Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
God of life, on this day we honor those who have sacrificed in the service of their country in the military. Bless their gifts, and bring healing to those who have suffered and comfort to those who have lost loved ones.
We honor those who have sacrificed in the service of their country by working for peace, nonviolence and reconciliation. Bless their gifts, and bless us that we may receive the spirit of peace, the spirit of Christ.
We honor those for whom there is no national day of remembrance: for civilians who have suffered from war, and for the soldiers of other nations, who have also served their countries, who, but for fleeting circumstances, would be our friends.
We confess our collective sin of war, and lament our participation in actions that have caused suffering and loss. We repent of our violence, and ask you to nurture in us a deeper reverence for life. We confess our failure to speak out against war, violence and coercion; our willing participation in injustice for our own protection comfort; our failure to live nonviolently.
We pray for peace, for the healing and reconciliation of all peoples, and for the coming of your reign of mercy and justice according to your promise. In the spirit of those we honor today, those who have bravely served their country with arms, who have given of their time and hearts and bodies and lives, grant us deep reverence for life and your spirit of peace, so that we may serve the human community with courage and gentleness, in hope of the day when all people and all living beings will live in peace as you have intended. Amen.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
The quiet one
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
— Proverbs 8.1
When the Spirit of truth comes,
she will guide you into all the truth.
— John 16.13
But you won't hear her at first
because you were expecting a man,
someone in charge, someone who would
tell you what to do, how to think,
not the quiet voice of a woman
who's already given and lost so much
without regret that she'll let you
ignore her, without ceasing to love you,
someone who's given birth enough to know
to let go and never let go, to care
and not to care, to hide her secret
in the strange language of your guts.
But sooner or later you give in
and learn to wait while she stares
into the stirring pot of your eyes
and listen long enough to hear
as well as she does, listen with
the tuned drum of your heart,
the wisdom of your pulsing cells,
the body of God in you,
vibrant and yearning and at peace.
Knowing where her joy lies in you,
sensing what it longs for, how it feeds you,
when it stirs, when it rests, you wait
not for a command but a touch, an unspoken
connection, the looks that dance between
you and your confident sister,
your close companion, the Quiet One.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
— Proverbs 8.1
When the Spirit of truth comes,
she will guide you into all the truth.
— John 16.13
But you won't hear her at first
because you were expecting a man,
someone in charge, someone who would
tell you what to do, how to think,
not the quiet voice of a woman
who's already given and lost so much
without regret that she'll let you
ignore her, without ceasing to love you,
someone who's given birth enough to know
to let go and never let go, to care
and not to care, to hide her secret
in the strange language of your guts.
But sooner or later you give in
and learn to wait while she stares
into the stirring pot of your eyes
and listen long enough to hear
as well as she does, listen with
the tuned drum of your heart,
the wisdom of your pulsing cells,
the body of God in you,
vibrant and yearning and at peace.
Knowing where her joy lies in you,
sensing what it longs for, how it feeds you,
when it stirs, when it rests, you wait
not for a command but a touch, an unspoken
connection, the looks that dance between
you and your confident sister,
your close companion, the Quiet One.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Secret power
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
I carry my secret power through this world,
hidden, so that you will not see it
unless you harm or confront me directly;
though we who share the gift recognize each other—
the look in the eyes, the manner of presence.
Once you've seen it you can't miss it.
It never tires or errs or fails;
it prevails in public or in secret,
with a single one or a whole clan.
It does not protect me or hand me success,
but it always triumphs, always lives,
though often I will suffer for it, but only a bit.
I draw on the secret power
poured out into me, welling up,
unending, from the dark spring within.
It streams from my heart at all whom I meet,
but they seldom know it was me,
since it takes effect so slowly.
I walk through the market, I read the paper,
I watch the dryer repair man, the grocery clerk,
people who drive, who walk, who yell at me,
secretly radiating the gift that I have been given,
seldom speaking of it, but letting it flow:
“Blessing.” “Blessing.” “Blessing.”
