June 25 — 3:30 —Poetry Reading at Wesley By the Sea, 51 Charles Wesley Ct. Wells, ME
June 27— 7 p.m.— Conversation, poetry reading & Q&A online.
July 17 – time TBA — Poetry reading, Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington MA.
Category: Uncategorized
On my calendar
June 25 — 3:30 —Poetry Reading at Wesley By the Sea, 51 Charles Wesley Ct. Wells, ME
June 27— 7 p.m.— Conversation, poetry reading & Q&A online.
July 10 – time TBA — Poetry reading, Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington MA.
Three dwellings
Peter said to Jesus,
“Rabbi, it is good for us to be here;
let us make three dwellings…”
—Mark 9.5
The first is the booth of Seeing:
knowing what’s going on,
understanding, placing everything
where it belongs on our Map of Things.
Instead there is light
too bright to see in.
The second is the house of Certainty:
knowing there is a law about this,
knowing we are right,
and that we know all there is to know.
Instead there is a cloud of unknowing,
thick as ignorance and even doubt.
The third is the temple of Control:
in which our powers are enhanced
and in the end we will have deserved this.
Instead there is not congratulation
but instruction: “Listen to him.”
There are no booths,
only a clearing
where the Beloved enters
a barely discernible path,
the path of mystery,
the path of wonder,
the path of trust.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Listen to the audio recording:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38 — 2.3MB)
Porch light
It is like someone who goes on a journey,
who leaves home and puts their workers in charge,
each with their work,
and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.
—Mark 13.34
There is something we’re waiting for—
a newness, yes, a change, and yet,
a return.
What you’re watching for is not a stranger,
but familiar, not someone new, but the one
who rules your household.
It’s not guarding, what you’re doing,
not fearful or protective:
it’s yearning.
Go, then, sit out on that porch and peer
deeper into that darkness: what is
that deepest longing that is given to you?
Honor it.
Let it be the porch light
that draws the Beloved home.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Listen to the audio recording:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13 — 1.7MB)
O Vibrant Mystery
O Vibrant Mystery,
star-birth of love,
you who are the farthest nebula
who find me and swirl
your whole self into my heart,
the dark soil of my soul
receiving me like a grave,
the little bird that guides me,
guide me.
You who are the black hole
my understanding falls into
leaving only the shine of my wonder,
waken me.
You who are the rain,
and the air full of rain,
and the falling of the rain,
shower me with your three-fold grace.
You are the gravity of my soul;
you hold me
and I am always falling into you,
falling in you.
You only appear invisible,
but I can’t distinguish you from your love.
You who love me into being,
I will be
in you.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Listen to the audio recording:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31 — 2.1MB)
Abundance
And all ate and were filled.
—Matthew 14.20
Maybe he had some stashed,
maybe people had it all along
and they just needed to share,
maybe they were all satisfied with a crumb,
maybe it meant his body, his presence,
maybe there is always more bread hidden in bread
and it only needs to be opened,
maybe he made bread just like that,
sourdough and everything.
Which it was doesn’t matter.
The sun rose this morning
with more light than you know what to do with.
More beautiful green living things reach out to you
than you’ll ever have time to consider.
More birds sing to you than you’ll ever listen to.
Immeasurable grace is poured out upon you,
splashing, most of it rivering down your legs
and into the floorboards.
More of what you need to carry on
is secreted into your heart than you believe.
There is hope enough folded into this world.
Of forgiveness and tender delight
you are given more
than you can ever use or comprehend.
Of the darkest mystery,
dense with love like the billioning stars,
you are given so much more,
even in your bleakest droughts,
your dustiest griefs and desolations,
than you can know.
And of you yourself,
given with confidence
to this effulgent universe,
there is so much more than you can see,
so much more.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Listen to the audio recording:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:18 — 3.2MB)
Cheap motel
Maybe your spirit has headphones on,
or is watching TV, blocking out the noise
because life is a cheap motel,
the walls are thin, you can hear stuff,
breaking in on the news,
interrupting what you’re trying to think—
and you’ve almost got it all figured out—
so you keep scrolling,
keep paying meticulous inattention,
because if you let it in you hear it:
trees sighing, maybe, ocean whispering,
or some kind of voices.
You can’t understand the words
but you get the vibe.
A song with your name in it.
Angels partying next door.
Your head gets sick of it.
But your soul has its ear to the wall.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Listen to the audio recording:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00 — 1.4MB)
Names of God
The Holy Trinity is not a doctrine
but a mystery, a koan,
the paradox of three persons in one,
a meditation on the names of God.
Meditate on the mystery.
Pray with the names. Let them speak.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Mother, Child, Love Between.
Creator, Christ, Holy Breath.
Lover, Beloved, Love flowing between.
Source of all Being, Eternal Word, Living Spirit.
Abba God, Only Begotten, Spirit of Love.
Infinite Parent, Infinite Sibling, Infinite Self.
The One Beyond, the One Beside, the One Within.
Transcendent Mystery, Healing Presence, Emergent Energy.
Source of Love, Experience of Love, Energy of Love.
Holy One, Holy Many, Holy Us.
Lord of the Universe, Jesus of Nazareth, Heart of my Soul.
Loving Silence, Gentle Word, Abiding Love.
Mystery of Being, Gift of Love, Breath of Life.
Mother, Son, Holy Spirit.
Loving One, Loving One, Loving One.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:12 — 4.4MB)
At the edge of the pond
At the edge of the pond you can
be forgiven for thinking you’re at the edge, not the
center of things. Demurely, a bit cool, the
ducks acknowledge you, but don’t
engage. Other birds sing distantly, or
fly overhead like songs. … But listen:
gathered here, at the center, in this nest, this
home, is everything. Tropical worms and polar
ice caps are all here, from farthest nebulae to your own
jawbone, here. There is only one thing.
Kneel in the grass. Let it all in. Expand.
Let the whole of it enter you, the night-sky-deep
mystery fill you till you become the world.
Nothing is missing. Nothing declines to attend.
Open yourself to the whole company of it. Let it
pour itself into you, the scent of the woods, the
quiet cry of far-off orphans, all of it. It
resounds in you, a chorus of a million voices, a
symphony of stars and sea grasses. Let it
tell you who you are, how you belong to everything,
undivided, present, susceptible to beauty,
vulnerable to light. Let this be your
wisdom. But don’t think it. Breathe it. Inhale and
exhale. Notice the supple arms of the beech tree, the
yellow dandelions and their bees, the glory hidden among the
zinnias. Look at your hands. The universe is there.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Listen to the audio recording:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:07 — 2.9MB)
The Listener
Trees stand in awe.
The sky holds out its hands.
Rivers flow with tears of joy.
Stars have that look in their eyes.
The ocean waves and applauds.
The sun doesn’t stop its praise,
even for a moment.
Birds hold open their arms.
The desert surrenders everything.
Every living person sings their life.
Your heart and lungs,
they keep on praying,
even when you’re asleep.
You don’t hear any of this.
But the Listener inside you does,
and is dancing all the time.
__________________
Listen to the audio version:
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (492.2KB)