“If any want to become my followers,
         let them deny themselves
         and take up their cross and follow me.”
                   —Mark 8.35

The cross is not jewelry, not a badge nor a shield.
It’s a risk, a vulnerability.
Its not an annoyance.
It’s the willingness to suffer for the sake of love.
The cross is planted in the great, deep wound of the world,
the foot of the cross sunk in cruelty, injustice and despair.

God, you know how beguiling my comfort is,
how I protect myself from hurt or loss,
uncertainty or struggle.
I don’t want to enter that pit.
But if your Beloved are there,
will I not go there?
If I go there for love, is it not love that lifts me
from suffering and despair?

Give me courage, God,
knowing it is you who bear the cross;
I only come along.
When I open myself to the pain of love
it falls light upon me.
Because it is love, because it is yours
it is the cross that bears me.

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

September 8, 2021

God,
sometimes I seek the feeling I have faith
more than actual faith.
I want the feeling of your presence
rather than the will to live in harmony
with a grace I can’t always feel.
I want the feeling my prayers are being answered
more than trust that they are.
Knowing that joy is greater than a feeling,
deeper than a mood,
I lay myself in your hands,
accepting whatever feelings may come,
that by your grace I may seek only
to trust gratefully, to serve faithfully,
and to love freely.
Amen.

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

September 7, 2021

         The heavens are telling the glory of God.
                   —Psalm 19.1

(Tune: Morning Has Broken)

Morning has broken all through Creation;
God has now spoken, “Let there be light.”
Each living thing is God’s word of mercy;
all creatures sing and shine with your light.

God, your love flows in every direction,
filling and blessing every dark place.
Even the shadows shine with your blessing,
even the darkness hums with your grace.

Everything moving moves by your Spirit:
flight of the birds and dance of the stars,
migrating whales and flow of the river;
breath of the wind is breath that is ours.

Bless every creature, bright with God’s glory;
bless every feature, fin, fur and wing.
Each is completing God’s wondrous story;
each is God’s greeting; praises they sing.



[Yes, you may use this in worship.]

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

September 6, 2021

There is a breath breathing in you
that does not vanish,
a grace feeding you that does not cease.
The divine umbilical cord is never cut.

Still yourself and listen
to the voice that is singing you.
Wait and feel the hand that holds you.

Even in hardship give thanks.
Receive that blessing.
Move by that impulse.
Live drawn by that light.

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

September 3, 2021

Everything you’ve ever said was a prayer,
every word a word of praise
or a plea for it,
each question a begging for bread,
every thought a confession,
even the meanest things
a cry for mercy,
every prayer answered
by the One who says “Yes,
let me hold you.”

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

September 2, 2021

         Then looking up to heaven, he sighed
         and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
                   —Mark 7.34

Ears, be opened,
to hear the song of God.
Eyes, be opened,
to see with love.
Heart, be opened,
to trust the blessing.
Mind, be opened,
to accept what I have not yet seen.
Lips, be opened,
to utter grace.
Heaven, be opened,
that I may be close to God.
Soul, be opened,
to receive the Beloved who is here.
People, be opened
to the miracle among you.



         Breath prayer:
                                    Be … opened

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

Clouds, wispy, whimsical,
say “Take yourself lightly.”
This is not a sign.

Cumulus cauliflowers burgeon,
gaudy proscenium for the sun’s high drama,
but don’t call them beautiful. Just watch.

Now a heavy layer the color of the underside
of everything paves your sky. Don’t judge.
Ah, clouds teach like nothing else

to renounce and enjoy,
to be present and let go,
to let it be, to let it be.


______________________

Weather Report

Persistence,
as snow flies, storms pass,
clouds lift, winds move on,
and still there is weather,
continuing until late evening,
when there is weather.

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

August 31, 2021

         “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
                   —Mark 7.28

From the slime that’s been slung,
through the epithet thicket,
through the tangle of shouldn’t
and couldn’t and can’t,
with love and guts and feist
she rises up, not with a desperate plea
but simply knowing more, for the moment,
than Jesus does of what is possible,
and what is right.
She names the slight, slingshots the slur,
paints the gallows, exposes the lie—
and claims her human place.
And Jesus learns a thing or two,
about her, about those pagans,
about himself. About grace.

It’s not Jesus who does the miracle. She does.
The power is in her faith in herself, and her daughter,
and their place in the house of grace.
The healing is in her her rising up.

And you, sister: what have you been called?
What table have you been shoved under?
What crumbs are yours, that will multiply
like loaves and fishes?
Name them.

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

August 30, 2021

Beloved,
I’m having a great time here. I know how bad it is when you feel I’m far away, especially when times are rough. l see the headlines from where you are: wars, fires, disease, hatred, all that—and sometimes you yourself are in a hard place. But listen. I’m not “away.” I’m there. Are you breathing? Is there light? Is there gravity? That’s me. Is there even a little bit of love? That’s me. I’m with you. I’m there for you. Always. Unseen, but never letting go, right here. Keep the faith.
Love,
God

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

August 27, 2021

         Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift,
         is from above, coming down from the Womb of lights.
                   —James 1.17


God, help me remember today
that I am holy;
that you have chosen me as a vessel for your grace.
Let me spend my time and energy
as a holy person would,
whether in great deeds or humble drudgery.
Let every act be sacred,
every moment be a flowing of your good gifts.
May your light be born in me.

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

August 26, 2021