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
I carry my secret power through this world,
hidden, so that you will not see it
unless you harm or confront me directly;
though we who share the gift recognize each other—
the look in the eyes, the manner of presence.
Once you've seen it you can't miss it.
It never tires or errs or fails;
it prevails in public or in secret,
with a single one or a whole clan.
It does not protect me or hand me success,
but it always triumphs, always lives,
though often I will suffer for it, but only a bit.
I draw on the secret power
poured out into me, welling up,
unending, from the dark spring within.
It streams from my heart at all whom I meet,
but they seldom know it was me,
since it takes effect so slowly.
I walk through the market, I read the paper,
I watch the dryer repair man, the grocery clerk,
people who drive, who walk, who yell at me,
secretly radiating the gift that I have been given,
seldom speaking of it, but letting it flow:
“Blessing.” “Blessing.” “Blessing.”
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Runner's medium
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Most days I run about four and a half miles. I don't experience a “runner's high” very often; it's more like a runner's medium— maybe medium-high. I push myself, but I'm not concerned about improving my time, just my health. What's important to me is not how soon I cross the finish line, but how fit I am. When I run I trust the invisible processes in my body, the transformation of tissues, bone and heart, of metabolism, blood chemistry, immunology, stamina and all sorts of things. I don't understand all that. I just know it's going on in me. So I run.
When I sit in silent stillness and meditate on the love of God I don't often experience a “pray-er's high,” that endorphin-rich state of bliss brought on by profound meditation. I don't often sense that God is saying anything in particular to me. But I trust the invisible process going on in my soul. Even though sometimes my prayer is shallow or my mind wanders, when I sit in silence, the Beloved prays in me, Spirit breathes in me, and unseen miracles occur— gifts of healing, release, wisdom, connection, love and presence. I don't understand it. I just know it's going on in me. So I pray.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
Most days I run about four and a half miles. I don't experience a “runner's high” very often; it's more like a runner's medium— maybe medium-high. I push myself, but I'm not concerned about improving my time, just my health. What's important to me is not how soon I cross the finish line, but how fit I am. When I run I trust the invisible processes in my body, the transformation of tissues, bone and heart, of metabolism, blood chemistry, immunology, stamina and all sorts of things. I don't understand all that. I just know it's going on in me. So I run.
When I sit in silent stillness and meditate on the love of God I don't often experience a “pray-er's high,” that endorphin-rich state of bliss brought on by profound meditation. I don't often sense that God is saying anything in particular to me. But I trust the invisible process going on in my soul. Even though sometimes my prayer is shallow or my mind wanders, when I sit in silence, the Beloved prays in me, Spirit breathes in me, and unseen miracles occur— gifts of healing, release, wisdom, connection, love and presence. I don't understand it. I just know it's going on in me. So I pray.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Love poured out
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
God has poured out her love
into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
whom she has given us.
—Romans 5.5
God, I am so small;
help me fathom this mystery:
that you have given me your eternal Spirit,
that the Spirit that hovered over the face of the waters
when you created all things
breathes deeply in me, deeply in me.
Help me to be mindful that the love
with which you create the world,
love that raises the dead,
you have poured into my heart,
flooding my being—
infinite love, infinite love.
Help me to trust that I can face all hardship,
endure all suffering and undertake all endeavors
with your love and spirit flowing through me.
Help me to trust
that you pour into me the infinite love and Spirit
with which to love this world,
with which to join with you
in creating and healing and blessing
this wondrous world.
Loving One, let this mystery fill me
and light my way.
Amen.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Monday, May 24, 2010
The voice of God
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not concern myself with great matters,
things too marvelous for me.
But I have stilled and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and forevermore.
— Psalm 131
When we listen for the voice of God, sometimes we “hear” something like advice.
“Take the job.”
“Forgive your sister.”
