Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

Toward the end of winter I came upon
the Lord on a diamond, batting.

I said, “ Lord, what are you doing?”
“These are your sins,” he said,

as a shadowy figure on the mound
with a vicious arm pitched.

He had no instinct: swung at everything,
even dirtballs. And hit ’em every time.

He had a beautiful swing,
fluid, sure, and joyful.

He hit pitch after pitch, endlessly.
I lost myself, watching.

“Out of the park” he said, his eye
on a nasty looking knuckleball,

and swung like a dancer,
gracefully unwinding. Chock!

It rose up over the fence, over the trees,
released from all earthly bonds,

floating free until it disappeared,
infinitely gone, still rising.

He watched it go, as if
he’d never seen such a beautiful thing.

“I love this game,” he grinned,
and set for another pitch.

I think he was honestly
pleased with himself.

         

         

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
         
         
         This is the judgment:
         that light has come into the world.
                  —John 3.19

         
         

The verdict is in:
you are beautiful, beloved,
and necessary to God.
You may not think so;
whatever within that is dirty,
shattered, barren or banal
may seem otherwise.
But the robe of light God gives you
changes all that.
In the light of grace,
the wedding gown of blessing,
you are radiant and desirable.
Look at the moon, hovering,
angelic and luminous,
made of dirt.

         
         

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

          A paraphrase.

         
         

Once you were drowning in a chaos of fear and desire
that sucked all the life out of you,
tyrannized by voices outside of you,
enslaved by the prince of power,
indebted to The Corporation,
obediently oblivious.
All of us have been there,
children of anxiety, shards of ourselves,
desperate for our own lives.
But the Loving One, who is pure tenderness,
loving us infinitely,
rises to life in us,
pushes us out of those mass graves,
and makes us alive, reclaiming us
as part of God’s great, holy presence on earth.
By pure gift—no reason but love!—you have been rescued.

God raises us up from death with the risen Christ,
and restores our belonging at the heart of life.
God’s gentle kindness—you get a taste of it in Jesus—
blossoms within us with blessings beyond our knowing,
blessings that outlast everything you see.

God has saved your life—trust it.
And be grateful, not smug:
this is not your doing, but God’s.
It’s pure gift, unconditional and absolute;
nothing you do can even influence it.

God created you good, and nothing can undo that.
You are part of God’s love made real in this life:
that’s your true self.
Who you are, and the reason you exist,
is beautiful love.

         
         

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

Of higher things
I have no need,
but I aspire
by grace to be
a brother to
this lowly, weak,
green, rising blade,
its moment held,
but not in stone,
its child’s hand
of lifted light,
its fragrance spent,
its color sown
without complaint.
I hope to be
so willing, and
a worthy kin,
belonging so
to no one but
this radiant God.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
         And this is the judgment,
         that the light has come into the world.
                  —John 3.19

                  •

The light does not say anything.
It uncloaks what is,
it shows a way.

                  •

After the long winter
light beckons the crocuses.

                  •

In the corner beneath the table
your warm hand
reaches in without insisting,
deepens all the colors,
and gives everything a halo,
even the little souls of dust
floating in the dark air.

                  •

In the daytime
if you want to know
you can tell if you’re hiding.

                  •

God forgives sin
like light forgives darkness.

                  •

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
         

Out of your broken heart
love leaks everywhere
light escaping
a river of grace
flows into the desert
         

In your damaged hands
life trembles
flutters
dries its wings
         

When we are wounded
God seeps out
a never-ending spring
         

You sigh your despair
an unreadable scripture
Even you do not know
what you mean
         

these cries of God
         

         

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

         
         
Holy God, Outrageous Mystery, help us!
You who establish the earth and yet make it tremble,
grant us stability— and shake us up for the sake of love.
You who give your commandments,
make us obey— and replace all obedience with compassion.
You for whom we build our temples—
tear them down until only mercy remains.
We who think we know, who think we have enough to offer,
come before you with nothing,
and you receive us with grace.
O Holy One, foolishly crucified, powerless among us,
destroy our wisdom and knowledge and power,
with all their hidden faults,
that we may die with Christ,
and be raised up to new life
in the grace of your Spirit alone.
Amen.

         
         

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple,
         and in three days I will raise it up.”
                  —John 2. 18-19

                  •

Demolish this building
         and experience God.

                  •

Destroy my body
         and I will rise from the dead.

                  •

Destroy who you think I am
         and who I am will appear.

                  •

Convert your religion
         and truly worship.

                  •

Stop making up for the past
         and let God be present.

                  •

Take away my accomplishments
         and my love will remain.

                  •

Stop placing the holy here
         and it will be here.

                  •

Look beyond the visible
         and the invisible will astound you.

                  •

Abandon what is rigid
         and what is alive will blossom.

                  •

Surrender your life
         and life will come to you.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
— John 2.14-16

You come before God with nothing.
No coins of accomplishment,
no doves of contrition,
nothing adequate to satisfy God.
No one’s loss, even cattle and sheep,
can save you,
no theft can pay back your theft,
no violence cover your violence,
no fracture replace your brokenness.
You come before God naked
and empty-handed.
No invocation can uphold you,
no offering present you,
no chant or incantation protect you.

The temple is empty.
The temple is silence.
The temple is presence.

With no reason
the Loving One receives you
and holds you
in perfect stillness.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

Shadows open their eyes
         and cast unseeing
                  dark across my movements.

I didn’t even know that
         somewhere buried in here
                  is light.

The axe murderer,
         not knowing why, chops
                  wood and gives it away.

Under the snow
         so many tender living things,
                  waiting.

         
         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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