Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven,
suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
They said, "People of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”
— Acts 1.9-11
While I was looking up, expecting you there,
the beginnings of despair in the emptiness of the air,
you were beneath, the seed buried in my life,
burrowing mightily up into my light, unseen,
climbing slowly, pushing aside rocks and roots
to reach my daylight, my face, my eyes.
You were the blossom opening from within me,
swelling my limbs, alluring,
the song like a lost miner
making its way out of my lungs,
the unborn child within, changing everything,
the longing for God—Beloved, you were that!
When I tremble it is you, ascending still,
working your way up into me.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Seasons
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
For some of you today is a holiday; for others it's work as usual. In New Hampshire the sudden arrival of summer weather is drawing us outdoors. But folks just a hundred miles north or south of us are in a different place in the progression of spring. And as we come out into the spring warmth, some of you who read this are in the southwestern desert, where the heat is driving you inside. This time of year feels something different to you who are in Seattle, and to you loyal readers in England. Some of you are in Australia where everything is opposite of all this. And for you who are in Brazil near the equator, seasons don't figure so much at all.
Some of you are celebrating births and graduations, while others are mourning deaths and losses. Many of us are facing moves to new places. Some are going through difficult struggles, living with serious diseases, wrestling with addictions, experiencing depression; others enjoying a gift of freedom, deep joy, or new life.
All the seasons and changes belong to one earth; all are part of one living process, one breathing planet, one beautiful organism. One life. The rains that have inundated Montana and the upper midwest are the floods that will eventually embrace the south. The storms that hammer the continent are born out over the sea. The currents that cool one side of the globe warm the other.
We are all part of one living being. One's songs of courage are woven with the threads of another's suffering. Another's joy flows through our sorrow. When we pray for our own healing, without knowing it we seek the healing of the world. When our hearts go out to others who we think suffer more than we, both are strengthened. A child mourns over her mother in Africa dying of AIDS, and I am blessed. Our struggles and blessings, prayers and thanksgivings are not separate; they are one. We are all one being, one cell, one Life. We are all the prayer of one God, one Love.
In your particular place today, in your weather, on your path, you are not alone. Those who suffer and who rejoice, who pray and who despair, who need life and who offer life, all are with you. All are in you. And we are all in God, whose love is our blessing, our unity and our life. Living or dying, we belong to this Love. This is the day the Lord is creating. Give thanks and rejoice.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
For some of you today is a holiday; for others it's work as usual. In New Hampshire the sudden arrival of summer weather is drawing us outdoors. But folks just a hundred miles north or south of us are in a different place in the progression of spring. And as we come out into the spring warmth, some of you who read this are in the southwestern desert, where the heat is driving you inside. This time of year feels something different to you who are in Seattle, and to you loyal readers in England. Some of you are in Australia where everything is opposite of all this. And for you who are in Brazil near the equator, seasons don't figure so much at all.
Some of you are celebrating births and graduations, while others are mourning deaths and losses. Many of us are facing moves to new places. Some are going through difficult struggles, living with serious diseases, wrestling with addictions, experiencing depression; others enjoying a gift of freedom, deep joy, or new life.
All the seasons and changes belong to one earth; all are part of one living process, one breathing planet, one beautiful organism. One life. The rains that have inundated Montana and the upper midwest are the floods that will eventually embrace the south. The storms that hammer the continent are born out over the sea. The currents that cool one side of the globe warm the other.
We are all part of one living being. One's songs of courage are woven with the threads of another's suffering. Another's joy flows through our sorrow. When we pray for our own healing, without knowing it we seek the healing of the world. When our hearts go out to others who we think suffer more than we, both are strengthened. A child mourns over her mother in Africa dying of AIDS, and I am blessed. Our struggles and blessings, prayers and thanksgivings are not separate; they are one. We are all one being, one cell, one Life. We are all the prayer of one God, one Love.
