life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Gospel”

spring fling

In these early spring days
before their fullness
the trees have a light in their eyes,
the packed, swelling buds,
these delicate feathers and fingers,
(and the blossoms,
the crazy blossoms!)
and then the tiniest leaves,
little baby exclamation points,
raised eyebrows
freckling the changed woods.

To attain individuality
and courage and creativity
you don’t have to do some
outlandish thing.
Just let the beauty
of the Beloved
deep within
come out.

The birds
just can’t stop talking about it.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

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tears of God

Instead of explaining our suffering, God shares it — because He knows mere answers are cold and His arms are warm.

And the cold and the bloodied and the messy are held.

And through the washing tears of the world, we see and taste the tears of God.
– Ann Voskamp
Read full article http://www.aholyexperience.com/

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joy in heaven

Brennan Manning
writing of grace
in his human broken frame
a ragamuffin
full if love and scars
he is now home with our Abba

God brought him to me
through Wyatt
in Florida
a weird and wonderful guy
who also brought me to
Henri Nouwen
and
John Eldridge
Wow!
that was a very strange and beneficial encounter

The words and calling
of Ruthless Trust
The Ragamuffin Gospel
the truth resounding
The Furious Love of God
Abba’s Child
The Wisdom of Tenderness
Above All

I read every word of his
I can get hold of
each echo in my heart
We are here to help each other
from one ragamuffin to another
Yes, he lived his calling
in a brave and wonderful way
finding intimacy and true relationship
through imperfection
just as I have

there is great joy in heaven
as he goes home
I am sure he is enjoying
the band greatly

4/13/13

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After the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box. ~ Italian proverb

Being Humble and Confident

As we look at the stars and let our minds wander into the many galaxies, we come to feel so small and insignificant that anything we do, say, or think seems completely useless. But if we look into our souls and let our minds wander into the endless galaxies of our interior lives, we become so tall and significant that everything we do, say, or think appears of great importance.

We have to keep looking both ways to remain humble and confident, humorous and serious, playful and responsible. Yes, the human person is very small and very tall. It is the tension between the two that keeps us spiritually awake.

– Henri Nouwen

Home

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this is it!

“On the third day he rose from the dead.”

I don’t have an idea what this means.
I have a trust, a gratitude, a courage,
but not an idea, an explanation.
Nobody got a picture.

Maybe Jesus suddenly took a breath,
sat up and walked out, squinting in the light
like a new-born baby.
Maybe God gave him a new resurrection body,
at first unrecognizable,
not earthly at all, but Something Else.
Maybe the Body of Christ is the community,
as Paul said. Maybe it was a heavenly vision,
a hallucination, a cover-up, a plot.
Or just warm fuzzy feelings.

I don’t know. What I know is this:
Before that day the disciples were fearful, ashamed,
broken, hiding and confused.
And afterward they were joyous, confident
and fearless, and gathered together
to proclaim what they had seen.
Somehow, the Living One met them
and called them out of old lives into new ones.
In whatever form he came, that is the Risen Christ.

Once I was broken, empty, ashamed
and without hope in the sham I called “myself.”
But a loving presence walked me into the darkness,
laid me down, made me over and brought me out.
Whatever that is, that Change, that Power—
that’s resurrection.

Whatever transforms you is resurrection.
Whatever mystery makes you let go of the old life
and makes you more loving, more joyful,
more hopeful, trusting and grateful,
is the power of God. It is all you need.
Whoever forgives you, whoever bears you over
is the risen Christ.
Stop trying to get an ID, to get a picture,
to explain, analyze, dissect it.
Let it be the wondrous mystery that it is.

Blessed are they who have not seen
and yet who have come to believe.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

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nothing but love

God is love; sin is denial of love:
denial of God’s love for us,
of our love for one another,
of love’s power over all other powers.
We deny the Lord, we say “I do not know you,”
when we substitute deserving or order,
efficiency or security for love.
Our denial of love can only lead us
to violence, to evil, to harm.
Ah, how we wound each other
trying to be Safe.

But in the face of our violence
the Gentle One comes to show us the way,
the way of love, the triumphant way of love.

His friends misunderstand him,
fail him, deny and betray him;
and he loves them,
and gives himself to them.

People accuse him and humiliate him,
assault and arrest him;
and he loves them, and heals them.

They judge him and condemn him,
attack him in a mob, beat him
and torture him to death;
and he loves them and forgives them.

He will not deny them love.
Nothing can overcome his love.
In the end their righteousness fails;
their evil and its power,
even death and its power
are swallowed up in his life-giving love.
This is resurrection.

He has already won the victory
and we are still fighting him.

We wrench ourselves away from God
and one another, but love still holds us anyway;
our rebellion comes to nothing.
Even our deepest evil is overcome,
and we are left helplessly, completely
and purely beloved.
In the end we are left with nothing at all
but love.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

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as You are

May I know You in intimacy
So that I walk only in Your love
May the stone of my heart
Melt like lemon drops
May the jagged edges of my soul
Become soft like the clouds of the spring sky
May the thorny barbs of my speech
Melt into honey as they touch the air
May the harsh judgements of my willful mind
Become mushy like the mud of the spring snow
preparing for the new growth and rebirth of love and hope in this
amazing watercolor world
May I be a part of new and abundant life
Melting and becoming everyday the hands, heart and soul of my savior
May I truly be
light and salt
in this hard, jagged, barren world

As You are
So let me be

AL 3/23/13

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She knows the Jesus is comfortable with broken people who remember how to love. – Brennan Manning

Ruthless trust is the way for this ragamuffin.

If it be your way, the sign you can trust will be the slow, steady, and miraculous transformation from self-rejection to self-acceptance rooted in the acceptance of Jesus Christ.

– Brennan Manning

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this I have learned

Christianity is not a message which has to be believed, but an experience of faith that becomes a message. – Edward Schillebeecks

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I breathe in slow. Exhale. It’s never about performing. It’s always about passion. – Ann Voskamp

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We can think we’re living with Christ –when we’re really only talking about Him.

Your hands can so work in service for Christ — that you forget to fall in love with Christ.

Radical is as simple as realizing God gave us two hands instead of one.

One to praise Him for the gifts given – and the other to pass on the gifts that never stop being gifts to pass on.

– Ann Voskamp
http://www.aholyexperience.com/

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