What dark Samaritan

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         
         
         
Robbed and wounded on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho,
you lie in life’s rough ditch, unable.
Your strength and your treasure pass you by.

Your shadow sees you and is moved with compassion.
Your pain comes to you.
Your failure bends over you.

Your need for forgiveness bathes your wounds.
Your weakness wraps you in clean bands.
Your unworthiness gathers you in knowing arms.

Your brokenness carries you to safe shelter.
Your poverty says, “Treat this one as my Beloved.
I will return, and pay the cost.”

There is no other grace.
There is no less dangerous life.
There is no other salvation.

Who can tell what stranger will be chosen
without knowledge
as your innkeeper, your care giver?

Who can know what dark Samaritan,
pushed away, will come
back to you in your need?

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Empire of grace

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

         
         God has rescued us from the power of darkness
         and transferred us into the Realm of the Beloved One,
         in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of s
ins.
                  —Colossians 1.13-14

You wake flinching at the fading dream.
But you no longer breathe that darkness.

The doctors and their disease, their dread,
they have left. You don’t need them now.

You don’t live with him any more.
You are free. You are safe.

The place they threatened to send you
is the place you’ve been rescued from.

You remember the secret annex in the shattered city,
but you are not there any more. Now you can breathe.

All night the dread, the dense darkness. The clock,
the drip. Threatening streets. The doomed quiet.

Then before dawn, footsteps, voices, a shuffle.
Something falling. The door opens. It is the Beloved.

“I forgive you. Forever.”
You are spirited away.

The trap is undone, the prison destroyed behind you.
The soldiers have died and gone to heaven.

A new rule has begun.
You live here now, an empire of grace.

Peasant, astonished at the city’s glory,
this is your place. See there, your name.

This is the world now, this light, this meadow,
this presence. The impossible life, handed to you.
         
         

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Samaritan

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         But a Samaritan while traveling came near him;
         and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.

                  —Luke 10.33

You are on your way from Jerusalem to Jericho,
going out from the heart of your religion into your daily life.
Along the way you are assaulted.
Whatever your religion has given you is taken.
You are stripped of a good way to present yourself.
You are robbed of your worthiness, whatever is to your credit.

The priest who would receive your sacrifice is not interested.
The Levite who would assure your righteousness does not.
You have no power, no treasure, nothing to offer,
nothing with which to prove or defend yourself.
You are utterly dependent, and deeply alone.
There is no reason to love you.
And your enemy draws near and bends over you.
Your fear, what you reject and despise, looms.

And heals you.
The one you distance makes you a neighbor.
The one you judge shows you mercy.
The one you refuse to love loves you.

We are loved without reason.
We are saved, not successful.
Only the one dependent on mercy can show us mercy.
Only the vulnerable can teach us trust.
We need the poor, to learn to receive.
We need the guilty, to learn to be forgiven.
We need the alien, to see ourselves, and all souls.

Without them, how destitute we are
on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho,
poor and naked, lost in the land of grace,
love draining out of us, ravenously sucking on our egos,
shivering in the rags of our self-sufficiency.

I don’t know about trusting the Lord
what the mother in the projects knows.
I don’t understand forgiveness like the prisoner.
I need to learn humility from the prostitute.
I will truly get mercy only side by side
with those who have no other hope.

The Samaritan I fear and despise
is my teacher, my master,
                                    my savior,
                                                      my Christ.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Sabbath moment

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Morning.
I walk among careless trees

without demands or opinions.
They do not want.

Everything already is.
Nothing is required.

Soon enough I will be good,
I will be worthy,

but first the root, the sanctuary,
where nothing is required of me.

This alone is where I come from,
where I return.

Later, at the table, I pause,
released.

I am with you,
nothing lacking.

Soon enough I will launch
out into my day again,

pull taut the lines
on my little boat,

calculate the breeze,
strain at the waves— but first

I rest in this little harbor of time.
Here, in your silence,

where everything is given,
nothing is required,

I wait upon you
and fulfill all righteousness.

Evening, I lie down.
Nothing is required.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Happy New Year!

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you, and a Happy New Year!

Well, why not?
Why not today be the beginning of something new?
What are you waiting for?
Why wait for some flip of the calendar,
some shift of the earth?
The story is not over, nor is it set in stone.
God is still creating, right now.
God is setting free the slaves this very day.
Today is as good as any to make a new beginning,
to turn a corner, to start over.
to do that task you’ve neglected;
to forgive what needs to be forgiven;
to let go of resentment, bitterness and regret;
to restore a broken relationship;
to celebrate what you have been given
and look forward in hope to what will come;
to begin a new way of being;
to be born again.
Today is the day God lets go of your past
and creates you anew.
Today you awaken to the sea parted before you.
This is the day you lay down your shame and fear,
shoulder your hope and start out. Do not wait.
Today is the beginning of a new journey, a new creation.
May you have a blessed new year,
full of grace, full of light, full of life.

This is the day which the Lord is making.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Sent ahead

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
         After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others
         and sent them two by two ahead of him
         to every town and place where he was about to go.