In your particular place today, in your weather, on your path, you are not alone. Those who suffer and who rejoice, who pray and who despair, who need life and who offer life, all are with you. All are in you. And we are all in God, whose love is our blessing, our unity and our life. Living or dying, we belong to this Love. This is the day the Lord is creating. Give thanks and rejoice.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Friday, May 27, 2011
Flowering
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
In the lengthening days of early spring,
among the vanishing snowshadows,
I hear new bird songs, see geese overhead,
and greet the long-awaited return of smells.
Trees light their little green sparklers,
and I walk among them.
Then the great flowering procession begins:
first the gentle, snow-defiant crocuses,
and the hyacinth, low and easy to miss,
then the forsythia, the dogwood, dandelions
and daffodils, followed in proper order
by the tulips and the flowering trees,
crabs and cherries, and the azaleas.
Little purple things, and white ones, dot the yard.
Finally the lilacs bloom, and I walk among them.
The catalpa tree will blossom much later,
and I will stand beside it as well.
Among flowering beings, softly opening,
with billowing wonders, I, too, live,
with my own great unfolding.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
In the lengthening days of early spring,
among the vanishing snowshadows,
I hear new bird songs, see geese overhead,
and greet the long-awaited return of smells.
Trees light their little green sparklers,
and I walk among them.
Then the great flowering procession begins:
first the gentle, snow-defiant crocuses,
and the hyacinth, low and easy to miss,
then the forsythia, the dogwood, dandelions
and daffodils, followed in proper order
by the tulips and the flowering trees,
crabs and cherries, and the azaleas.
Little purple things, and white ones, dot the yard.
Finally the lilacs bloom, and I walk among them.
The catalpa tree will blossom much later,
and I will stand beside it as well.
Among flowering beings, softly opening,
with billowing wonders, I, too, live,
with my own great unfolding.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Keeping the commandments
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
"If you love me,
you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
who will give you another Advocate,
to be with you forever.”
— John 14.15-16
Beloved, I do love you,
and I long to keep your commandment,
to love as you have loved—
but I know my love falters.
I begin to doubt, begin to fear, to despair.
But I sit here in prayer, still.
Your Spirit comes and pours into me,
breathes in me, and sits with me.
I let the fear drain out of me.
I let my thoughts wander off
and I do not follow them.
Even as I wonder
if I can keep your commandment,
you become my Advocate,
the one who believes in me,
the one who loves in me.
You become my heart, my love,
my keeping.
I rest in the mystery
of your dwelling in me.
“On that day you will know
that I am in my Mother,
and you in me,
and I in you.”
— John 14.20
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
"If you love me,
you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
who will give you another Advocate,
to be with you forever.”
— John 14.15-16
Beloved, I do love you,
and I long to keep your commandment,
to love as you have loved—
but I know my love falters.
I begin to doubt, begin to fear, to despair.
But I sit here in prayer, still.
Your Spirit comes and pours into me,
breathes in me, and sits with me.
I let the fear drain out of me.
I let my thoughts wander off
and I do not follow them.
Even as I wonder
if I can keep your commandment,
you become my Advocate,
the one who believes in me,
the one who loves in me.
You become my heart, my love,
my keeping.
I rest in the mystery
of your dwelling in me.
“On that day you will know
that I am in my Mother,
and you in me,
and I in you.”
— John 14.20
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Complicity
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
We pray for the people and communities affected by severe storms and flooding this spring. We hold them in the light of God's mercy, and in the care of our own hearts. Even when all is devastated, God is still present, still loving, still creating.
As we pray we deepen not only our compassion for those who suffer, but also our connection with them. And we confess our our complicity in their suffering. Recent storms of unusual severity are part of a pattern of global CO2 imbalance and climate change. Of course we do not “cause” the weather, any more than we cause earthquakes or cancer. But we do make choices that contribute to larger patterns. War, terrorism, economic crises, the spread of diseases, cultural and ethnic tensions, the degradation of the earth, and even the weather are all things we think of as being beyond our control, but they are affected by choices we make. Large global patterns are made up of small, individual choices. Every time we tolerate a racial slur or buy chocolate or bottled water or drive instead of walking, we unconsciously contribute our small bit to large patterns.
My goodness. So does this mean that our prayers should be filled with guilt and despair? No, in fact, the opposite. They should be saturated with hope and joy. Because if we have the power to contribute to global misery, we also have the power to contribute to the healing of the world. If we can be even in some small way complicit in injustice, then we can also be complicit in restoration.
In our prayer we become more conscious of the connection between our actions and the lives of others. Our deepened awareness affects our choices. Justice and compassion are no longer abstract concepts; they are the means by which we choose food, use resources, discuss politics and relate with people. Prayer becomes concrete action in our daily lives. And as we become aware of our link with others on this planet, we get closer to our sisters and brothers. This can only be a blessing.
And if we can affect someone far away by changing a light bulb or buying fair trade coffee, then we can do so as well in our prayers. Just as our visible acts have invisible affects, so our invisible prayers have visible affects. Your prayer affects the world.
Whether you mean to or not, you do treat your neighbor as yourself. So devote your life to doing no harm. Pray for those who suffer. Trust that your prayers have great power. Enfold the world in your compassion, and you will contribute to a wholly different kind of global warming.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
We pray for the people and communities affected by severe storms and flooding this spring. We hold them in the light of God's mercy, and in the care of our own hearts. Even when all is devastated, God is still present, still loving, still creating.
As we pray we deepen not only our compassion for those who suffer, but also our connection with them. And we confess our our complicity in their suffering. Recent storms of unusual severity are part of a pattern of global CO2 imbalance and climate change. Of course we do not “cause” the weather, any more than we cause earthquakes or cancer. But we do make choices that contribute to larger patterns. War, terrorism, economic crises, the spread of diseases, cultural and ethnic tensions, the degradation of the earth, and even the weather are all things we think of as being beyond our control, but they are affected by choices we make. Large global patterns are made up of small, individual choices. Every time we tolerate a racial slur or buy chocolate or bottled water or drive instead of walking, we unconsciously contribute our small bit to large patterns.
My goodness. So does this mean that our prayers should be filled with guilt and despair? No, in fact, the opposite. They should be saturated with hope and joy. Because if we have the power to contribute to global misery, we also have the power to contribute to the healing of the world. If we can be even in some small way complicit in injustice, then we can also be complicit in restoration.
In our prayer we become more conscious of the connection between our actions and the lives of others. Our deepened awareness affects our choices. Justice and compassion are no longer abstract concepts; they are the means by which we choose food, use resources, discuss politics and relate with people. Prayer becomes concrete action in our daily lives. And as we become aware of our link with others on this planet, we get closer to our sisters and brothers. This can only be a blessing.
And if we can affect someone far away by changing a light bulb or buying fair trade coffee, then we can do so as well in our prayers. Just as our visible acts have invisible affects, so our invisible prayers have visible affects. Your prayer affects the world.
Whether you mean to or not, you do treat your neighbor as yourself. So devote your life to doing no harm. Pray for those who suffer. Trust that your prayers have great power. Enfold the world in your compassion, and you will contribute to a wholly different kind of global warming.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
I am the woods
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Holy One,
I am the woods
you walk through.
I am the hall
where your singing resounds.
I am the morning
you rise in.
I am the body
in which you breathe,
you beat, you spark,
you flow.
My pain
you dwell in,
my plainness
you fill,
my not knowing
you see from within,
In them I seek you
who are here.
I am the poem,
you are the truth.
You are the hunger,
I am the food.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
Holy One,
I am the woods
you walk through.
I am the hall
where your singing resounds.
I am the morning
you rise in.
I am the body
in which you breathe,
you beat, you spark,
you flow.
My pain
you dwell in,
my plainness
you fill,
my not knowing
you see from within,
In them I seek you
who are here.
I am the poem,
you are the truth.
