Month: June 2023

           Whoever gives even a cup of cold water
           to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—
           truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.
                           —Matthew 10.42

We forget how thirsty we all are
for hope and gratitude.
Don’t pass up an opportunity today
to offer a cup to one of the little ones
(who of course are angels in disguise):
to encourage, to appreciate, to give thanks
to the one checking your groceries,
or delivering your mail,
or doing their best to be a decent person.
Notice how offering a cup of grace
quenches your own longing, too.
God is thirsty for our love for each other
and every little cup is a delight
that satisfies us all.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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            God tested Abraham.
            and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
            God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love,
            and go to the land of Moriah,
            and offer him there as a burnt offering
            on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”
            So Abraham went…
                           —Genesis 22.1-3

God, I confess
I ask others to be my sacrifice.
What I have been given to tend,
and those I have been given to love,
I have used.
Without thought I have ascribed it to you,
as if it is how you have arranged the world.
I have abused my power and privilege,
and neglected how my benefit
has caused others to suffer.
I have justified it in your name.

I repent.
Hold my hand. Stay my knife.
Open my eyes.
Give me grace to unbind my Isaac,

to set free what I have intended to use,
to renounce my entitlement
to comfort that costs others.
God, I myself am Isaac,
bound by my own self-serving.
May my selfishness be my sacrifice.
Unbind me, and set me free.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,
           and whoever welcomes me
           welcomes the one who sent me.
                           —Matthew 10.40


Our souls speak to each other.
         When your heart goes out to another
                  it is your soul seeking God.

God is love; in every act of love
         God is present
                  and our soul leaps up.

When someone receives you with joy
         they are thirsting for the love you bear
                  that is not yours but God’s.

When someone rejects you, forgive them.
         Something unknown in them
                  is afraid of love.

What you do matters. But it’s not about you.
         It’s God people seek and avoid.
                  Be a cup of cold water for the thirsty.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth;
                      I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
           For I have come to set a man against his father,
                      and a woman against her mother…”
                           —Matthew 10.34-35

If you follow love
some people, even dear, want your loyalty
elsewhere.
You leave the lane,
you silence cheerleaders,
arouse cynics.
You travel uncharted routes,
following indecipherable markings
on your heart.
Even in the city there are no maps.
People stare at your compass
as if it’s wrong.
Hurt at the uncloaking of cherished lies,
they haul out swords, to cut you off.
Do not believe their divisions and departures.
The love you follow,
though it set them against you,
makes you one.
You are more deeply connected
than they can imagine:
surrounded, accompanied, held.
Yes, Beloved, even faced with swords
the Companion stands beside you;
even through the wastelands
we are with you.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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I dreamt in a green meadow
I held my life
the all of it a small nut
a pretty stone
all me not anything else
at the vague edges of my dream
monsters lurked or maybe fears
someone could take this away
I could lose this
then what would there be
what would I be
I held on in winds and torrents
in my dream I dreamt them
storms of grabbing hands
I still had it
but couldn’t see the stone
in my aching hand
under layers of earth
the iron of my hand
a hard shiny shell
then a new dread
it reached up for me

I threw it
and my hand as well I think

and then
empty at ease
the meadow was mine
the forest the sky was mine
was me
hands running leaping like deer
living wind
an opening
a joy

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Solstice: the most unequal of days,
longer here and shorter there.
The more light we have in the north
the less in the south.
As we have day on this side,
they have night on that side.
The more we have the less they have.

So it is with daylight.
And in the human world
it is well to remember
some things we have because
they have been taken from others.
So it is with wealth, with privilege
But it is not so with blessing.
It is not so with justice.
With love, it is not so:
the more you have,
the more we have.
It a solstice of summer and winter.
But not of listening,
not of mattering, of belonging,
not of being beloved.

Do not be afraid to spill your light,
to squander your love,
to seek justice for someone else,
even to share your wealth.
The more you give away
the more you have.

Enjoy the light and the dark.
Even they, too, are equally for all.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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It took a while
for the message of emancipation
to get all the way:
some folks didn’t want word to get out—
but some passed it on.
You alone can’t stop the tide,
you won’t save the world.
But you are part of the story,
part of what we tell each other,
one generation of the telling.
You choose what you pass on,
what silence you hold,
what truths you disclose,
what Realm you proclaim.
Choose well, trusting
even your little part
may set one person free.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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God, your blessing
is the gravity that holds everything.
Your joy is the light that falls on everything,
making it beautiful.
Your grace is the darkness that enfolds us.
May I live by the radiance of your delight
in all Creation
and in me.
May I live by the music of your joy,
the strength of your hope,
the burgeoning of your love.
May I live in your delight.
Amen.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Holy One,
you who are in every place,
deeply rooted,
who are every place,
yet moving,
always on the move,
you who are movement itself,
bless those who are on the move,
moving in body or in heart,
moving to new places,
new realities, new challenges.
For all who are nomads,
their belovedness goes with them
in their little bags,
their true belonging in their painted wagon.
Your presence goes with them on the long road,
for you are the road, and the going.
May their leaving be gentle,
their journey be safe,
and their arriving full of joy.
Loving One, your Spirit knows no boundaries,
and goes with us always,
and always we give you thanks.
Trusting your grace,
we ask your blessing.
Amen.

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