Month: July 2021

Child of earth, may you find within you
the humility of the grass,
the wisdom of the river,
patience of the mountain,
the generosity of the trees.

May you see with eyes of gratitude
the peace of the sunrise within you,
the beauty of the blossoming earth,
the joy of the bird on the wing.

May the fresh breeze of hope bless you,
the earth’s steadfastness sustain you,
and the mystery of all living things enfold you.

May each moment of your life be a new day dawning,
and the sun and moon and stars
dance around you
and in you
every day of your life.

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

You have been treated like an Outsider
by people who thought of themselves as Insiders—
though that was nothing but human discrimination.
You know what it’s like to feel distant from God,
aliens to the community of the Beloved,
with no confidence that God is there for you—
nothing to root your hope in.
But Jesus has no Outsiders:
in Christ’s self-giving love we’re all brought in.
Christ is our peace.
In the embodiment of God’s love
both “insiders” and “outsiders” are in.
Christ has broken down the dividing wall between us,
the cruel illusion that we are different.
Love has no requirements, no merit, no deserving,
so there aren’t different categories—just the beloved.

Christ’s self-giving love, that we see on the cross,
isn’t just for some people,
but for everybody, all of us together,
reconciling us all to God and making us all one Body.
What died on the cross was the notion
that some people are better than others.
Love establishes peace
between those who think they’re insiders and outsiders.
We all breathe the same Spirit that is God.
So you are not strangers or aliens,
but members of the family of the Beloved,
members of the household of God,
which is built on the foundation of ancestors before us
who lived in love and faith,
with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone.
In Christ we all are joined together in an organic whole,
growing into God’s holy temple, God’s home—
so God lives in us.

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

July 15, 2021

         He said to them, “Come away
         to a deserted place all by yourselves
         and rest a while.”
                   —Mark 6.31

Come away.
The world will turn without you.
Let go of the “have to,” the should, the ought.

Notice what you set down:
the weight of expectations,
the feeling of proving yourself to yourself.
Notice how you feel, unburdened:
At peace? Anxious? Free? Afraid?
Waiting for the gavel to drop? Notice…

What if it’s OK?
It’s OK.

Practice this sabbath exercise,
this holy desertion
so you may take it with you into the crowd.

•

You honor what is in your hands
only if you hold it lightly.

•

Come away to the place of solitude
where you already are,
waiting for you.

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

July 14, 2021

Notice the events in Mark 6:
Jesus sends the disciples out
and they preach and heal.
They return to a maelstrom of busyness:
no time even to eat.
Jesus says “Come away and rest.”
But a crowd follows them.
So Jesus teaches the crowd.

Has he just contradicted his own invitation to rest?
No: he’s rested.
While the disciples were out there healing
what do you think Jesus was doing?
Nothing. Resting.
So when the crowd hits, he’s rested and ready.

Give your life to Jesus,
follow him through all difficulty.
Heal, proclaim grace, work for justice.
But first rest. Yes, rest first.
It’s Jesus’ spiritual direction.
Find solitude where you aren’t doing—just being.
Then get to work.
Out of that miracles will flow.

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

July 13, 2021

Beloved,

I love walking around this place. Earth is pretty stunning. Sometimes people say I’m “near.” Silly people. They don’t get that I’m not just near, I’m Here. Not just located nearby, but that here is me. I am this present moment. ~I keep waiting for somebody to address me as “Your Hereness.” lol ~ Everything they see is me, or at least a tiny bit of me. But I have to put it out there to love it, right? (Even the awful parts….) Few of them get it, till they just sit and stare—like me. Oh, well. I love ’em all anyway.

I’m having the time of your life. I think of you every day. Give my love to everybody there.

Love,
God

__________________
Weather Report

Being,
deepening over time
with presence accumulating
throughout the day.
Mystery tonight,
glory in the morning
as life continues.

