Shows / Unfolding Light
Unfolding Light
Unfolding Light is a daily reflection (weekdays) by Steve Garnaas-Holmes rooted in a contemplative, Creation-centered, justice-oriented spirituality.
Episodes
- Unfolding Light
Following
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. —Matthew 9.12I won’t tell you how to live.I won’t argue about what you…
- Unfolding Light
Not to Caesar
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. —Matthew 22.21There is so much more to give to Godthan to Caesar. So much more.Not only Caesar, but…
- Unfolding Light
Haunted house
People often say they wouldn’t want to livein a house where someone had been murdered.It would spook them too much.Maybe one reason our nation seems so…
- Unfolding Light
Woods, about 4:30
You walk among silent trees.Sun slants down,includes you gentlywithout a word.All those thoughts and worries,worth’s calculations and predictionsfiltered…
- Unfolding Light
Wrong king
The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. He noticed a man at the wedding who was not wearing a wedding robe…
- Unfolding Light
Marriage vows
I have marriage vows I keep.I follow them religiously.They are not rules I have to obey.They’re what my love looks like.I don’t force myself to…
- Unfolding Light
Party
They gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. —Matthew 22.10The basic parable sounds like Jesus:the realm…
- Unfolding Light
Angel
You wanted God to come, radiant…but there was nothing.Then in an unguarded moment—you were gazing at something so purelyas to be without desire—someone…
- Unfolding Light
Exhalations
Beloved, I sought revelation.When I lookI do not see you,onlyyour seeing me. •Nothing I say to youhave you not said to me. •There is no great thingI…
- Unfolding Light
Broken, poured out
They are robed, educated, well-situated,who offer you the cup,but they received it from one who is suffering.Standing at the table saying“This is my blood”…
- Unfolding Light
Miracle
The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. —Exodus 14.22Did they run, nervous that…
- Unfolding Light
Cornerstone
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. —Matthew 21.42 (Ps. 118.22)The builders, mind you, will continue to reject it.The market will…
- Unfolding Light
Rebellion
Imagine, Jesus says,some rebellious vineyard workerswho beat the owner’s servantsand kill the owner’s sonto try to seize the business.That’s…
- Unfolding Light
Well
It doesn’t matter how faryou have to walk through the desert,how rough the bucket you bear.Go to the well of Goddeep within.There is a spring of pure…
- Unfolding Light
Wounded
Gentle One, you have wounded me.Your grace has pierced my armor.Your truth has clawed throughmy lies and illusions.Your love has shattered my defenses.The…
- Unfolding Light
By what authority
The elders said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” —Matthew 21.23Where does the meadowlark get its song?How dare…
- Unfolding Light
Equinox
The poor sun,knowing only its own brightness,has never seen shade,never witnessed darkness,knows nothing of nightand its gentle cloak,doesn’t know how an…
- Unfolding Light
Foggy goggles
In the marketthey give you these gogglesyou don’t even realize you’ve got.They’re so you buy stuff and fit in.They give you the opposite of…
- Unfolding Light
Gallery
Worship is God’s art gallery.She sets out a few beautiful thingsto watch us come in our glory.We look at the beautiful thingsbut God gazes at us.We cover…
- Unfolding Light
The promise
God said, “I will make of you a great nation… so that you will be a blessing…. To your offspring I will give this land.” —Genesis 12.2, 7Oh, we…
- Unfolding Light
Angel of history
Geese draw a lingering line above you,in archaic script across the sky.They are saying something.You don’t need to know what it isfor it to give you…
- Unfolding Light
Manna
When they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of…
- Unfolding Light
Home
O Intimate Mystery,you are my home,spacious, welcoming, and nourishing.Give me grace to offer welcoming spaciousness to others.Trusting my belonging in you,I…
- Unfolding Light
Invitations
The latest scam is those emailsseemingly from a familiar friendinviting you to some unnamed event.If you’re tempted to open themit may be because…
- Unfolding Light
First day
To this one grief do not succumb at last—unlike so many losses, all that tearing,all the deaths of things that must be passed,the vital griefs from which you…
- Unfolding Light
Survivors
Around the fire at night,away from Moses,do you suppose they talked aboutthe terrifying miracle, what it was likeamid the sea, walking down there,remembering…
- Unfolding Light
Set it down
The student tries to walk gently and elegantlybut staggers. The teacher asks why.“Because my companion hurt me deeply.”“Ah,” says the teacher. “This much?”and…
- Unfolding Light
Red Sea
God, you have brought me through the Red Sea.I have walked between the waters of difficulty and dangerwith dry feet.I have looked back and seen the forces of…
