New

Dearly Beloved,

See, I am making all things new.
− Revelation 21.

God is not a former Creator.
God is still creating.
God is creating the world, all Creation,
new each moment.

Resurrection happens
when we leave behind the old world, the old reality,
and enter the new reality,
the present moment, created new,
glistening with possibilities, fresh with hope.

In death we allow What Is to breathe out
so that What Is may come in.

Resurrection is the eternal opening of the rose,
unfolding light of the flame,
the burning sun
of the first dawn.

Rise, Beloved,
And be made new.

________________________
Copyright C Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com

The risen body of Christ

Dearly Beloved,


Grace and Peace to you.

“We believe in the resurrection of the body,”
says our creed. What, exactly, does that mean?
How, exactly, did Jesus rise from the grave?


We don’t know, and we should never pretend to.
It doesn’t matter. It is not for us to know,
any more than we shall know how God created light.


It doesn’t matter in what form or manner:
got up, maybe, breathed a deep one,
stretched and walked out of the tomb,
careful not to bump his head…
Or maybe rose from his old body,
(moldering unused now)
like mist from a lake, or light from a fire,
or laughter from a child,
and took on a new one.


Don’t bother trying to cram something
so mystifying, so incomprehensible
into a few molecules or metaphors.
It shall remain stunning.


After all, even the eyewitnesses missed it at first—
Mary in the Garden, Cleopas on the road to Emmaus,
the fishermen in the boat:
unrecognizable in any one form or flesh, yet flesh:
real, changed and undying.


Know this: that the Beloved will come, always
costumed, oblique,
athwart our expectations and belief,
yet still, undeniably, flesh,
changing before our eyes from life
into life;
until we are convinced that nothing less
than all of us, and all Creation—and even you—
constitute his real, risen, loving, breathing body.






Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve


_______________________________

Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com

Risen today

Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.


Christ is risen.
Right now.
Resurrection is about today,
not the day of your funeral.
Live today as if you know that
even if you die God will grant greater life,
that even if you give away all of yourself
God will create you anew,
that if you surrender yourself to a greater love
that will be miracle enough.
Live this day believing
that even in defeat and loss and failure
God creates unprecedented victory.
Live today knowing that when all seems hopeless
God transforms things.

Listen: When you sow seeds
God does not give them back,
but breaks them apart, pulls their insides out,
and turns them into beautiful plants.
(Taken... blessed... broken... given...)

Live today ready to be sown.
Live as if Christ is risen
in you.
Let your life—each moment of letting go,
each act of love, each breath—
be resurrection.





Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve



_______________________________
Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com

Christ is risen

Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.

Christ is risen.
Don't debate it, or try to prove it or understand it.
That's like trying to prove that the moon is lovely.
Just let it be true.
Give up, and let it be.
Don't try to guess (which is all we could do)
what kind of body, what sort of process.
Just let the sun rise.
Let God have the way of love and life.
Let goodness overpower evil,
love drive out fear, life defeat death.
Christ is risen.
Don't try to make it into a theory;
let it be a mystery.
Let it haunt you, let it startle you,
let it push you out of bed in the morning,
let it draw you into love.
Christ is risen.
Let Christ rise in you.


Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve



_______________________________

Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com