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

July 12, 2021

         God chose us in Christ
         before the foundation of the world
         to be holy and blameless before God in love.
                   —Ephesians 1.4

God, you have chosen me
to be holy and blameless in love.
I don’t know what holds me back.
Some of it I can name, but some is hidden.
Help me see the fears that restrain me…
the guilt that burdens me…
the inadequacy that haunts me…
the expectations that entangle me…
the attachments that chain me…
Help me to see them and to trust
that you sent me free from them.
No reason, no means, no demands—
you simply set me free,
with no purpose other than that I be free,
free to be holy and blameless in love.
I am free. Help me to trust.

Breath prayer:
Free … to love

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

July 9, 2021

In Mark 6 the author tells us Jesus sends out his disciples to preach and heal— but suddenly in the middle of the story, as Mark likes to do, he stops and tells another story, about Herod killing John the Baptist: a sordid tale of power, seduction, intrigue, depravity, violence—the works. Then the disciples come home and Jesus says, “Let’s go away to a quiet place.” What’s with the mental whiplash, cutting between the two very different scenes?

Well, they’re not different scenes. Mark is not just portraying Herod’s awfulness. He’s reminding us of the brokenness of the world we serve. We carry our gospel of healing, reconciliation, justice, gentleness and joy into a world of fear, greed, racism, militarism, cannibalistic capitalism, violence and dehumanization. The tragic danger of Herod’s court is right where we’re sent to preach the good news. Mark is just being realistic.

Everything in Mark is a prelude to the cross and resurrection, because everything in life is. The difficulties, the injustices, the tragedies we face, are not barriers. They’re the road. They’re the setting for the good news. And even with all that evil the news is still good. The cross is how resurrection begins.

So, dearly beloved, go out there. At times it will be rough and nasty. But you carry with you the light of God, and the darkness cannot overcome it. Heal the broken and proclaim the good news. And then, come home, and go with Jesus to a quiet place, and rest.

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

July 8, 2021

         As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David,
         Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window,
         and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord;
         and she despised him in her heart.
                   —2 Samuel 6.16

She’s his wife. One of them. Ah, family.
When people hanker to “get back to the Biblical family”
you know they’ve never read the book.
Cain and Abel… Abraham and his “sister” Sarah… Jacob and Esau…
Joseph and his brothers… Tamar and incestuous Amnon…
Solomon and his 700 concubines… and David and… well, everybody.

David is complicated. A hero and also a scoundrel.
Poet, musician, lover of God who dances in praise with all his might…
and rapist, murderer, schemer, self-server extraordinaire.
A good king whose platform sometimes seems to be “Hold my beer.”
The people who love him, including his family, hate him:
Saul assaults him…Michal spurns him… Absalom revolts against him.

How do you love somebody—especially in your family—
who’s both great and awful, lovable and despicable?
Well according to the honesty of the author of Samuel,
you just love them. You live with them, within limits.
You honor their gifts, and call them on their BS.
Sometimes you help them pick up pieces, sometimes you leave it to them.
But you don’t save them from themselves. You stay honest.
You figure out your choices, and theirs, and make yours.
And you remember we’re all equally beautiful and messed up.

In the Bible, the family is not some lovely tableau of niceness.
Family is where you work out your shit.
Not your family’s but your own.
Family is where you practice coming to a place where you can live.
And since we’re all family, it’s practice we all need.
Fortunately, the head of our family is the one sane, loving one,
the God we call Parent, the Christ we call Brother,
the Holy Spirit who holds us all together, no matter what.
For that, it’s worth dancing with all your might.
Who cares what your ex thinks?

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

July 7, 2021

I sit by the pond of prayer.
My prayers are duck decoys
floating on the pond.
If I sit still long enough
a little flock of God will come,
the real thing,
and settle beside them on the pond.
I don’t have to pray.
Just put out my decoys,
and sit still and wait
for the ducks to come.

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

July 6, 2021

You are destined to be loved
passionately, tenderly, forever
by one you will never meet.

You are fated to be famous
in another world,
not the one you live in.

It is written that you shall be powerful,
and your power will shake the world
at such frequency of vibrations
that only the saints will suspect a thing.

Before you were conceived you were endowed
with gifts that shine like stars in the daytime,
unseen and brilliant.

You have been predestined
to enter the realm of heaven
long before you realize it—
in fact, dear one,
long ago,
bearer of light,
long ago.

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

July 5, 2021