“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
         Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.”
                   —John 6.51

Live forever? Really? Billions of years?
Doing what? You can’t even abide slow traffic,
or—God forbid!— a long worship service.
I’m not buying it. You don’t want to live forever.
I bet what you want is to matter forever.
Which is pure ego. Let it go.

On the other hand,
when you eat the bread of heaven—
heaven being not the sky but the heart of all things—
you live at the heart of Being.
And in your union you extend beyond yourself,
become one with eternity,
not as a way to sustain your ego
but as pure love.

The way to live forever
is to love the world so much
you become it.

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

August 11, 2021

         “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood
         abide in me, and I in them.”
                   —John 6.56

Beloved One,
Love made real in this world,
you who create, you who bless:
drawn by your grace
like the aroma of fresh bread,
I savor you. I take you in.
I eat the flesh of your presence.
I drink the blood of your love.

Enter me.
Become me.
Be my strength and health,
my nerve and muscle.
By your grace
make me into the bread of your life.

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

August 10, 2021

Our son just got married.
(A bride we love,
an island on the central Maine coast,
two families and a few friends, all beautiful.)


When someone pledges faithfulness
to someone you love—
our beloved son, so blessed!—
you receive a gift.
When someone extends love
toward the world you love
you receive a gift—
you, beloved, so blessed!


When you are faithful to another
you make the world whole.


All of life is the celebration
of the Beloved’s wedding to the world.
(Let’s dance, yes?)

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

August 9, 2021

        No one comes to the Father except through me.
                   —John 14.6

        No one can come to me
        unless drawn by the Father who sent me
                   —John 6.44


Don’t make it exclusive and complicated.
This is not about a religious requirement.

God is love.
Jesus is God’s Word (love) made flesh.
No one experiences God except by experiencing love.
It’s God’s gift, God’s love working in us,
that opens us up to love.

No one falls unless drawn by gravity.
Love is the gravity that draws us to Love.

Beloved, come down to earth.
Go ahead and fall
in love with God.

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

August 6, 2021

         “This is indeed the delight of God,
         that all who see the Beloved and believe in that one
         may have eternal life;
         and I will raise them up on the last day.”
                   —John 6.40

When you see
love made real in this world
you come to trust it,
and receive it as a gift,
which brings with it life, deep life,
life that can’t be taken from you,
life that is eternal.
Connected so intimately
with Love and the Source of all Love,
you are raised by Love
beyond all grief and trouble,
beyond pain and death,
raised not by your faith or anything of yours,
but raised by the Beloved’s delight in you,
raised by Love’s love for you.
The end of all life is delight.

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

August 5, 2021

Dearly Beloved,

         “I am the bread of life.
         Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,
         and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.“
                   —John 6.35

What does it mean to come to Jesus?
Maybe more than that moment of belief.
Maybe the coming is longer than one aisle.
Maybe it’s a lifetime of listening
to his inside-out invitations,
wrestling with his parables that wrestle you
to the floor over and over,
watching him love the unlovely from up close,
finding him in the unexpected,
among your enemies, among the unacceptable.
Maybe it’s just eating bread with him,
just sitting with him at the table, simply being there.
Maybe it’s receiving the bread in his hand,
receiving encouragement, hope, healing,
actually receiving divine love actually offered.

Maybe it’s not the arriving at all but the coming:
the turning, and turning again;
the walk, away from otherwise;
the seeking, the asking, the openness,
the reaching out with an open hand
(offering help or asking?),
the reaching that feeds our hunger,
never to stop reaching out,

even into the mystery

reaching out.

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

August 4, 2021

Gaze at the page
of the book of the world
any page
they’re all blank
great thick book
the one among them all
plentiful as the sands

gaze at the silent page
the ink is not invisible
but exactly the same color as the page
every word in every language
imagined and unimagined
more plentiful than stars
is written there

wait for the words to emerge
when they do memorize them

meanwhile
memorize the empty page
memorize the gazing
memorize the waiting

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

August 2, 2021

         “I am the bread of life.
         Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,
         and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.“
                   —John 6.35

Not the secret of life but the bread.
Not the belief, but the loaf,
gathered from sun-drawn wheat,
ground in the suffering mill,
baked and given by real hands,
nourishing, now, in its willingness
to be taken, broken, eaten.
See its grainy skin, feel its heft,
smell its warmth.
This is not bread you think about.
This is bread you take into yourself,
that feeds your soul.

Let him be that real.
Enjoy.

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

August 3, 2021

         You desire truth in the inward being;
         therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
                                    — Psalm 51. 6


When there is trouble there are always people to blame.
But I pray for the wisdom to look at myself—
not with blame, but curiosity.
What is my part in this?
What am I overlooking or denying?

King David sustained his denial until Nathan shattered it.
My evil may not be as monstrous, my lie as thick.
But—have I desired something other than people’s wellbeing?
What fear keeps me from seeking truth in the inward being?
Am I hiding from myself some attachment I can’t let go of,
that causes hurt?
Can I let it go, and let the light in?

God, you desire truth in the inward being.
Help me see, and honor the truth, and turn toward wholeness,
trusting that there, in my secret heart
beneath all shame and brokenness
is your grace.

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

July 30, 2021

         The gifts God gave were that some would be apostles,
         some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
         to equip the saints for the work of ministry,
         for building up the body of Christ
                   —Ephesians 4.11-12

And some would be listeners, and some good humorists,
some lovers of babies, some survivors, some singers.
Some are hopers, some healers , some encouragers.
Some are  dreamers, some organizers, some workers.
No two sets of gifts are alike. None are inferior.
All are for building up, not tearing down,
all for the whole body, not themselves.
And no one is without. To be is to be gifted.

They are not talents, skills, privileges or obligations.
They are gifts. To be received. To be given.

Listen, believer, for the echo of your own calling,
the song of your own gifts. Listen, and follow.
Listen for the voice of one another’s gifts,
for everyone you meet is gifted.

We equip one another for love.

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

July 29, 2021