                  —Luke 10.1

You do not just happen to be here,
         you have been sent.
You are intended to be here,
         to convey a presence.
The land of uncertainty and the unknown,
         these are your territory.
You are sent not away
         but ahead.
You are accompanied,
         paired with one who goes with you.
It is not your success, but your love and courage
         that fulfill your purpose.
The path will need you;
         the journey will create you.
What we receive compels us,
         and, not alone, we go.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

A prayer for our country

         
                  
God of mercy,
bless this nation of ours.
We pray for liberty,
         that none may be oppressed or exploited.
We pray for democracy;
         that all voices be heard, and none silenced.
We pray for peace,
         that there be harmony, in which everyone’s gifts may flourish.
We pray for justice,
         that no one benefit at the expense of another,
         that there be a just and equal sharing of power.
We pray for a spirit of patriotism,
         that we be faithful to one another as a whole.
We thank you for our freedom, and those who have protected it:
         teachers who taught us to question,
         neighbors who acted in covenant with one another,
         those who spoke out against injustice.
We thank you for the gift of our diversity;
         may we honor all people
         and celebrate our rich differences.
We thank you for this land, for it is yours.
         May we live in reverence for your Creation.
God of mercy, in love of our country we confess
         our mistreatment of the poor, and of the land,
         our abuse of power, and idolatry of our place in the world.
Temper our might with humility
         and our power with compassion.
Mend our divisions, heal our fear,
         and restore our love of one another.
Bless this nation,
         and bless every nation the same,
         for all of us are sisters and brothers.
On this Day of Inter-independence,
bless us O God, and make us a nation of justice and peace,
         a nation of benevolence and generosity,
         a nation of mutual sharing and cooperation,
         a nation devoted to the healing of the world.
God of mercy, bless this nation,
that we may be a nation of mercy.
Amen.

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Bear one another’s burdens

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
               
         Bear one another’s burdens;
         in this way you fulfill the will of Christ.

                  —Galatians 6.2

Let this be your mind today,
your purpose for being here:
not to accomplish tasks,
not to get your way,
not to complete your agenda,
but to share the burdens of those around you,
to lighten the load of those
who walk this life beside you.
You are not asked to solve every problem
or to heal every wound,
but simply to be present
to bear one another’s burdens
so that they do not struggle alone.
In this way Christ is alive in you.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight8 (at) hotmail.com

Lay your burdens down

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

Sometimes as I wake up and face the morning, I don’t feel hope or anticipation. I feel a weight on me—not a great, crushing burden, just a little load, enough to weigh my spirit down. It’s usually the weight of something unpleasant coming, some duty or obligation, some sense of something I ought to do, something between me and joy. Maybe it’s a big responsibility at work, or maybe it’s just a household chore. Or guilt over something that I messed up. Maybe it’s loneliness. Maybe it’s fear that this is not going to be a brilliant day. Maybe it’s a vague sense that I need to prove myself, or that my life ought to be somehow different, and that that difference is a long way off. It’s a heavy feeling, a binding-up, discouraging feeling.

That’s when I sit down and come back to the present moment. I disregard all those thoughts about the future or some other existence, and simply be aware of myself sitting in this room, breathing, alive, created by God, and a delight to God. I direct my attention to God’s presence. I don’t expect to feel it, but I let my deep awareness go beyond my feelings. I become aware that God is lovingly present, embracing me and dwelling within me. And in that presence I lay my burdens down. I lay down my fears and expectations, my thoughts and feelings, all of it. I lay down the burden of my despair, the burden of the rest of the day, the burden of upholding who I am. I simply be, here and now, and let God be with me. In this moment, in this breath, there is only God.

And when after a time I go, I leave my burdens down by that riverside. I leave them. And God goes with me, from this present moment into the next—free, beloved, and light. Although sometimes I have to stop again and lay my burdens down once more and enter the joy and freedom of the present moment, the blessing of God’s presence. That’s the pilgrimage: not to carry your treasure to some far off destination; but to lay your burdens down and leave them and walk in the grace of God. That’s the most beautiful journey of all.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light write to me at unfoldinglight8 (at) hotmail.com

A prayer for Mandela

         
         
                  
God of life,
for a brother of our peace,
         walking on the edge of life,
we hold open our hearts.

For a father of our hope,
         standing at the heart of life,
we raise our heads.

To all those whose longing
         looks so much like him,
we extend our hands.

For the world we have seen in him
         rising in us no less mightily
we stand.

All whose gifts are yet imprisoned,
         whose lives are not yet freed,
we remember, and we embrace.

The courage you gave him lives in us;
         our gratitude for him unites us,
one love, one Spirit.

What he has accomplished is in our hands;
         what he has not yet accomplished
is in our hands.

God of mercy, God of justice, Gentle One,
         Our Mighty Hope,
you who forgive and transform and smile,

in his honor give us vision,
         in his will give us a future,
in his spirit give us ourselves.

Amen.

         
         

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

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