But more often we may hear something that's harder to put into words, more like a movement than an idea.
“You are all right.”
“Here is your gift.”
It may be something closer to a feeling.
“Peace.”
“This is not right.”
It may simply be awareness.
“This sunrise.”
“I am.”
More often than not, God's “Word” is not something that can be said at all. When we listen in stillness we hear the voice of God humming quietly, like a contented mother with her child in her arms. And that is enough.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not concern myself with great matters,
things too marvelous for me.
But I have stilled and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and forevermore.
— Psalm 131
When we listen for the voice of God, sometimes we “hear” something like advice.
“Take the job.”
“Forgive your sister.”
But more often we may hear something that's harder to put into words, more like a movement than an idea.
“You are all right.”
“Here is your gift.”
It may be something closer to a feeling.
“Peace.”
“This is not right.”
It may simply be awareness.
“This sunrise.”
“I am.”
More often than not, God's “Word” is not something that can be said at all. When we listen in stillness we hear the voice of God humming quietly, like a contented mother with her child in her arms. And that is enough.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Friday, May 21, 2010
Listening in tongues
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?”
— Acts 2. 7-8
Maybe the miracle on that Pentecost day was simply that Jesus' followers were given the ability to understand foreigners. Don't underestimate the miraculousness of this. We usually don't listen even to people who speak our own language, let alone a foreign one, enough to really understand them. Maybe the disciples simply gave enough attention to the foreigners that they came to understand what spoke to them. That might have taken longer than just rushing out into the street-- but it's no less impressive. Maybe the real Pentecostal gift is not one of speaking at all, but of listening.
We normally see things according to our own understanding, without taking into account other people's experience or perspective. But when we listen to their story from their point of view and honor their experience, we learn a new language of reality. It's like listening in tongues.
The Holy Spirit does not necessarily empower us to prophesy by doing all the talking, being right and convincing others. It enables us to listen, to receive, to connect deeply enough with people, even people who are very different from us, that we can discover what speaks to them. As Paul says, God searches our hearts with the mind of the Spirit (Romans 8.27). Listen in the power of the Holy Spirit. You maybe surprised at how many people there are for whom it will be truly prophetic.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?”
— Acts 2. 7-8
Maybe the miracle on that Pentecost day was simply that Jesus' followers were given the ability to understand foreigners. Don't underestimate the miraculousness of this. We usually don't listen even to people who speak our own language, let alone a foreign one, enough to really understand them. Maybe the disciples simply gave enough attention to the foreigners that they came to understand what spoke to them. That might have taken longer than just rushing out into the street-- but it's no less impressive. Maybe the real Pentecostal gift is not one of speaking at all, but of listening.
We normally see things according to our own understanding, without taking into account other people's experience or perspective. But when we listen to their story from their point of view and honor their experience, we learn a new language of reality. It's like listening in tongues.
The Holy Spirit does not necessarily empower us to prophesy by doing all the talking, being right and convincing others. It enables us to listen, to receive, to connect deeply enough with people, even people who are very different from us, that we can discover what speaks to them. As Paul says, God searches our hearts with the mind of the Spirit (Romans 8.27). Listen in the power of the Holy Spirit. You maybe surprised at how many people there are for whom it will be truly prophetic.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Speaking in tongues
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
"Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power?"
— Acts 2. 7, 11
When we think of “speaking in tongues” we usually mean glossolalia, ecstatic speech that is unintelligible, even to the speaker. But on that day of Pentecost the disciples did the opposite: they spoke in common languages to make the unfathomable grace of God clear to foreigners who otherwise would not have understood them. Real speaking in tongues is not a private, emotional act. It means communicating “God’s deeds of power” in someone else’s language, in a way that they can understand.
You don’t need to lose yourself in ecstatic prayer, or even learn a foreign language to communicate God’s love. You may not have to put it into words at all: you can make evident what God has done in your life. Become increasingly aware of God’s presence in you, mindful of how God’s love flows through you, changes you, blesses you, and flows on to others. Let this be your consciousness. Let this gift shine in you. Become transparent to God’s grace. Radiate God’s love. Extend compassion, delight and blessing even to the strangest people. Don’t worry; they’ll get it.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Things won't work out
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
God, I’m worried that things won’t turn out
as I want them to.
So I’m grasping, clinging to little things,
little hopes, like remnants from a fire,
artifacts of an imagined world.
Meanwhile you pour out your presence to me.
What is this tinny little world I cling to?
Why am I hanging onto these trinkets?
What is this fear that I cherish so much?
Why am I afraid to stop and behold
your infinite abundance, laid secretly in my lap?
Does what I want lead me to abandon all things
and fall into your arms?
Is there something I want more than You?
What would it take for me to trade
what I am afraid of losing
for what can't be taken from me?
I am standing by a clear, flowing river
nervously holding water in my cupped hands
that I have carried a long time.
Why don’t I drop it, walk in, and float away?
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © 2010
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Good morning
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Wake up.
Be present to this world,
wakeful and attentive.
Rise from your bed.
Once again you are raised from death,
once again given the gift of life.
Throw back the curtains.
Let in all the light you can.
You have nothing to hide.
Look out the window.
Your purpose today is to witness
and to wonder.
Begin the day with gratitude,
just for this moment,
until it gets dark.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@ (at)hotmail.com
Monday, May 17, 2010
Holy One
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Holy One,
you are the softening of the dark
before the dawn,
you are my dawn, my light,
my day, my sight.
Divine Presence,
you are the thickness of things,
the substance of flesh,
the heft of tools,
the palpable earth,
my weight, my gravity.
Living Love,
you are all movement,
all flowing of breath and time,
of death and love
and scent and thought,
my blood and its lifelong
river pouring.
O Unseen Opening,
you are all wanting,
all thirst, receiving,
breathing in,
my hope.
O Mystery,
you are all emptiness,
silence, darkness and night,
my breathing out,
my death, and all
I will become
within you.
O Being
you are holy,
and I bow to you
in constant, humble joy.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight (at) hotmail.com
Friday, May 14, 2010
One
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
… That they may be one....
—John 17.20
Don't be fooled by the illusion of distinctions,
the lie that we are separate,
that our either-or's are real,
that we can think God and categorize What Is.
Don't be taken by the theory that we are all
created by various gods from different worlds.
We are all fingers of the One hand,
words of the One song.
The Holy One contains us all.
We are one Body—not just believers
(who can judge, who can separate?)
or all who breathe long for God.
This whole universe, this one creation,
is but the speaking of God's one Word.
In all its complex harmonies and flowings,
its growths and reflections, it is One.
There is only One thing,
and we all are of it.
We are bound with the stranger,
completed by our enemy,
blessed by the foreigner who practices
a strange religion, as they by us.
Unity is not a goal we strive for,
but the reality we struggle to see.
Holiness is not separation,
but deep belonging
to the Holy
One.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Ascension Day
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
—Luke 24. 50-51
Today is Ascension Day, 40 days after the resurrection when Jesus ascended to heaven. Clearly he has left. Yet he said, “I am with you always.” How do we make sense of this? It must be that Christ is with us in another form, not the body of Jesus of Nazareth. On Pentecost we will see the new form of Christ's incarnation, the Body of Christ: not a person at all, but a community.
Christ is present, here, now. God, in love, is bodily present with you. Look around you. Look within you. Look slowly, and carefully. Let your prayer be a deepening, widening awareness. The Beloved will appear in forms you do not expect. Remember Jacob and his dream, and the disciples on the road to Emmaus: it is often only afterward that we realize that God has been present in ways we did not know. Christ doesn't always look like Jesus. God doesn't always look like God. The best we can do is to continually open the eyes of our hearts to the indwelling, surrounding, unseen presence of the Loving One.