You are the hunger,
I am the food.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Monday, May 23, 2011
You are the rain
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
You are not an arrow
whose aim is to slip through this life
untouched, without a trace,
until you find the one thing you are looking for.
You are the rain,
condensed of love,
and your life is to fall upon the earth
and drench it with love,
to fling yourself onto the plains and rooftops,
on every leaf and every dog,
running into every crevice and along every cheek,
to let every drop of yourself fall and flow away,
to drench this world with compassion,
to bathe it in mercy, to flood it with blessing,
to pour delight out upon the city,
to soak your love into the fields,
to spend yourself until all is clear
and there is nothing but
yellow glowing where the rain comes from,
and a rainbow,
and on the earth,
pools of light, shimmering
among green growing things.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
You are not an arrow
whose aim is to slip through this life
untouched, without a trace,
until you find the one thing you are looking for.
You are the rain,
condensed of love,
and your life is to fall upon the earth
and drench it with love,
to fling yourself onto the plains and rooftops,
on every leaf and every dog,
running into every crevice and along every cheek,
to let every drop of yourself fall and flow away,
to drench this world with compassion,
to bathe it in mercy, to flood it with blessing,
to pour delight out upon the city,
to soak your love into the fields,
to spend yourself until all is clear
and there is nothing but
yellow glowing where the rain comes from,
and a rainbow,
and on the earth,
pools of light, shimmering
among green growing things.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Friday, May 20, 2011
5K
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
I ran in a 5K race yesterday, a cancer center fundraiser. It was a “race,” but except for the first two or three runners, we weren't competing against each other. If anyone was competing at all, it was against the clock, against our own inertia, our own inner limits. In fact everybody was supporting each other, rooting for fellow racers, cheering them on, encouraging them. We were all sharing in giving ourselves to something greater than ourselves.
Your prayer life is not just “between you and God.” You are not alone; unseen millions pray alongside you and for you, and encourage you in their prayers. Even hermits belong to communities who pray for them, and they for their communities and for the world. Buddhist pilgrims on their way to Lhasa pray not only for themselves but for all living things. We are not all out jogging alone on our own private paths. We are part of a race, a human race, and all of us are running with joy and purpose toward God. We do not live out our spirituality in private, but in our daily relationships, in service and justice and creativity, among others who believe in us and bless us though we do not know them.
Today as you run your race, as you sit in prayer or go about your work or enjoy Creation, trust in the communion of saints, the unseen beloved, on earth and in heaven, who are praying for you, cheering you on, running with you with joy and determination. Give thanks, and keep your head up.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
I ran in a 5K race yesterday, a cancer center fundraiser. It was a “race,” but except for the first two or three runners, we weren't competing against each other. If anyone was competing at all, it was against the clock, against our own inertia, our own inner limits. In fact everybody was supporting each other, rooting for fellow racers, cheering them on, encouraging them. We were all sharing in giving ourselves to something greater than ourselves.
Your prayer life is not just “between you and God.” You are not alone; unseen millions pray alongside you and for you, and encourage you in their prayers. Even hermits belong to communities who pray for them, and they for their communities and for the world. Buddhist pilgrims on their way to Lhasa pray not only for themselves but for all living things. We are not all out jogging alone on our own private paths. We are part of a race, a human race, and all of us are running with joy and purpose toward God. We do not live out our spirituality in private, but in our daily relationships, in service and justice and creativity, among others who believe in us and bless us though we do not know them.
Today as you run your race, as you sit in prayer or go about your work or enjoy Creation, trust in the communion of saints, the unseen beloved, on earth and in heaven, who are praying for you, cheering you on, running with you with joy and determination. Give thanks, and keep your head up.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Judgment day
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
You've heard about the nut that's predicting Judgment Day this Saturday. (He seems pretty smug that he's going to Pass.) Well, he's right. He's delusional and his biblical scholarship is whacked. “About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mt. 24.36). But he's right. This Saturday, May 21, is Judgment Day.
