Dearly Beloved, Grace and Peace to you.  

You are a little child who puts on beggar’s rags, a ratty shawl of fear, and goes out with your little tin cup and clings to a few coins all day. You come to the royal palace and you are welcomed in and you are full of envy and desire. But your mother takes off your shawl and brings you to the table, for you live here, and all these riches are yours, and your Mother has missed you.

Every moment you enter the palace.

Every moment you enter the palace.

                             Do not be afraid, little flock,           for it is Abba God’s good pleasure           to give you the whole Realm.                   —Luke 12.32

          Deep Blessings, Pastor Steve

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

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         I have had enough of your sacrifices.          Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice:          rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.                   —Isaiah 1.11, 17

God, I confess how much of my faith is for me alone, and does not care for the poor and the lonely.

Burn a place in my heart for the hurting. Take my prayer and give it to them.

Divide my faith between me and those who doubt. Split my assurance with those who despair.

Share my joy with the oppressed, and my hope with the abused.

May all I believe, all I do, all I pray be for the sake of your beloved who hurt the most.

May my prayer disturb me until it leads to action, to work and witness for justice, to change the world.

God of love and justice, give me courage rather than peace, compassion rather than comfort, earth rather than heaven.

With Christ, I ask you, God: save me last.

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

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Dearly Beloved, Grace and Peace to you.                                    

The rough rock tombed down deep in dark beneath dry grasses gleams with glory.

The mud between the sedges glows, the strips of bark, the molding leaves shine.

God is being in each dark and solid thing, surging out, pulsing with the energy of life.

The air burns with heaven’s radiance, the wind-raked trees tremble with it.

All created things and every moment throb with the muscle of God’s being, splendored out like light from suns, like song from throats, like love from aching hearts.

Glory’s flung from every ordinary thing; in every simple sound the angels sing.

We live and walk upon a glowing ember, deep down seething, throbbing with energy divine.

Raise the scales from your eyes —you hold them—look!

God’s hope unfurling, a star, you, open your eyes and illumine the earth.

                    Deep Blessings, Pastor Steve

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

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          Holy One, Holy Oneness,

You are my soul. Creation is our body.

Your love, its gravity, holds me.

You pour yourself out on me, my rain, my sun, my air.

The garden of your Spirit ripens in me.

The gifts I have, the gift I am, await my giving.

You who are here for me, I am here for you.

Every moment of this day may I be present for you.

________________ Weather Report           Conditions, passing through, shifting throughout the day of your life, while who you are remains solid as the earth.

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

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Dearly Beloved, Grace and Peace to you.

                    Prison walls look like they’re for keeping you locked in, to keep you from getting out.

But they’re also for keeping the light out, to not let any joy leak in there.

We who build the walls are the ones imprisoned by our illusions that we can lock out the light.

But it grows in you, this fierce acceptance, and we can’t stop it, can’t touch it.

We try to force your misery but we are powerless. You are free and we can’t stop you from shining.

Christ, the prisoner, speaks your name. Christ, crucified, always rises, from within,

always rises.

Deep Blessings, Pastor Steve

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

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Dearly Beloved, Grace and Peace to you.                     Prayer is a bird feeder. You put in it what you have at hand and hang it out where it’s easily seen and you wait. You look at it, all the little things in it, and you wait. You don’t yell at the birds or tell them what to do with the seeds. You wait. And you marvel at their little wings, their heads bobbing up, always looking, their feet so small and sure, how they hang on, their tiny visitations, their impossible flight, full of life, from such great distances, coming and going.

          Deep Blessings, Pastor Steve

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

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Beneath the shouting, quieter and more steady, listen for my voice. Be still, and listen. You are doing a difficult thing. And I am with you. I have gathered up your life, your triumphs and failures, your powers and your weaknesses, and I hold it all in grace. You have died, and your life is hidden in me now. I bear your grief, the river of it flows through me, and I am the spring it comes from. When you are alone I am the body that weaves you with everyone. When you are discouraged I bind your hope to you. When you are weary I am your strength and breath, the life that carries you. When the road is rough and long I go onward, and bear you in my love and wisdom. Keep your mind on this. Forget the little things. Remember my presence. Forget whatever you can cling to. Remember I hold you. Never mind the demons and discouragements. You are in me and it is I who walk through this world with you hidden deep within me.

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

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Dearly Beloved, Grace and Peace to you.                    God said to the rich one, “You fool!          This very night your life is being demanded of you.          And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”          So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves          but are not rich toward God.                   —Luke 12.20-21

It may not just be filthy riches. It may be everything I’ve accomplished, whatever I’m proud of, whatever I cling to. It won’t save me, won’t make my life rich or lovely. I need to let go of it.

May I be rich toward you today, God: I give you every thought and deed; I give you every moment; I set every hope and desire in your hands.

I will not be merely generous to you, I will be extravagant. I give you myself wholly, abundantly, freely, with all the glory in which you have created me.

I am your gift to me. I receive my life with gratitude. I am my gift to you. Receive me with love, bless me with grace, and use me according to your delight.          

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

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Dearly Beloved, Grace and Peace to you.                     We believe in the God of grace. We follow the Teacher of Love. We live by the Spirit of mercy. We trust God’s healing of the world.

When people spread fear and division, when evil, injustice and oppression thrive, no political revolution, program or platform will save us, but only a people transformed by grace and light, and a bold and sustained outbreak of gentleness.

We will stand up to cynicism, hate and indifference, and blanket this world with compassion, calm and mercy. We will proclaim the truth against all resistance. We will meet fear and hate with healing. We will obstruct the progress of injustice with our prayers, our words and our bodies. We will infest the world with grace and love.

We pray for open hearts and a spirit of deep listening. We pray for courage to enter the wounds of the world; for a spirit of peace to face violence with nonviolence; for patience to answer darkness with light. We pray for humility to offer ourselves as the first to be changed. We pray for one another, for we are one Body. We devote ourselves to sacrifice and discipline.

Giving thanks for the great spirit of grace already breathing in us, already rising, in hope and love, as the gentle people of God, we go forth.          

                    Deep Blessings, Pastor Steve

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

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                           A meditation on Colossians 2.7-8

You received as a gift God’s presence embodied in Jesus, the captain of your soul.          Be mindful and thankful          for how God has been present for you.

Live as part of God’s embodied presence. Root yourself deeply in Christ.          Root yourself, deeply embedded,          present for God.

Grow and become more whole in your trust, true to your experience, overflowing with gratitude.          Let yourself fill with trust and gratitude.

Don’t let anyone hijack your faith with fear and lies, with selfish agendas, with human prejudices and power structures. Keep your trust in Christ.          Despite all fear and hatred around you          pray that you stay rooted in Christ.

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

To receive Unfolding Light as a daily email write to me at unfoldinglight (at) gmail.com