Keep the eyes of your heart open.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
How to live
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
When all is stripped away
what is left is not what you cling to
nor what you have accomplished,
but how you live.
This is what you are here to perfect.
Start with:
wonder, gratitude,
patience, humility,
courage and kindness.
Each moment, practice.
The more you do ,
the more you become
rich beyond measure.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Depths
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
The songs of whales enchant,
though the words escape us.
He knows what she said
but he is only beginning to hear it.
The garden lies empty and still,
but beneath, it is neither.
She smiles, while within lies
an underground lake.
The crayon squiggles hung on the fridge
look festive, rough, and random.
No telling what it actually means
to the mom who stuck it there,
or to the boy who drew
that empty green shape
with the dot in it,
that drooping blue line.
As when peering into a narrow hole,
we always block our own light.
The artist conjures the surface of things
precisely to get beyond it.
From an open window, blues sung low,
something stretching farther down
than you can reach.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
The songs of whales enchant,
though the words escape us.
He knows what she said
but he is only beginning to hear it.
The garden lies empty and still,
but beneath, it is neither.
She smiles, while within lies
an underground lake.
The crayon squiggles hung on the fridge
look festive, rough, and random.
No telling what it actually means
to the mom who stuck it there,
or to the boy who drew
that empty green shape
with the dot in it,
that drooping blue line.
As when peering into a narrow hole,
we always block our own light.
The artist conjures the surface of things
precisely to get beyond it.
From an open window, blues sung low,
something stretching farther down
than you can reach.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Monday, May 10, 2010
Rain
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Present moment
neither good nor ill
growth erosion
dreaded long awaited
good for the farmer
bad for the parade
why judge?
walk out in it
get soaked know it
this way alone
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Friday, May 7, 2010
God, the single mom
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
The Mother will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in my name.... Those who love me will keep my word, and my Mother will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them....
— John 14.26, 23
The Holy Trinity is a single parent family, right? And look— despite all the he-man talk, God is a mom. Aside from our sexist history, there's really no reason to call God Father instead of Mother. God has no biology, no body parts, no x or y chromosomes. So the whole Mother/Father thing is all about social stereotypes. Well, doesn't God fit the traditional stereotype of a mother? The one who births us, and nurses us with her own flesh, the one who taught us to walk. Not one who leaves home every day to work, but the one who stays with us to care for us. The one who feeds us, the one who talks with us, who weaves our relationships together, who tends us when we're sick, who cries over us. Isn't God more like the one who fusses over us rather than the one who taught us how to play football? As far as gender stereotypes go, God is way more like Mom.
Both our stereotypes and our theology need to change. But while dads learn to be more like what we've always expected of moms, God's been doing it all along.
And she's not only a homemaker, she's a single mom. There's a Son, and another (a daughter?)—but no other parent, no other authority, no one else for us to turn to or for her to fall back on. God is the resilient, resourceful, devoted single mom, the one who works hard to hold the family together, who balances work and family, who somehow pulls it all together. As we approach Mother's Day I honor mothers, especially those who are single or functionally so, who give life and love, and who embody God's grace.
In the name of the Mother, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Happy Mother's Day.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
The Mother will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in my name.... Those who love me will keep my word, and my Mother will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them....
— John 14.26, 23
The Holy Trinity is a single parent family, right? And look— despite all the he-man talk, God is a mom. Aside from our sexist history, there's really no reason to call God Father instead of Mother. God has no biology, no body parts, no x or y chromosomes. So the whole Mother/Father thing is all about social stereotypes. Well, doesn't God fit the traditional stereotype of a mother? The one who births us, and nurses us with her own flesh, the one who taught us to walk. Not one who leaves home every day to work, but the one who stays with us to care for us. The one who feeds us, the one who talks with us, who weaves our relationships together, who tends us when we're sick, who cries over us. Isn't God more like the one who fusses over us rather than the one who taught us how to play football? As far as gender stereotypes go, God is way more like Mom.