In fact every day is. God's judgment is not the Finals in which God eventually reveals the Judge's Scores that have been kept secret up until then. God's judgment is simply God's truth about us. That truth includes who we really are, and the nature of what we've done. It isn't some worldly grading of good versus bad culminating in a thumbs-up-or-down, heaven-or-hell Elimination Round. Because God's truth about us is not separate from God's love for us. We are not separate from God. So God's judgment is that we are beloved, forgiven and precious. Screwed up, to be sure, but God's anyway, and not just begrudgingly. God doesn’t just tolerate us. God actually loves us. And God's love for us outweighs every other characteristic about is, including our sinfulness.
Technically, Judgment day isn't this Saturday; it was Good Friday. That was the day God issued God's Judgment: You are sinful, and saved. Case dismissed. So we don't have to wait until Some Day to stand before God: we live before God every moment, and every moment God reveals the truth about us: “Oh, you are sinful, all right. You are worse than you think. But you are mine, and I love you.”
Jesus said, “I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” (Jn. 12.47). He said, “This is judgment, that light has come into the world” (Jn. 3.19). And he also said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever” (Jn. 14.16). He talks about this “Advocate” in John 14, 15 and 16. The word in Greek, paraklete, means a defense attorney. God is not our judge; God is our defense attorney! It is the world that judges, that pretends to be able to separate out our good from our bad, and add it all up to one final Score. But the Spirit is our defense attorney, our advocate, the one who knows who we really are. God knows the various unseen forces that twist and distort us to that we are so susceptible to evil, so that we do evil when we think we're doing good, so that we can't see. And God sees the selfishness even in our piety. But God does not judge that by sorting it all out and labeling it. God judges us by subjecting us to mercy, loving us, and opening to us the possibility of being re-created.
Yep, Saturday is Judgment Day. But I'm not worried: so is Sunday.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
You've heard about the nut that's predicting Judgment Day this Saturday. (He seems pretty smug that he's going to Pass.) Well, he's right. He's delusional and his biblical scholarship is whacked. “About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mt. 24.36). But he's right. This Saturday, May 21, is Judgment Day.
In fact every day is. God's judgment is not the Finals in which God eventually reveals the Judge's Scores that have been kept secret up until then. God's judgment is simply God's truth about us. That truth includes who we really are, and the nature of what we've done. It isn't some worldly grading of good versus bad culminating in a thumbs-up-or-down, heaven-or-hell Elimination Round. Because God's truth about us is not separate from God's love for us. We are not separate from God. So God's judgment is that we are beloved, forgiven and precious. Screwed up, to be sure, but God's anyway, and not just begrudgingly. God doesn’t just tolerate us. God actually loves us. And God's love for us outweighs every other characteristic about is, including our sinfulness.
Technically, Judgment day isn't this Saturday; it was Good Friday. That was the day God issued God's Judgment: You are sinful, and saved. Case dismissed. So we don't have to wait until Some Day to stand before God: we live before God every moment, and every moment God reveals the truth about us: “Oh, you are sinful, all right. You are worse than you think. But you are mine, and I love you.”
Jesus said, “I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” (Jn. 12.47). He said, “This is judgment, that light has come into the world” (Jn. 3.19). And he also said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever” (Jn. 14.16). He talks about this “Advocate” in John 14, 15 and 16. The word in Greek, paraklete, means a defense attorney. God is not our judge; God is our defense attorney! It is the world that judges, that pretends to be able to separate out our good from our bad, and add it all up to one final Score. But the Spirit is our defense attorney, our advocate, the one who knows who we really are. God knows the various unseen forces that twist and distort us to that we are so susceptible to evil, so that we do evil when we think we're doing good, so that we can't see. And God sees the selfishness even in our piety. But God does not judge that by sorting it all out and labeling it. God judges us by subjecting us to mercy, loving us, and opening to us the possibility of being re-created.
Yep, Saturday is Judgment Day. But I'm not worried: so is Sunday.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
In my Father's house
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
—John 14.2
We usually think Jesus is talking about the afterlife here. But Jesus is always much more interested in how to live than how to be dead. If “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (not my death), then maybe “my Father's house” is in this life, not just the next. Maybe Jesus is promising that God has prepared a place for you in this world. Despite all your troubles, despite the times when you feel that you don't belong or that you're not safe, you are in the right place. God wants you here.
Jesus goes before you into your life and all of its challenges and prepares a place. You belong here; you are part of God's family. In your troubles and suffering, though you feel like you're all alone and there's no rest, Jesus has gone before you in suffering, and accompanies you there, and makes room for you there. As you speak prophetically and work for reconciliation and justice, the world resists, and wants you to feel like an outsider. But you are where God wants you. The world may tell you there is no place for you. But you have your own room here. You are in God's embracing presence. You don't live in a dangerous, lonely world. You're not a stranger in a strange land. You live in God's own house. You are wanted here. You have your very own room.
Be at home here. Take courage. Live in trust that God gives you a home in this life. Then entering the life to come will not merely be an escape, but even more profoundly a welcome homecoming.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
—John 14.2
We usually think Jesus is talking about the afterlife here. But Jesus is always much more interested in how to live than how to be dead. If “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (not my death), then maybe “my Father's house” is in this life, not just the next. Maybe Jesus is promising that God has prepared a place for you in this world. Despite all your troubles, despite the times when you feel that you don't belong or that you're not safe, you are in the right place. God wants you here.
Jesus goes before you into your life and all of its challenges and prepares a place. You belong here; you are part of God's family. In your troubles and suffering, though you feel like you're all alone and there's no rest, Jesus has gone before you in suffering, and accompanies you there, and makes room for you there. As you speak prophetically and work for reconciliation and justice, the world resists, and wants you to feel like an outsider. But you are where God wants you. The world may tell you there is no place for you. But you have your own room here. You are in God's embracing presence. You don't live in a dangerous, lonely world. You're not a stranger in a strange land. You live in God's own house. You are wanted here. You have your very own room.
Be at home here. Take courage. Live in trust that God gives you a home in this life. Then entering the life to come will not merely be an escape, but even more profoundly a welcome homecoming.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Red bricks
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Along Main and Pleasant and Spring,
shoulder to shoulder through town
stand all these red brick buildings.
Brick by brick, a city is made.
Each brick was laid by hand,
with a trowel and a string, and an eye
for straight lines and plumb edges.
All of the walls, the straight ones,
the worn, painted ones,
the old and crumbling, leaning ones
are pages of an old book.
The arched windows,
the palladian windows,
the columns and corbels,
pediments and pilasters set in
at the rousing turn of the last century
by men in overalls and cardigans,
intent on creating a beautiful wall
and a fine city, are not like modern windows.
They say something.
Everything in this world,
every tangle of undergrowth,
every rumpled cloud,
every troubled tribe,
every sorry excuse for a soul
was laid by hand.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
__________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
Along Main and Pleasant and Spring,
shoulder to shoulder through town
stand all these red brick buildings.
Brick by brick, a city is made.
Each brick was laid by hand,
with a trowel and a string, and an eye
for straight lines and plumb edges.
All of the walls, the straight ones,
the worn, painted ones,
the old and crumbling, leaning ones
are pages of an old book.
The arched windows,
the palladian windows,
the columns and corbels,
pediments and pilasters set in
at the rousing turn of the last century
by men in overalls and cardigans,
intent on creating a beautiful wall
and a fine city, are not like modern windows.
They say something.
Everything in this world,
every tangle of undergrowth,
every rumpled cloud,
every troubled tribe,
every sorry excuse for a soul
was laid by hand.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
__________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Monday, May 16, 2011
The blessing of the path
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
May all your difficulties give you wisdom.
May all your sorrows grant you grace.
When you are lost and on the wrong path,
may flowers bloom at every step.
When the way is ugly and rough,
may it lead you to the perfect place.
When you have gone the wrong way,
may delightful strangers go with you.
When the path to your goal is narrow
and the way is easy to lose,
may all the places you end up
be just as interesting.
When there is no road,
let your feet speak to you:
that God is the going,
and you stumble from blessing to blessing.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
May all your difficulties give you wisdom.
May all your sorrows grant you grace.
When you are lost and on the wrong path,
may flowers bloom at every step.
When the way is ugly and rough,
may it lead you to the perfect place.
When you have gone the wrong way,
may delightful strangers go with you.
When the path to your goal is narrow
and the way is easy to lose,
may all the places you end up
be just as interesting.
When there is no road,
let your feet speak to you:
that God is the going,
and you stumble from blessing to blessing.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Friday, May 6, 2011
Shuck off your burlap
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
In the resurrection—that shedding
of our little crust of death—
Judas is lighthearted,
and Pilate contemplates eternal truths
and writes ecstatic hymns.
They always had it in them—
and finally they are free.
Listen: in this evil ugly world,
bugged as it is by the illusions of depravity,
there is only beauty and holiness.
Among all the mad and mangled people of earth
there are only saints and royalty.
In your ordinary life,
with its handbag of pain
and your few little coins of success,
an entire star burns with pure glory,
a field of wildflowers exults.
This is not good luck, or physics gone wild.
It's God.
What can you do, you who are made of delight,
but fall defenselessly in love with everybody,
and give yourself away
until you are pure song?
What can you do but
shuck off your burlap clothing,
catch fire
and dance?
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
In the resurrection—that shedding
of our little crust of death—
Judas is lighthearted,
and Pilate contemplates eternal truths
and writes ecstatic hymns.
They always had it in them—
and finally they are free.
Listen: in this evil ugly world,
bugged as it is by the illusions of depravity,
there is only beauty and holiness.
Among all the mad and mangled people of earth
there are only saints and royalty.
In your ordinary life,
with its handbag of pain
and your few little coins of success,
an entire star burns with pure glory,
a field of wildflowers exults.
This is not good luck, or physics gone wild.
It's God.
What can you do, you who are made of delight,
but fall defenselessly in love with everybody,
and give yourself away
until you are pure song?
What can you do but
shuck off your burlap clothing,
catch fire
and dance?
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Evil thoughts
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
The spirit of Osama bin Laden is alive and well, among his followers who wish destruction and shout and wave guns and banners at us, and among his enemies, who wish destruction and shout and wave guns and flags at them. When in a fit of humanness we wish ill of terrorists, we become them. When we rejoice in their death, we join them in dividing the world. We project our fear and anger onto others. We think evil thoughts.
Fear is the root of all evil. More fear, even the fear of evil, even fear disguised as anger at evil, will not change things. According to scripture, it is only love that casts out fear.
The trouble with evil thoughts is not that they are bad for us, but that we are so mean to them. Like evil people, we judge them and despise them (that is, we fear them) and try to get rid of them. We think evil of them! But we are not responsible for the thoughts that leap into our minds. Nor do we have to identify with them and feed them. Just let them come and go. We can lovingly respect even our evil thoughts, as members of the heavenly host of our imaginations. In fact, our evil thoughts balance out our pious thoughts and maintain the ecosystem of our psyches. Evil thoughts are the flies and maggots of the mind. They're disgusting, but they keep it clean.
Rather than being ashamed of our evil thoughts and trying to suppress them (which is a way of feeding them, focusing on them and remaining attached to them) we can accept them, confess them, surrender them to God, let go and move on. It's not thinking evil, but letting go of evil, that sets us apart from terrorists.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
The spirit of Osama bin Laden is alive and well, among his followers who wish destruction and shout and wave guns and banners at us, and among his enemies, who wish destruction and shout and wave guns and flags at them. When in a fit of humanness we wish ill of terrorists, we become them. When we rejoice in their death, we join them in dividing the world. We project our fear and anger onto others. We think evil thoughts.
