Daily Reflections and Worship Resources
Daily reflections by Steve Garnaas-Holmes.
I don’t know
if this murky road
goes anywhere
at all
but
beside me
I see
Your shadow,
with me.
__________________
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Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No.”
—Matthew 5.37
God, give me grace
that my “Yes” be Yes,
my “No” be No,
that I be clear.
May I stand for what I stand for,
that my Yes or No be true,
even when it upsets people,
when they want me to waffle.
Save me from their fear
of being disagreed with.
Save me from my fear
that I’m not worthy of my opinion.
To what is yes,
I bow deeply with my yes.
To what is no,
I bow deeply with my no.
I pray that I may discern clearly,
and be at peace,
hearing always your Word,
your “Yes, Yes, Yes.”
__________________
Listen to the audio version:
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (481.9KB)
Jesus takes the law up a notch—
or, really, down: down into the depths:
not just what you do but why,
who you are in the world.
To not merely avoid murder,
or even anger, but to truly honor people.
To place your relationship with God
in your relationship with others.
To not merely avoid adultery or even lust
but to truly be faithful with another person.
To not merely avoid over-grand promises
but to be a person of profound integrity.
This is the grace of God, after all, toward you,
who has vowed to love, honor and cherish you.
Let the grace well up from within,
for the true law of God is pure joy.
[Mt. 5.21-37]
__________________
Listen to the audio version:
•
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (615.2KB)
It’s thirteen below on my morning walk.
The snow is rock, the brook is a brick.
Everything crackles. The air itself is brittle.
Yet chickadees and nuthatches work the oaks
in their bare feet, on their tiny ankles.
Life prevails, sustained by a mystery within.
There are seeds that sprout after thousands of years.
Pine cones that open only after forest fires.
Survivors of child abuse who turn out lovely.
There is some force of life in you
that can’t be put out, that is—what’s the word?—
Eternal.
Shelter that spark. Give thanks.
Layer up if you have to. But trust it.
It will keep you. It will keep you.
______________
Weather Report
Frigid,
but only outside
you. What is within
is not subject to passing storms.
Audio version:
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
February 6, 2023
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (578.8KB)
God, sometimes I don’t have what it takes.
I don’t have the gumption to get things done,
the creativity to produce,
the Stuff to make things happen.
Sometimes it’s just not there.
Help me accept this, as you accept me.
Give me faith to simply be in the present moment,
and know that I am your Beloved.
Give me the grace to be present, attentive and loving.
I ask your help and trust your mercy.
Amen.
________________
Weather Report
Becalmed,
as winds are exhausted,
and dramatic storms fail to appear,
and the sun rises and sets
anyway.
________________
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (499.1KB)
You are the salt of the earth.
—Matthew 5.13
You don’t aspire to saltiness.
It is who you are.
It’s the taste of being an element of earth
and an element of God.
Your saltiness is your faithfulness
to who God is in you.
The You of who you are
gives salt to this world.
It’s a quality that remains
even as it goes out into the stew of life
and adds to its savoriness.
Be true to your salt.
It will bring out the goodness in others.
______________________
Audio version:
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (402.4KB)
Every act of justice,
every act of compassion or mercy
is a light, a star in the night of this world.
You may think your efforts small and meaningless.
You may think they make no difference.
But go out and look up at the stars.
Which one should not have reached out in love?
Which one should never have bothered
to act in courage and compassion?
They all shine until they are swept up
in the great light
of the One who dawns among us.
None of them rids the night of its darkness.
Yet God walks out and looks at them all
and smiles.
__________________
Listen to the audio version:
•
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (477.3KB)
You are the light of the world.
—Matthew 5.14
Einstein told us:
matter is just energy holding still.
Light is the energy of God,
which is love moving.
“Let there be light,” God said,
and you were conceived.
You are love made matter,
Word made flesh,
the light of God, the light of Being,
momentarily here in this form,
shining, radiating God.
You don’t need to produce it
or generate it. It’s who you are.
When you are truly yourself
it shines.
The world sparkles
with people walking around gleaming.
Even on our deathbeds, we glow.
Trust your light. Give thanks.
Open the shutters of your lantern.
Let your light so shine before others,
that they may see by it,
and glorify God.
_______________________
Audio version:
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (701.6KB)
My mind skips.
My soul sits.
My mind wants.
My soul thanks.
My feelings shout.
My soul listens.
My body waits.
My soul waits.
And God, my Love,
is present.
_______________________
Audio version:
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (296.2KB)
Holocaust Remembrance Day
God of Mercy, open my eyes to your goodness.
Open my eyes to the other stuff, too.
Keep me aware of the injustice that is around me,
the signs of oppression, the victims of hate.
Keep me always mindful that I am capable of evil.
Help me be honest about my complicity in systems
that blame, exploit, dehumanize or exclude people.
Rather than say “Never again!”—as if it lies the future—
help me be aware of the present moment
and how I can stand today with the vulnerable,
and against injustice.
Each moment is a choice.
Be with me in my choosing.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net