Both our stereotypes and our theology need to change. But while dads learn to be more like what we've always expected of moms, God's been doing it all along.
And she's not only a homemaker, she's a single mom. There's a Son, and another (a daughter?)—but no other parent, no other authority, no one else for us to turn to or for her to fall back on. God is the resilient, resourceful, devoted single mom, the one who works hard to hold the family together, who balances work and family, who somehow pulls it all together. As we approach Mother's Day I honor mothers, especially those who are single or functionally so, who give life and love, and who embody God's grace.
In the name of the Mother, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Happy Mother's Day.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Thursday, May 6, 2010
God running
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
I am running
and God is running in me.
God is breathing deep and steady,
down in the darkness secretly
changing the air into life in me.
God is thumping in my chest,
pulling life through me, all of me.
God is taking a pounding down there,
feet slapping the road over and over,
never complaining, slender ankles
faithfully taking all my weight.
God is my sweat, pouring out of me
like love, like light.
God, you are that miraculous alchemy,
that unchoreographable dance
of oxygen, nerve firings, glucose,
adrenaline, muscle memory and will.
You are my momentum,
my balance, my movement,
my stamina.
Even when I'm awkward or tired
you are graceful in me,
strong and elegant and unflagging.
You are the push up the hill,
and you are the hill.
When I am exhausted you are still
running in me, my body knowing
how to run, bearing me along gamely.
You are the sprint at the end,
the push from within, the rush,
the release.
And you are my tiredness,
my gasping for air, for life, for God.
You are running and resting,
my feet and my finish line.
All day cells will adapt, bones resolve,
metabolism change, muscles renew.
What is “fitness,” but God happening?
Now I am done running.
I am reading poetry.
And God is in me...
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
I am running
and God is running in me.
God is breathing deep and steady,
down in the darkness secretly
changing the air into life in me.
God is thumping in my chest,
pulling life through me, all of me.
God is taking a pounding down there,
feet slapping the road over and over,
never complaining, slender ankles
faithfully taking all my weight.
God is my sweat, pouring out of me
like love, like light.
God, you are that miraculous alchemy,
that unchoreographable dance
of oxygen, nerve firings, glucose,
adrenaline, muscle memory and will.
You are my momentum,
my balance, my movement,
my stamina.
Even when I'm awkward or tired
you are graceful in me,
strong and elegant and unflagging.
You are the push up the hill,
and you are the hill.
When I am exhausted you are still
running in me, my body knowing
how to run, bearing me along gamely.
You are the sprint at the end,
the push from within, the rush,
the release.
And you are my tiredness,
my gasping for air, for life, for God.
You are running and resting,
my feet and my finish line.
All day cells will adapt, bones resolve,
metabolism change, muscles renew.
What is “fitness,” but God happening?
Now I am done running.
I am reading poetry.
And God is in me...
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The fourth person of the Trinity
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
The Father will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in my name....
Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them,
and we will come to them and make our home with them....
— John 14.26, 23
There are actually four persons in the Holy Trinity: you are always included. The essence of the Holy Trinity, the nature of God, is a loving community of persons who are deeply related and who include us, who make their home with us. God is not distant, but surrounding and indwelling. The Trinity is not a tightly closed molecule but a family at a table, your table, our table, always inherently relational and inclusive.
The aim of the spiritual life is not to believe the correct doctrines or understand all things or attain a certain attitude, but to participate in the life of the Holy Trinity, to be a part of the giving and receiving of love, to join in the gathering of all God's Beloved at the table of life. Live today as if you, and everyone else, are the fourth person of the Holy Trinity, as if all of this life and its gifts and struggles, and all the human family, and all our adoration and our squabbles, are all part of this holy family gathering, the family that is God. Live this day as if you are called not to believe in God, but to live in God, to be part of God, to be the fourth person of the Trinity. It's not hard to do, just hard to remember to do. But don't worry about the difficulty: God will love you, and come to you and make her home with you.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
The Father will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in my name....
Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them,
and we will come to them and make our home with them....
— John 14.26, 23
There are actually four persons in the Holy Trinity: you are always included. The essence of the Holy Trinity, the nature of God, is a loving community of persons who are deeply related and who include us, who make their home with us. God is not distant, but surrounding and indwelling. The Trinity is not a tightly closed molecule but a family at a table, your table, our table, always inherently relational and inclusive.
The aim of the spiritual life is not to believe the correct doctrines or understand all things or attain a certain attitude, but to participate in the life of the Holy Trinity, to be a part of the giving and receiving of love, to join in the gathering of all God's Beloved at the table of life. Live today as if you, and everyone else, are the fourth person of the Holy Trinity, as if all of this life and its gifts and struggles, and all the human family, and all our adoration and our squabbles, are all part of this holy family gathering, the family that is God. Live this day as if you are called not to believe in God, but to live in God, to be part of God, to be the fourth person of the Trinity. It's not hard to do, just hard to remember to do. But don't worry about the difficulty: God will love you, and come to you and make her home with you.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
God the homemaker
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.... The Father will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in my name....
— John 14.23, 26
The image of the Holy Trinity invites us to imagine God as a homemaker, one who creates a loving home for us. God doesn't sit there in some high-end real estate called “Heaven” and wait for us to die and come to God. She comes to us, makes a home—God's home!—with us. And she surrounds us with family: Christ and the Holy Spirit are there for us and with us, like a big brother and sister. The Holy Trinity is loving community— a family. This is the true family to which you belong: not just a little family tree, not a church or denomination, not a culture or a race, but the family of God, the household of the Holy Trinity.
Just as we find it hard to wrap our minds around the infinite and eternal power and majesty of God, God's unknowable transcendence and mighty sovereignty, so we find it hard to fathom God's nearness, God's intimate presence, God's ordinary motherly love, the steady, warm embrace of God's arm around us, with loved ones gathered, bread baking, a soft bed waiting, and a gentle blessing: “Welcome home, love.” God is, above all else, the One who comes to us and makes a home with us. To worship God is sometimes simply to sit in our favorite easy chair in God's home and enjoy being there.
Welcome home, love.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Grace and Peace to you.
Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.... The Father will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in my name....
— John 14.23, 26
The image of the Holy Trinity invites us to imagine God as a homemaker, one who creates a loving home for us. God doesn't sit there in some high-end real estate called “Heaven” and wait for us to die and come to God. She comes to us, makes a home—God's home!—with us. And she surrounds us with family: Christ and the Holy Spirit are there for us and with us, like a big brother and sister. The Holy Trinity is loving community— a family. This is the true family to which you belong: not just a little family tree, not a church or denomination, not a culture or a race, but the family of God, the household of the Holy Trinity.
Just as we find it hard to wrap our minds around the infinite and eternal power and majesty of God, God's unknowable transcendence and mighty sovereignty, so we find it hard to fathom God's nearness, God's intimate presence, God's ordinary motherly love, the steady, warm embrace of God's arm around us, with loved ones gathered, bread baking, a soft bed waiting, and a gentle blessing: “Welcome home, love.” God is, above all else, the One who comes to us and makes a home with us. To worship God is sometimes simply to sit in our favorite easy chair in God's home and enjoy being there.
Welcome home, love.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
Monday, May 3, 2010
Getting something done
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
I need to get something done.
So many things need to get done.
I don't know what sometimes, or why,
but I know I need to get something done.
So I walk in the woods
until I leave this insufficiency,
the nameless thing,
and the endless needing,
until I find my place
not in some thing, behind me,
but in being where I am,
neither past nor future, but present,
accomplishing this one
most difficult thing:
being here,
simply, fully and attentively.
Only then
am I ready
for whatever
is next.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com
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