Category: Reflections

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         

         “You are my Own, my Beloved,
         with whom I am well pleased.”

This is as unalterable as the heavens:
you are God’s Beloved, God’s own.
Nothing you do or fail can change that.

         I will tell of the decree of the Lord,
         who said to me, “You are my offspring;
         today I have begotten you.”

You are anointed with the promise of the Messiah,
the task of bearing God’s will into the world.

         “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
         my chosen, in whom my soul delights.”

You are upheld in your work.
Unseen though it may be,
and seemingly unimportant,
it is God’s desire; it is God’s delight.

         “So gently so as not to break a bruised reed
         or quench a dimly burning candle,
         you will faithfully bring forth justice.”

Nonviolently as Christ, without force or coercion,
with only love for all,
you will act for the fullness of life
for all those to whom it is denied.

         “One who endures suffering
         and is acquainted with weakness.”

The promise is not happy trails
or the comfort of triumph
but the mystery of the cross, dying and rising
as you enter the suffering of the world.
                  
         “You are my Own, my Beloved,
         with whom I am well pleased.”

It is not your power or success
but your belovedness,
and that of all whom you meet,
that you bear gloriously into the world,
that transforms it.
Go in peace, and serve the Lord with joy.

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         

         

In this world that can be so cold,
so cold,

the cold that brings on bitter hurt
and numbness,

keeps us hidden in our wrappings,
hearts bundled in private defense,

withdrawn, not touching,
insulated, enfolded in ourselves—

what could make God happier
than this,

that you give
a little warmth?

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
Yes, these days come, too:
gray, banal, post-epiphany,
the child in hiding,
the gold spent,
the myrrh lost on the way to Egypt,
the wise men long gone
to a country too far to hail,
the wailing over but
the sadness not,
the road leading
nowhere in particular,
starless.

Remember
it was often this way,
the star lost in fog,
the road drifted over
by weariness.

Still, something led you on.
Someone walked in you
those miles, bore your heart
deep in their robes,
safe from the swirling,
deadening sands.
That is how you have come
to this dreary day.

The promise is not glory,
not certainty, but presence.

This gray
is the inside of God’s robes,
bearing you,
without your guiding,
by another road.

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

         
         

In the beginning was the Word.
What has come into being through the Word was life
and that life is the light of all people.

         +

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness cannot overcome it.

         +

“Where is the child who is born king of the Jews?
For we have seen his star at its appearing
and we have come to pay him homage.”

         +

By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.

         +

Pay attention to this,
as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

         +

The eye is the lamp of the body.
If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

         +

You are the light of the world.
Let your light so shine
that others may see and glorify God.

         +

And there, ahead of them, went the star.

(Jn. 1.1, 4, 5; Mt. 2.1; Lk. 1.78-79; 2 Pet. 1.19; Mt. 6.22; 5.14, 16; 2.9)

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
                  —Matthew 2.1-2

They looked up and saw
what eyes could not see
A shining invitation

A kind of awareness
that was not knowing
but being led

A path unfolding beneath you
a map drawn as you walk it
of ever diminishing distance

Seeking more than facts
a kind of looking that already sees
light where there is darkness

Searching for the way
of humility of gifts
the way to pay homage

Finding glory
in ordinary places
the hidden heavenly light

A whole life on a road of light
a question of presence
a journey of wonder

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

Why not grow roses in your soul?

Don’t try to invent them,
it’s been done.
Don’t labor over making them,
it will happen.

Ask what the Beloved is doing in you,
ask again and again,
slowly,
until you see.

Ask what you can do to help,
to clear the space,
to hold the light,
and that will be your path.

And promise that no matter
how disappointingly plain
or outrageously beautiful the results,
you will husband the fruits
of God’s work in you.

Even if you spend the whole year
simply wondering
it will be a splendid year.

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         Behold, magi came from the east….
         They returned by another road….
         “Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt….
         “Return to the land of Israel….”
         He went away to the district of Galilee….
                  

You travel on long journeys,
detours and indefinite sojourns,
and not alone.

Notice the momentary delights;
enjoy them and let them go.
The soul is here for a longer haul.

The Holy One who stirs within you
seeks a place in this world,
and will not leave you behind.

The blessed homecoming
is an exploration, a path of missteps
and long hesitations,
an exodus issuing into wilderness wandering,
known by neither route or destination
but divine accompaniment.

Every day you are leaving the house,
never to return.
And not alone.

         
              
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
                  — Matthew 2.16-19

Poor Herod,
helpless to stamp out love,
all he can do
is have a tantrum
and kill people—
weak ones, of course,
no stronger than himself.

Against the holy
evil will lash out in fear.
But the tyrant has lost
before he began.
His fury is his despair.

O Gentle One,
be not afraid.
The Holy One is in the manger,
and has taken over the world.
The darkness will resist,
but the light will endure.

Pray for Rachel,
weeping for her children,
and do not be afraid to
let your broken heart
be a manger for the holy child.
         
              

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

         
Can this be he?—still bloodied from birth’s strife,
whom I could crush or cradle in my hands,
whose gifted breath does not know hope from life,
nor love from death, which is his swaddling bands?
What victory can they earn, or honor get,
these hands who trust of lap, and mouth of breast,
these eyes, content with dark, that wonder yet
at earth and light and equally the rest?
This child of dust and ashes, son of pain,
who won’t survive, whose hands still bless with good
the very ones that pierce them—though in vain—
somehow draws my love like wounds draw blood!
         Yes, the manger is so like a grave,
         for only such simplicity can save.

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com

Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
         
         
         For unto us a child is born;
             unto us a son is given.
                            —Isaiah 9.6

Behold the Christmas miracle,
that loving as a loving mother,
God has not just sent
but given us a child:
has given her Beloved to us
for our adoption,
entrusting Christ to our human care,
for us to claim, to raise,
to love as our own,
to lead into this world with pride,
and sorrow mingled in the joy.

What faith in us, and love, God has!

Open wide the arms of your heart
to the divine presence entrusted to you.

And take all the delight God hopes,
to see how much the holy child
looks just like you!

         
         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

To subscribe to Unfolding Light by daily e-mail write to me at unfoldinglight8(at)hotmail.com