Month: April 2021

         The Spirit said to Philip,
         “Go over to this chariot and join it.”
                   —Acts 8.29

Someone is seeking.
         Walk alongside them.

Someone is wondering.
         How can they learn
         unless you wonder with them?

The sheep led to slaughter, who is that?
         Look around you.
         They suffer every day.

Someone is eager to understand.
         Be prepared to say what you know.

Someone is making their way through the wilderness.
         Here is everything you need.
         What is to prevent you from bathing them
         in the infinite, flowing grace of God?

Those you touch may not return the favor.
         Whatever tasks are completed
         there is always more rejoicing to do.

You will find yourself swept away to new places.
         Let the Spirit take you,
         full of joy and good news.

_________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 30, 2021

         Abide in me
                   —John 15.5

Living Christ, I live in you.
You are my breath, breathing in me.
You are my bones and I am your flesh,
you my nerve, and I your muscle.

Living Christ, community of the whole,
Body of the One,
I belong to you.
My life is gathered into you,
all my actions happen inside you.

I see the world through your eyes,
love the world through your broken, joyous heart.
I am the fingers of your hand.

In confidence and humility
I abide in you,
held in your peace,
loving with your love,
rejoicing with your joy.

Breath prayer: Abiding … in you

_________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 29, 2021

         God is love.
                   —1 John 4.8

God is not just a loving being—
some nice guy in heaven—
God is love itself;
God is being itself.
Love is God.
The energy of loving,
the act of loving,
the happening of love,
that is God.
When you love someone,
that is God happening.

Loving creates being,
creates the world,

sustains everything, infuses everything,
vibrates in everything.
God loving someone
calls them into being.
Their being (our being)
is the emanation of love,
outpouring of God,
unfolding of Loveliness.

Beloved, faith is not thinking
the right things about God.
It’s receiving love,
radiating loveliness,
and spreading love.
It is that alone that we practice.

Praise to the Holy Trinity:
the Lover, and the Beloved,
and the Loving that flows between.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 28, 2021

         I am the vine, you are the branches.
                   —John 15.5

O Christ, Holy Vine,
we live in you.
Your blood flows through us.
Your fruit ripens in us.
All your beloved the world over
are one with us in you.
We belong to them,
for we belong to you,
and your infinite life.
May we never sever ourselves
but by the sap of your love in us
flourish and blossom and bear fruit.
Amen.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 27, 2021

For the empty wall, the blank time,
the long line, the useless meeting,
the dreary chore—oh, worst of all,
the boring worship service—
Beloved, I ask your blessing.
I do not ask to be entertained,
but reminded always of your unseen presence,
your deep, lovely silence,
your comfortable arms holding me close to you,
in all that is boring,
in deep peace in all that is mundane.
I seek your holy stillness,
nothing more than
the thrill of your Spirit
breathing in and out of me.
Amen.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 26, 2021

The rumor of “No” is murmured all around you.
“No” shouted,
“No” intoned like a sacred chant.
All those noes like a whole language.

It’s to be expected.
They are not how you navigate.
All those noes are the darkness of the night sky.
Your Yes is a star against that velvet.

Shine, beloved.
Someone
making their way across a sea of noes
is looking up.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 23, 2021

O divine planet, gift of God,
you are our womb, our life, our body.
We belong to you.
Yet we confess our arrogant unbelonging.
We have cut ourselves off from you.
We ask forgiveness of the sea and soil,
of all that fly or swim or crawl,
of all the green beings we have harmed.
As you fill our stomachs with food
and our lungs with life, fill our hearts
with the will to be grafted back onto the vine,
to participate fully, gently and gratefully
in the great dance of all living things.
O Creating God, may we be like you
and one with you in giving life,
in creating, not destroying.
O Living Creator, O Living Creation,
by your life in us, may we blossom with love
and flourish in loveliness.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 22, 2021

Shepherd me, Jesus.
You know the still waters I need to drink from,
the green pastures my soul needs.
Lead me there.

I think you will lead me to what I desire
but that’s wrong! What I desire is you.
Lead me there.

Lead me out of my fears and wants
into the path of your life.

The paths of righteousness
lead through the dark valley, don’t they?
Lead me anyway.
I will follow you,
not my fear.
Even there I shall not want.

Friend, you set a feast for me—
and invite my enemy!
You lead me to come and sit—
and I am in your house,
and my cup overflows.

Beloved, your goodness and mercy have married me.

May they shepherd me
all the days of my life.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 21, 2021

I come outside
under a seething spring sky,
vatic clouds proclaiming,
gesturing grandly,
towers of light shapeshifting,
receding,
speaking of a realm within a realm.
The ground glistens.
Earth holds a scriptural silence.
I wake to knowing
the eternal mystery,
constant state:
something has passed.

________________
Weather report

Mystery,
as a low pressure region
of the warm, moist unknowable
moves through our lives.
Precipitation: heavy to transcendent.
Highs beyond our understanding,
lows beneath our being,
increasing throughout our lifetimes.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

March 20, 2021

         We know that we have passed from death to life
         because we love one another.
                   —1 John 3.14

Whenever we fear loss,
loss of place or possessions, comfort or control,
in our fear we are already lost;
we are in the grip of death.

When we love someone
we are not afraid of the cost,
not afraid—
raised from the dead.

In love, giving ourselves away,
we receive life that can’t be taken from us,
eternal life.

This is how we pass from death to life,
how we experience eternal life:
we love one another.

God, your love raises me from the dead.
May I live the eternal life of your love
today, and all the days of my life.
Amen.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

April 19, 2021