Unfolding Light

          Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man
          and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace,
          planned to divorce her quietly.
                       —Matthew 1.19

I know how you feel, Joseph.
I am disappointed in this world
and its hate and greed, daily violence,
cruelty and stupidity at the highest levels,
climate change, microplastics….
Sometimes I want to quietly disconnect.
To say Nope. Sorry. Never mind.
It’s not a world I want to stick with.

But an angel comes to me in a dream and says
Do not be afraid to commit to this world,
for the Divine is in it. There is in this world,
beyond your understanding, a blessing,
a grace, a Presence that will save it.
Even in the mess, name it Emmanuel,
God with us.

And I love this world after all.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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We are familiar yet ill at home
with what is wrong. Our uncertainty
is our assurance that You are not done
with us yet. Free of self-confidence
for the time being, we wrap ourselves
in a snow of want and not knowing,
and go out into the darkness that sings,
descending moss-furred steps
into the night where the small torch
of a single star will do, accompanied
perhaps by sheep though we can’t see them,
or angels we can’t hear, a night of dreams
that are there but can’t be recalled,
where a lamp beyond our imagining waits
to be lit. We long for more than we can name.
In this darkness, vast, but not barren—nestled,
like a womb almost—it is plain our yearning
is not our own but given. We are summoned.
In the midnight of possibility, cold and still,
where you already are, we wait to see you.
In time, our eyes adjust to the dark.
O Holy One, appear.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           “Joseph, son of David,
           do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.”
                              —Matthew 1.20

Mary was nowhere near ready
to say yes
and she said yes.

Joseph was ready to say no
and he said yes.

The magi had to set a lot aside.
Even the shepherds had to get up and go.

Faith is not in knowing
but in willingness.

O Sparkling Darkness,
you nudge us now and then.
You offer openings,
often disguised as closures.
Give us grace to attend,
and to say yes.

Brother Joseph says:
do not be afraid to marry the mystery.

Breath prayer:
                         Marry … the mystery

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          She was found to be pregnant
          from the Holy Spirit.
                            —Matthew 1.18

The virgin birth may mean the child
is straight from God.

It may mean that Mary could bear the Divine
without anyone else’s help.

It may mean that God’s grace
is unprecedented, without cause.

It may mean that all we know
is so shallow as, at times, to be wrong.

It may mean that you, too, are susceptible
to the irruption of the Holy.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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         Be patient, dear siblings,
               until the coming of the Beloved.
         The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth,
               being patient….
                                             —James 5.7

Waiting is not always delay,
as for a bus that’s late.

Sometimes it’s gestating,
perfecting, becoming whole,

a rose unfolding,
the heart growing.

You don’t really want the baby to come
before full term.

In the powerlessness of waiting,
the passionate passivity of patience,

we give ourselves over
to the power of the Mystery.

In our waiting
the space we make for love grows.


Breath prayer:
                        The baby .. is coming

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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              God has scattered the proud
                          in the imagination of their hearts.
              God has brought down the powerful from their thrones
                           and lifted up the lowly.
                                                     —Luke 1.51-52

Neither the toppling of the powerful
nor the lifting of the lowly
is complete without the other.

I need both. I confess
I want to bring down the powerful
and also to become one of them.

I want the scattered proud to be others,
to protect my privilege. When refugees
are settled, to keep my old world.

I’m not sure I’m ready for the lowly in me
to be lifted up, to be guided
by humility and powerlessness.

Oh, Mighty One,
do your work in me,
that I may do my work in this world.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          Jesus began to speak about John:
          “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?”
                       —Matthew 11.7


We don’t seek someone in soft robes,
a spokesperson from the royal ballroom.
We’re not just awaiting the happy morning
with presents and family and comfort food.
We await a Messiah who will be with us
in our loss and lay hands on our trauma,
and heal us and the evils of this world.
It will disturb—a thorough pruning,
axes at the roots of unfruitful trees,
winnowing and cleansing fire.
It will be a firm and gentle revolution
against the Empire of hate and greed:
the unwhole healed, the dead raised,
the poor receiving good news,
the desert blossoming.
God’s intent for us is serious.
So our Advent preparations are festive:
we deck halls, bake cookies, wrap gifts.
But they are also sober and deeply attentive.
We hang lights, but also honor the darkness,
for it is in this darkness, this,
that the promise unfolds among us,
this darkness in which God comes
to be with us in our anguish.
We let our eyes adjust, to see in the dark.
When we see clearly what we see,
the world indeed begins to change.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          You have looked with favor
          on the lowly state of your servant.
                       —Luke 1.48

O Mary the Disregarded,
passed over, totally missed,
daughter of the world’s denials and refusals,
its doors closed and condescending sighs;
Miriam of the slums,
whose voice has not been heard;
Miryam of Nobodies,
written off for being a woman,
Sister of No Account,
you who have so long and so habitually
apologized for yourself—
hark.
         The Divine sees you,
and sees in you
the Divine.
Disdaining the judgments of men,
the Beloved regards you with favor.
To God your lowly state is no such thing.
Great things will be accomplished,
the strong arm of God revealed,
in you.
Your very soul magnifies the Mighty One,
and discloses God’s mercy, promised from of old.

Rejoice in God, your redeemer.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          John sent word and said to him,
           “Are you the one who is to come,
          or are we to wait for another?”
                       —Matthew 11.2-3

So many signs,
so many people raise our hopes,
and then fade in history’s crowd and clutter.
Will this be the Christmas when—…?

But we do not await some traveler from a far shore,
some miracle for a while withheld, then granted.
We await the blossoming of what is already within,
“as a farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth.”

The One we await is the Beloved, present here,
the spirit of love, embodied already.
Many may bear that spirit, but it is also within you.
Turn to love, and the One you await will appear.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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            The wolf shall live with the lamb;
                    the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
            the calf and the lion will feed together,
                     and a little child shall lead them.
                                —Isaiah 11.6

God, I am home to both lamb and wolf,
both love and anger, fear and desire,
both lashing out and running away.
I fear the world’s anger
yet adopt it as my own.
I am torn between the anxious prowl
and your gentle peace within me.

I accept them both,
so that I may freely choose.

Help me to trust your grace,
and dare to dwell with the wolf,
knowing that even in the face of evil and injustice
I may have peace,
that even amid uncertainty I may have hope,
that even now I may know joy.

Child of God, lead me.

            May the God of hope
            fill you with all joy and peace
            in trusting God’s grace,
            so that by the power of God’s Spirit in you
            you may abound in hope.
                         — Romans 15.13

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