Fear is the root of all evil. More fear, even the fear of evil, even fear disguised as anger at evil, will not change things. According to scripture, it is only love that casts out fear.
The trouble with evil thoughts is not that they are bad for us, but that we are so mean to them. Like evil people, we judge them and despise them (that is, we fear them) and try to get rid of them. We think evil of them! But we are not responsible for the thoughts that leap into our minds. Nor do we have to identify with them and feed them. Just let them come and go. We can lovingly respect even our evil thoughts, as members of the heavenly host of our imaginations. In fact, our evil thoughts balance out our pious thoughts and maintain the ecosystem of our psyches. Evil thoughts are the flies and maggots of the mind. They're disgusting, but they keep it clean.
Rather than being ashamed of our evil thoughts and trying to suppress them (which is a way of feeding them, focusing on them and remaining attached to them) we can accept them, confess them, surrender them to God, let go and move on. It's not thinking evil, but letting go of evil, that sets us apart from terrorists.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Were not our hearts burnig within us?
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
"Were not our hearts burning within us
while he was talking to us on the road?”
—Luke 24.32
A song you didn't hear,
ringing in your ears.
Anticipation of a kiss, its
memory, its warmth already fading.
Wakefulness that's not your own.
A silent accompaniment.
A resonance vibrating in your chest
that makes you look around.
An answer, unprovoked,
a tendril reaching as if for light.
Something about “kingdom
among you,” ungrasped, firm.
An echo following the silence,
always just out of sight.
A sure, embracing presence
beyond the door, the sky, within.
The collapse of a stranger's strangeness,
a tenderness, an urge to bow.
This impossible reverence rising in you,
belovedness passing through you like blood
as if Someone is here.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
"Were not our hearts burning within us
while he was talking to us on the road?”
—Luke 24.32
A song you didn't hear,
ringing in your ears.
Anticipation of a kiss, its
memory, its warmth already fading.
Wakefulness that's not your own.
A silent accompaniment.
A resonance vibrating in your chest
that makes you look around.
An answer, unprovoked,
a tendril reaching as if for light.
Something about “kingdom
among you,” ungrasped, firm.
An echo following the silence,
always just out of sight.
A sure, embracing presence
beyond the door, the sky, within.
The collapse of a stranger's strangeness,
a tenderness, an urge to bow.
This impossible reverence rising in you,
belovedness passing through you like blood
as if Someone is here.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
May blessing
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
May you be given eyes to see
in all that is bare and ordinary in you
an extravagant blossoming.
May your presence be a blessing,
that others may feel with you
as if they have awakened
to a lovely spring day.
May your gifts suddenly bloom
in colors beyond your imagining.
May the swans of God's grace
descend upon your pond
and build nests there,
and raise their young.
May your whole earth
inside and out
be made new.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
May you be given eyes to see
in all that is bare and ordinary in you
an extravagant blossoming.
May your presence be a blessing,
that others may feel with you
as if they have awakened
to a lovely spring day.
May your gifts suddenly bloom
in colors beyond your imagining.
May the swans of God's grace
descend upon your pond
and build nests there,
and raise their young.
May your whole earth
inside and out
be made new.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Monday, May 2, 2011
Here it comes
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Christ arose
not into the air
(the air doesn't need him)
but into people.
The bare trees on the hillside
meditate in the spring breeze,
calmly holding little
explosions in their hands.
Are you ready
to be so changed?
____________________
Weather Report
Becoming,
as completely as a spring day
is transformed from dreary to bright
by forces from beyond.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Grace and Peace to you.
Christ arose
not into the air
(the air doesn't need him)
but into people.
The bare trees on the hillside
meditate in the spring breeze,
calmly holding little
explosions in their hands.
Are you ready
to be so changed?
____________________
Weather Report
Becoming,
as completely as a spring day
is transformed from dreary to bright
by forces from beyond.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
______________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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