Unfolding Light

          Two went up to the temple to pray,
          a Pharisee and a tax collector….
                                 —Luke 18.10

And I was sure I was the righteous one,
humble in my correctness,
and the other, the bigot, clearly
neither right nor humble enough….

although, in fact, we pharisees are good people,
and we tax collectors actually are scum,
and we know it, which I guess is the point,
so I’m not sure which side I’d be on:

the good one, the butt of the joke,
who’s spent a lifetime trying hard,
or the sleazeball, accepted, forgiven,
but still technically a sleazeball….

which means, in the end, all our judgments
are delusion, and there is no grace
in deserving, but only in receiving,
so we both end up praying in unison,

God be merciful to me, a sinner.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          I have fought the good fight;
          I have finished the race;
          I have kept the faith.
                       —2 Timothy 4.7

The writer has finished
two thousand years ago
and the race goes on.

Time folds upon itself,
adding ring upon ring,
and the fight continues.

We keep the faith
and keep finishing
and the race goes on.

Your keeping does not end,
your finishing continues,
you belong in a great stream.

We hold each other,
strive for each other
keep one another’s faith,

one body, one long race,
always finishing, always going on.
You are not alone. Carry on.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          All scripture is inspired by God.
                       —2 Timothy 3.16

Scripture is the community’s reflections
on living in God’s world—
in many voices, many viewpoints.
It isn’t dictated, or even directed, by God,
but in-spirited by God.
Spirit, that is, God’s love-in-motion, is in it,
and when we listen with that spirit
we hear the Word of God—
not always some literal “meaning,”
or even words, or ideas at all,
but the living Word of God,
what God is communicating to you, or us,
in the moment.
It may be a sense…or sensation… or sound…
an image… a touch… a nudge… a knowing…
a turning or opening of your heart…
a kind of pheromone… or a question,
even a refutation of the very words printed.
You have to listen for Spirit,
whose voice sounds a lot like laughter,
or a mother cooing to her infant,
or a song without words, or
silence.

Listen to scripture with the Spirit of love.
Listen for the voice of love,
and Spirit will lead you in love.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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She waddles across my yard out of the woods,
relaxed and casual. She gazes at me
standing there with a hose by the coneflowers
like I might be some curious bit of wildlife,
neither threatening nor edible, just odd.
I wish we could talk.
We’re not far apart—pretty close, really,
she and I, in our natural habitats,
yet also different—
me with my adolescent wish to be included
and she with her wordless, absolute surety
of who she cares about being liked by
and how.



____________
         Weather Report

Particularity,
increasing throughout the day.
Your unique little world
will differ from someone else’s,
and both will pass
like a steady breeze.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          Proclaim the message;
                    be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.
          For people will accumulate for themselves
                    teachers to suit their own desires.
                                           —2 Timothy 4. 2-3


The Emperor wants to get
between you and the truth.

To pry loose your loyalty,
kidnap your belief.

His minions will tell you
when to be joyful, what to regret.

At the microphone, desperate clowns,
they will mock the truth.

Daily, in little moments, we trade
what we know for what somebody feels.

Wisdom is open to truth, but not blackmail,
persuaded, yes, but never merely swayed.

Your last freedom is to know what you know,
to marry—forsaking all others—the truth.

Your greatest test is the opportunity
to be truthful when others don’t want to hear.

When times are unfavorable,
the atmosphere harsh, persist.

The truth, your Beloved,
will stay faithful to you till the end.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          In a certain city there was a judge
               who neither feared God
               nor had respect for people….
          A widow kept coming to him
               saying, “Grant me justice.”
                                       —Luke 18.2-3


O Humble One,
come to us—
judgmental as we are,
oblivious to you,
careless toward others—
come, demanding justice,
come, and come again;
wear us down
by continually coming.
Disguised as someone
vulnerable, powerless,
shamed, blamed,
let your small voice
keep bothering us
until we grant you justice.
O Lowest One,
you who patiently wait,
it is we who have the power,
we who must listen,
who must decide.

When you come among us
will you find faith?

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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“Immigrants are thieves and murderers,”
say the descendants of immigrants
who came among the Natives
as thieves and murderers.
          Great Spirit, grant us humility.

Some chant replacement theories,
ignoring who we tried to replace.
         Grant us silence.

We are innocent, of course:
it was our great grandparents who sinned…
but we still cling to stolen land,
and resist making things right.
         Grant us repentance.

Those who we tried to erase
are still here.
         Grant us gratitude.

The ghost dance goes on,
beneath our knowing.
        Great Spirit, take hold of us.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Time is not a line
that goes and never comes back.
It’s like a tree, adding rings.

Space is not the distance between us,
but the breadth of our connection,
how we link around the world.

When you feel you are the only one
you are not alone.
Your ancestors surround you.
We are all around you

in quantum entanglement, singing.
Standing outside the prison,
beneath the silence of dread,
the roar of threat,
listen for us.

Feel the earth trembling
with our footsteps, marching,
dancing, all around you,
a hoop dance, a stomp dance,
a hora, a haka,
angels kicking up the dust.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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My prayers are sloppy scribblings,
awkward drawings,
unintelligible notes
that I, mostly ignorant, hand to God,
who puts them on her fridge.

How could I judge, or even imagine,
the delight with which she stands there
and gazes at them?

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          Seek the welfare of the city
                    where I have sent you into exile,
          and pray to the Holy One on its behalf,
                   for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
                       —Jeremiah 29.7

I hear you. The urge to distance yourself,
to renounce, to escape.
You want to move to Canada.

But there is no escape.
Your hands are on the levers.
Your name is on the casings.

And there is no distance. You are one.
Doubt the illusion of separation.
The stranger’s wholeness is your wholeness.

Friend, I need you here, where you are.
This is what I’ve been preparing you for.
All that talk about taking up your cross? This is it.

I have sent you here with all my love,
love: which is courage for another.
The world’s pain is natural; your presence is my grace.

I am with you. They are all with you.
Not in the outcome, but in your connection,
is your salvation.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Listen to the audio recording: