and tomorrow wear those ashes
as lovely adornment.
Walk gladly into the desert.
Embrace your cross with gratitude.
You are already risen.

+
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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Heavy snow fell, changing everything,
every limb and twig.
The woods were wondrous and wounded,
trees bent double, branches down.
Even fence posts were transfigured,
beautiful and stylish in their hats.

Sticky, wet snow is perfect for snowmen
but a pain to shovel,
dense and heavy. The piles
by the driveway are not pretty.
But you keep stopping
to look up and be astonished.

Afterward you look out,
a little damp from the grace and pain,
and wonder:

what will you do
with the beauty you’ve been given?

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