- Unfolding Light
Labor pains
The whole creation has been groaning in labor pains. —Romans 8.22Creation is a whole, not a collection of parts. Forgive us for breaking you up into…
- Unfolding Light
See them
We think of them as nobody,whoever they arewe don’t want to see.They are invisible,the one at the intersectionwith the ragged cardboard sign,or off in…
- Unfolding Light
Creator prayer
You of the Great Breathing In: Aahh! We praise you.You of the Great Breathing Out: Yes! We thank you.You who swirl us in your interstellar dust: Alleluia! We…
- Unfolding Light
The guest
It is as ifyou came home and there he was,a stranger sitting in the room meditating.At first alarmed, then annoyed,and then resigned, you let him sit,because…
- Unfolding Light
Infinite love
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. —John 1.1 In God we live and move and have our being. —Acts 17.28Love is…
- Unfolding Light
Dragon
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…
- Unfolding Light
Dragon
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…
- Unfolding Light
Member
“Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” —Matthew 16.25No part of a bodycan surviveoutside the…
- Unfolding Light
Holy ground
In the curling incense smoke of his accentthe guide says never mind all the other sites(and there is competition from many sites, in many accents),this is…
- Unfolding Light
Creation
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…
- Unfolding Light
God forbid
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…
- Unfolding Light
Your ID
We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. —Romans 12.5The Empire has scanned you,posts, photos, browsing…
- Unfolding Light
Compathy
We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. —Romans 12.5We are members of one another.We are not just…
- Unfolding Light
New consciousness
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…
- Unfolding Light
Messiah now
The Messiah is a poor child in a poor townat the edge of the world.Despots want her dead, but her parents shield her.You know the tale.The Messiah is here…
- Unfolding Light
Jesus takes off his costume
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…
- Unfolding Light
God is also not a rock
but a certain dancingcolor under the riverwhere the light and the waterand the flowing happenmovement minglinga murmur of curvesindefinitebut certainoutlines…
- Unfolding Light
The Bible’s model family
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…
- Unfolding Light
Defiled
It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles. —Matthew 15.11The most sinful bit about the…
- Unfolding Light
Flow
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…
- Unfolding Light
Artist
She is given the same colors as everyone:joy, fear, longing, rage, wonder, grief.She sits by your window finger-painting,moving those primary colors as she…
- Unfolding Light
Legacy
Walking in the woods, thinking of other things, so, not really in the woods, I traveled on a path that sooner or later will disappear, among trees that will…
- Unfolding Light
August 6 – Feast of the Transfiguration
Six days ago he said he would be crucified.We said “Impossible.” Our sense of decencyinsisted. It was unthinkable.Now it is August 6th, an ordinary day.8:15…
- Unfolding Light
Joseph
The saga of Joseph and his brothersis not just about an ancient family.They are us.The one we would dismiss,the one we would be done with,is our sibling.The…
- Unfolding Light
Deeper
Troubled seas. Arguments of waves.Wind screaming at you.Boat not doing well.Suddenly an apparition,possibly a ghost, more impossiblyChrist on the waters.How…
- Unfolding Light
Evil
There can be evil in this good worldbecause in the beginningwhen God said ”Let there be light”the world was born from wanting.Wanting can go many ways—divorced…
- Unfolding Light
Wrestling
Traveling between woundswe pause, make some space in time,allow the evening pall to be laid over us,darkness tucked up under our chin,a stillness purely…
- Unfolding Light
Darkness
It is said God dwells in thick darkness.We can’t imagine how thick.Sometimes the darkness is so thickit holds you up.Sometimes the mystery is so…
- Unfolding Light
Turmoil
When turmoil surrounds me I sometimes internalize it:it becomes inner turmoil. Then I get used to it.I get habituated. I get addictedto my own chaos and…
- Unfolding Light
Loaves and fishes
When they ask the elders “How did you do it?With so little, against so much, how did you do it?”the answer is always the same.With five loaves of love and two…
- Unfolding Light
There it was
One day there it was.Hope at the bird feeder.Gratitude murmuring amongthe pebbles in the brook.Kindness waiting for mebetween the sidewalk and the door.Beauty…
- Unfolding Light
You reveal
God, you reveal yourself so sparingly!—a fleeting suspicion, a rising tide in me,a wisp of interstellar dust, a scent,a half-emerging thought, a leaning…