Then looking up to heaven, he sighed
           and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’
                         —Mark 7.34

May my ears be opened,
that I may hear others truly,
and listen with loving attentiveness.

May the ears of my spirit be opened,
open to hear your murmuring
in ordinary things.

May my mind be opened,
open to what may seem too miraculous,
open to change.

May my heart be opened,
in trust and hope open to your grace
around me and within me.

May heaven be opened,
that there be no barrier
between me and the holy.

May all of life be opened,
open to your grace, open to the miracle
that is about to happen.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Light rises
from the bare hillside
where prayers were sown
in the body
that fell into the earth of light.

The soil knows how to do this.

A blackbird cloaked like a priest
watches from a bare branch
without a word,
without a thought.
After a while it lifts, departs.
You, too, go home
and lay your body down,
and come again later.

Like water
the word passes between the silences.

Friend, the moment the seeds left your hand
you were raised.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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In an upper room your people gather,
blown by your wind, drawn by your flame,

still shaken by a cross, still shaken by a resurrection,
bearing both wounds and wonder—

the wounds we have suffered and those we have caused,
and those by our faith we are yet to endure—

and the mystery of our healing, and your outrageous hope
in calling us as vessels of your grace and mercy.

How now do we step into this calling?
How do we speak this mystery?

Neither by our zeal nor our wisdom,
for your Spirit alone enfolds us, empowers us, guides us:

to go to the lost, beginning with each other,
beginning with ourselves, receiving your grace to overflowing;

to bear the torch without burning one,
to speak the truth without silencing one,

to proclaim with humility,
to bear witness with kindness,

to offer grace to those whom we oppose
to labor for justice with gentleness,

to embody your resurrection,
to become your bread.

Take us, Holy One. Bless us. Break us. And give us
in the name of the Beloved, to this hungry, hurting world.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
                         —Mark 7.28

Jesus may have meant it as a test, or a sly challenge,
or an ironic naming of existing biases;
or maybe he thoughtlessly repeated a racial slur
when he said dogs don’t get the children’s food.
It doesn’t matter to her. She has a witty rejoinder,
an irrefutable argument, a bit of verbal jujitsu.
She’s not arguing with reality,
or looking for a loophole in the laws of God.
She’s taking apart The Way We See Things,
for she knows there are cracks in it.
She’s arguing with Conventional Wisdom,
with What Everybody Knows—
for behind that is the actual truth,
the reality of God’s grace,
God’s kindness toward everyone.
Everyone.
She knows it’s there, hidden by our prejudices.

Whenever anyone tries to put a limit on grace, it’s fakery.
Poke right through it.
Even if it takes Jesus by surprise, he’ll love it.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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I was off last week at my brother’s wedding. 
The bride is a young one, 
but at 69 the groom is a certified geezer. 
Sixty-nine is a great age for marriage.
It’s a time of looking toward the future with hope,
because every time is, even when it seems late.
Now is the time, and not too late, to declare your heart. 
Now is the time to make a commitment. 
Now, no matter how much time is left,
is a time, the very best time,
to cast your lot with love and beauty and faithfulness.
Some choices are too late, too far gone. 
But most of your choices still lie ahead of you. 
Every day you choose love over cynicism,
wonder over smugness, generosity over fear.
Every day you choose to give yourself to the world
and not hold back, not wait for something.
Do you love this world?
Today, this very day, late as it may be,
life asks you for your hand, and today—
yes, now and evermore, is a good time to say
“I do.” 

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes 
Unfolding Light 
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             Put on the whole armor of God…
                         —Ephesians 6.11

The armor of God is distinctly not-armor:
a renunciation of might,
of power and force,
a radical commitment to non-violence.
It’s gentleness instead of fighting,
service rather than superiority,
listening instead of yelling,
love instead of self-protection.

You don’t just renounce guns.
You renounce bullying,
aggression, making fun of others.
You set aside the shield of cynicism,
the helmet of acceptability,
the sword of being right.
For the sake of healing
you accept vulnerability, embrace risk,
and stand with those who hurt.

To put on the armor of God
is not for the faint-hearted.
It’s to trust that love
and utter dependence on the grace of God
will keep you whole.
For it will.
It will.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             Jesus asked the twelve,
             “Do you also wish to go away?”
             Simon Peter answered him,
             “Boss, where else could we turn?
             You have the words of eternal life.”
                         —John 6.67-68

Among all the teachers of wisdom, and there are many,
what I listen for is the truth that connects me
with the heart of all things,
the Love at the center of the universe,
the words beyond words
full of life that is infinite,
that are the Word that speaks everything into being,
the Life that was before all, is in all,
and will outlive all.

For that, Jesus is my man.
Nobody else quite has the depth of it,
the joy and sorrow and healing and generosity
and suffering and courage and mystery and forgiveness
and through it all this gobsmacking trust
in the grace that never fails.
He’s the one who hands me the heart of God
and says, “Here, it’s yours.”

His is the love that can heal my soul,
charge my heart, and raise me from the dead.
There’s nobody else I’m drawn to listen to
so much, so deeply, so needy, so happy.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             Because of this many of his disciples
             turned back and no longer went about with him.
             So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”
                         —John 6.66-67

I love this little glimpse of Jesus,
for the moment not testing the disciples,
not handing out difficult teachings,
but wanting friends, hoping not to be alone.
To “go away” is not just to fail at faith,
or disagree with his theology;
it’s to leave him companionless.
The human Jesus, right on the edge of his own hurt.
For all the love that flowed,
his was still the loneliest job.

Maybe what Jesus most wants is not your religiosity,
not your fervent prayers, or your profound faith,
but just you. Your company.
Your willingness to be with him.
Maybe he doesn’t want your piety.
He just likes having you around.
Imagine that as joyful as the father is
to receive the prodigal son,
the Beloved is that happy to have you.
Maybe even a little sad without you.

You don’t have to do anything heroic.
Just keep him company.
I tell you, there are times
he will want that more than anything.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             When many of his disciples heard it, they said,
            “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”
                         —John 6.60

Jesus,
I am not so weak as to need platitudes,
though I savor them.
Give me the difficult sayings—
hard to understand,
harder to trust.
Wedge my heart out of its ruts.
Free me from my smug understanding.
Threaten my sure disbelief.
Unbalance me so I have to lean into you.
I know you’ll catch me when I fall.

(Faith is not the high-wire; it’s the falling.)

Beloved, teach me to accept what is hard,
to trust what is given,
and to keep at it.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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The sun comes up and puts its arms around the world,
which leans in and looks up like a child in its mother’s bosom,
and the birds sing about that, all their warbling songs
and their chittering songs and their playground songs.
Clouds in their long white robes
burgeon across the sky, furling and unfurling,
and the white pines nod, and the red oaks nod,
and the beech and the birch leaves flutter,
and the grasses wave and bow and wave.
Dew sings its fuzz of light, and little white moths applaud.
The wild daisies seem to know something, and the goldenrod,
and the white clover knows and the purple vetch knows .
The little brook recites its rosary, clicking the beads.
The morning light rises and rises
as if it is about to ask something,
like the ocean over and over coming to the shore;
and the meadowlarks take up the question the sun is asking,
asking something of the world,
and because you are part of it, breathing,
asking you as well:
if you are willing, here, now,
to go ahead and be part of it,
to be part of the unfolding of this astonishing day,
to be at least this much of the miracle.

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