Unfolding Light is a daily reflection (weekdays) by Steve Garnaas-Holmes rooted in a contemplative, Creation-centered, justice-oriented spirituality.
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Sometimes I feel foreboding, as if a dragon is about to consume me: my failure or inadequacy, or my guilt. But the dragon is no danger— not to be slain, no, not even tamed: but befriended. There is no reason to fear, only grace to receive. Dragon, come sit, and speak to me. ________________ Weather Report Wild, as storms of imagined high pressure collide with your acceptable front. Expect rogue waves of fear and shame, tidal surges of responsibility, and hundred-year floods of despair. And also monsters and flesh-eating aliens, all imaginary. Meanwhile the peace of the real world will abide ti
Sometimes I feel foreboding, as if a dragon is about to consume me: my failure or inadequacy, or my guilt. But the dragon is no danger— not to be slain, no, not even tamed: but befriended. There is no reason to fear, only grace to receive. Dragon, come sit, and speak to me. ________________ Weather Report Wild, as storms of imagined high pressure collide with your acceptable front. Expect rogue waves of fear and shame, tidal surges of responsibility, and hundred-year floods of despair. And also monsters and flesh-eating aliens, all imaginary. Meanwhile the peace of the real world will abide ti
“Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” —Matthew 16.25 No part of a body can survive outside the body. A member of the Body of Christ, I am most alive not as myself alone but as a part of the whole. Alone I am only a mass of flesh, but as a member, I am alive with the whole Body’s life. I when I lose my singular life I gain our shared life— true, and deep, and infinite. Breath prayer: Not I . . . but Christ __________________ Steve Garnaas-Holmes Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net Listen to the audio recording:
In the curling incense smoke of his accent the guide says never mind all the other sites (and there is competition from many sites, in many accents), this is Jesus’ real Tomb, the actual one, the holiest place in Jerusalem. But of course how can we know? It was 2000 years ago, and this isn’t very holy, encrusted with lamps and sconces that are trying too hard, and enough silver and gold to be nothing like where they would lay him, bejeweled with cheapness, with tourists, our tittering selfies, our marketplace of beliefs and smug attempts at wonder. Hardly a holy place, I’d say. A curiosity for
O Holy One, your Word has been from the beginning, and all things have been created through your Word. You have spoken us into being, the words of your love. We give thanks that you are not a retired creator, but still creating: galaxies still form; life emerges; varieties evolve, all by your grace. All of us, humans and mountains, whales and stars, are one in this mysterious work of Creation. We honor you by singing in this great chorus, dancing in this sacred dance, belonging in this holy Body. By your Spirit heighten our awe; deepen our reverence; tune our harmony with your sacred work. We
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must be killed. Peter took him aside and said, “God forbid it, Boss! This must never happen to you.” —from Matthew 16.21-22 Oh, God, how we want to protect you, to defend your name from being sullied, prevent all ridicule, and above all, assure that you or your Chosen One should never suffer. But you are the Suffering One, who even in creation had to carve out room in your own self (being infinite, there was nowhere else), you who love us perfectly and so guarantee yourself heartache. What we do to the least we do to you, so you are daily judged, slaug
We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. —Romans 12.5 The Empire has scanned you, posts, photos, browsing history, iris scan, bank account. You are a unit of a category, subject to their algorithms. But the scan is not the person. You rebel: “I am an individual!” you cry, though the bot cannot hear. Yet the paradox that beats the bot is that you are not a lone individual. You a member of the Body of Grace, one with all the others, part of them and subject not to formulas but to Love. The Orb can identify you but not your belonging, not the milli
We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. —Romans 12.5 We are members of one another. We are not just connected; we intersect. When you are hurt I am wounded, whether I allow myself to feel it or not. We spend a great deal of energy not feeling. Part of the remaking of our consciousness is coming to full awareness that we are all one, and allowing ourselves to feel it all: the flood of tears of every gladness and sorrow, the the joy of every joy, the anguish of every loss, the presence of every story, the power of every dance, the life of every s
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by a new consciousness, so that you may discern what is the delight of God— what is good and acceptable and perfect. —Romans 12.2 We see things according to our wishes and what we’ve been taught to expect, and the tension between them. Even saints harbor the pride of wishing it were otherwise, and greed for revelation and redemption. Imagine seeing everything as grace, all of existence as the work of grace, and the flowing of grace in all things: beauty unbidden, the life force in every dimension, a loving presence even amid our tragedies; an
The Messiah is a poor child in a poor town at the edge of the world. Despots want her dead, but her parents shield her. You know the tale. The Messiah is here now— yes, now. Today. What are you waiting for, Christmas? You will not find her; no magi will. She is one among millions; we cannot save her alone. But she will save us when we want her to live, she and her village and her people and her land. Until then we are not saved. What are you waiting for, Christmas? __________________ Steve Garnaas-Holmes Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net Listen to the audio recording:
Jesus comes in from the lights, takes off his crown. (You realize there was no halo: it was the backlighting.) Undoes all the pins and badges and medals: Son of God; Messiah; Lord and Savior; Died for Our Sins I, II, III, and IV (the committee accepts several atonement theories); Walks on Water; Miracles One through Twelve; 14-0 against the Pharisees; Best Wine; 1st in Fishing Derby; Best Comeback; Absolute Ruler of Name Recognition… all of them. He takes off his gleaming white robe, chucks the holy sandals—they hurt, after all. Put on sweats and a t-shirt. Pops a beer. Looks at the books on t
but a certain dancing color under the river where the light and the water and the flowing happen movement mingling a murmur of curves indefinite but certain outlines surrender and the stone flows the color of fish also where you do not see it and where the fish is there is only a ripple a dapple a shadow a light making everything even later and far away ocher and purple and blue and flowing __________________ Steve Garnaas-Holmes Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net Listen to the audio recording:
People who clamor that we should get back to the “Biblical family” don’t know what they’re talking about. Biblical families are sick. Cain murders Abel. Abraham passes his wife off as his sister so men might take her without killing him. Later he tries to kill his son. Jacob cheats Esau and his mom helps him run away. Later he trades deceptions with his father in law. Like Grandpa Abe, he has multiple wives. Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery. David rapes Bathsheba, gets her husband murdered, and marries her. His son Absalom revolts against him and is killed in the war. Jesus’ parables ab
It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles. —Matthew 15.11 The most sinful bit about the apple Adam and Eve ate was their assumption that they knew good and evil. Ever since, we’ve been wielding that “knowledge” like a three-year old with a chain saw. One of our worst offenses is judging people by all sorts of things other than who they choose to be: appearance, wealth, abilities, health, judging them not by what they do but by what happens to them. The addict on the street is not as defiled as the rich, attractive, powerful per
Holy One, light of life, you are my blood, my breath. I am the breathing of your Spirit, the movement of your grace. I am a spring, overflowing with you. Your grace is within, eternal, continually replenished and renewed, generously flowing out, out into this thirsty world. Loving One, flow in me. __________________ Steve Garnaas-Holmes Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net Listen to the audio recording:
