Category: Reflections

             Even now the ax is lying at the root of the tree.
                         —Luke 3.9


The ax lies ready,
awaiting the courage of pruning.

It sings a song of non-being.
to let only the fruitful branches remain.

Trust: the vine to which we belong
can’t be killed. Prune away.

We know as we labor in the orchard
other forces lay axes to our good vine,

to cut us off, to quell the miracle,
for greedy weeds of fear to prevail.

They can’t succeed. Even slashed at the root
this vine rises again.

Fear neither the faithful pruning
nor the wicked assaults:

these roots are mighty enough
to roll away stones.

What is of love is eternal, and flourishes,
bearing the fruits of grace,

even from stumps burgeoning forth with leaves
that are for the healing of the nations.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             Rejoice in the Beloved always;
                          again I will say, Rejoice.
             Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
                          The Beloved is near.
                                                   —Philippians 4.4-5

The Beloved is not near in the future,
but near to your heart, now.

The Beloved, born into danger and conflict,
dead and raised from all meanness,

has your back. Guards your joy.
And shows you the way.

Dare to be gentle in a rough world.
In such a manger the child comes.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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The prophet cries, “Prepare the way!”
and we know he means justice and purified hearts—
well, and shopping and decorating and baking
and cards and programs and family plans….

Either path is OK, for a bit. But whichever you are on,
stop. It’s OK to let it all go.
Prepare for something to happen inside you
that can’t happen with too much stuff going on.
Clear the space. Stop pruning in the vineyard, and walk away.
Dress warmly, and go out into the dark. You may go alone,
or with others who can hold candles in a cold wind
without masking the dark silence with familiar songs.
Sit at the empty manger, and let its emptiness speak.
Make room for newly conceived life… unknown longings.
All of who you are is present, as is the Holy, approaching.
This retreat may take a lot of time. Cookies may be neglected.
Sit in the not-yet-ness, the awful silence.
Sit with the holy family. Joseph goes off to find a safe place,
and Mary regards the manger within.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             And the crowds asked him,
             “What then should we do?”
                         —Luke 3.10

John’s answer is: do justice.
The proper preparation for the coming of Christ
is not to re-arrange the world around us
but to allow ourselves to be changed.
Into the world as it is, between the cracks
of the fortresses of our hearts and habits,
comes the Tender One, who invites us
to be tender with one another.
It’s continual transformation.
We open ourselves to the miraculous incursion
of grace that sifts our wheat from our chaff,
our love from our fear.
Not in believing, but in sharing,
our selfishness is winnowed away from our courage,
and burned in the blessed, unquenchable fire of grace,
and the light of the fire guides us in hope and joy.

                “I baptize you with water;
                but one who is coming will baptize you
                with the Holy Spirit and fire.”




Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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

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         Bear fruits worthy of repentance.
         Every tree that does not bear good fruit
         is cut down and thrown into the fire.
                      —Luke 3.8,9

When were those moments for you that bore fruit,
when the sap of God flowed through you beautifully? …

Be mindful of your joy, give thanks,
and allow those moments to rest in you. …

When did your living not bear fruit,
unrooted or dead on the vine of God,
when you felt less life or joy? …

Offer those moments to God.
Be mindful of your longing,
and of God’s grace,
and let that awareness rest in you. …

Give thanks that even as God prepares a way
to come to us in all our lives,
in every moment,
God is present.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
             for you will go before the Holy One to prepare God’s ways,
             to give knowledge of salvation to God’s people
             by the forgiveness of their sins.
                                                   —Luke 1.76-77

You go before, before the way is straightened.
The preparations are mostly unseen. Go anyway.

Bold pronouncements won’t do it;
you make God’s grace known by forgiving.

Plant seeds of grace in the dark soil of this world;
sow seeds of light in the darkness.

In time they will bear fruit, in time.
Go before; Infinite Love is at your back.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             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.
                                           —Luke 1.78-79

When we see the world clearly,
its doom of climate, of tyranny, of violence,
the reign of riches, the empire of fear,
we join those who sit in darkness.
It is no longer only slaves and prisoners,
but all the world that dwells in the shadow of death.

And now, now, the prophet announces
the coming of a dawn as if a winter solstice.
A light that guides us into the ways of peace
even amid the winds of conflict.

Look, then, even in the darkness, to the light.
The dawn is not on the horizon but among us,
even in the deep night, already rising.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius,
           when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
           and Herod was ruler of Galilee,
           and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
           and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,
           during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
           the word of God came—
                                          to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
                                                                                       —Luke 3.1-2

Luke names every locus of power,
every place where the Word of the Almighty
ought to land…
and it does not come there,
but in the wilderness, to a powerless peasant
without office or authority, a man named John.
Don’t look to the mighty for the power of God.
Look to the lowly.

Grace always rises from below.

In your own heart, yes, there are your strengths,
those things you’re most comfortable with,
what gets noticed and praised—
but look also to the wilderness,
among the quiet, overlooked things,
the tender places, the sorrows and wounds,
the outlier hopes and fragile dreams,
for the movement of the Spirit.

The Holy invades from the bottom up.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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             There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
             and on the earth distress among nations….
             Then they will see ‘the Truly Human One coming in a cloud’
             with power and great glory….
             Stand up and raise your heads,
             because your redemption is drawing near
                         —Luke 21.25, 27, 28

With Jesus we practice double vision:
to see the signs of the times,
the gathering clouds, the tyranny looming,
the ruin of our climate,
the collapse of what sustains us—
and at the same time the irruption of grace,
the glory of God with us in the human realm.
To dare to bear sorrow and hope together.
To know the horror of end times
and still trust the power of kindness.
To see the signs of a troubled future,
and remain loving in the present.

Help us, Holy One, to see the darkness clearly,
even as we shine the light.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           Prepare the way of the Holy One,
           make straight the paths of God.
                         —Luke 3.4

Mary, waiting for her child, is powerless, patient,
dependent on a greater movement—
not uncertain, but also not in control.
Like waiting for the sunrise.
Waiting for God to appear in a new way.

Yet waiting like Mary is not passive,
but preparing, being transformed.

The “way” of God is not elsewhere,
some road God needs to enter the world.
God enters by the unlikeliest path,
through the least accessible means.
The Mystery will enter as Mystery wills.
So maybe to “prepare” is not so much waiting
for God to appear as changing how we see,
becoming ready to see God in new ways.

And God enters the world through us.
So waiting with Mary, we are waiting
as God transforms within us.

We are the way God is preparing.

How are you preparing yourself
to be the way God enters the world?

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