Category: Reflections

Mary, haloed
in sweat,

groaning in labor,
your cry

mingling with
the songs of angels,

giving life
with your body—

Mary, nursing
that baby,

your dreams mingling
with those of the prophets,

giving life
with your body—

Mary, you give birth to the Word
without speaking:

“This is my body,
given for you.”

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

On this longest night let the darkness
wrap her generous arms around you,
her deep voice hold you gently.
Let her kiss awake your longing for the light,
too easily forgotten on bright days.
At peace in her inky embrace let your hunger arise
for light—not to banish the darkness,
for she is your friend—
but love for the way she holds the light,
not the harsh glint of riches or certainty,
but the warmth of the light in her eyes,
her assurance that even in deepest darkness
the light accompanies you.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness does not want to overcome it.
They are sisters.

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

           Joseph also went
           from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea,
           to the city of David called Bethlehem,
           because he was descended from the house and family of David. 
                           —Luke 2.4

We grew up on stories of Jesus born in a stable,
homeless and rejected.
But that’s not what Luke describes.
Theirs was a family-centered culture.
Joseph’s kin would have welcomed him in to their home.
The “inn” is a poor translation of what really was
the upstairs guest room (crowded with all the kinfolk!).
The manger was not out in a stable
but in the lower room of the house,
where the animals were fed at night.
Luke isn’t portraying a baby born in the outskirts,
but born among family—
crowded, noisy, and probably festive.
As an adult Jesus spent lots of time
among the outcasts, the un-familied.
But his roots are in family. 

So. Finding family among the marginalized isn’t hereditary.
It’s a choice.
Much like God’s choice to come be with us,
to dwell with us, to choose us as family.
Maybe Christmas is about choosing family
among whoever needs it.

       God, thank you for choosing us as your family.
       Help me to choose as wisely, and as widely, as you.

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

           Blessed is she who believed
           that there would be a fulfillment
           of what was spoken to her by God.
                           —Luke 1.45

This time of year we’re told to “believe.”
But what does that mean?
Judging from the movies to believe
means to believe in magic, or Santa, or romance,
to be optimistically wishful and naïve.
In many Christian circles to believe means
to think, as in believing certain doctrines are true.
But the word “believe” comes from old English,
rooted in German, belieben—to love.
In scripture to believe means to give your heart:
to lovingly entrust yourself, not to an idea but to a person.

Blessed is she who trusts God, and the power of love.
Blessed is she who trusts
that God’s promise will be fulfilled in her.
Blessed is she who trusts
that her love is more powerful than empires.
Blessed is she who entrusts herself
to the One who births her,
and who is in her, and whom she births.
Blessed is she who trusts her worthiness,
that her calling is sure and her gift is needed
and her voice carries weight.
Blessed is she who gives herself over
to the divine work of bearing love into the world.

Blessed are you,
and blessed is the fruit of the womb of your heart.

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

December 17, 2021

           God, you have shown strength with your arm;
           you have scattered the proud
           in the thoughts of their hearts.
           You have brought down the powerful from their thrones,
           and lifted up the lowly.
                           ——Luke 1.51-52

Oh, Mary, you know perfectly well
how revolutionary this is,
how the power structures fight this,
how the world is opposed to God.
And you know in the fight
you will lose much.
Give me courage, Mother of Love,
to stand against the powers,
that they might be brought down,
to use what I have to lift the lowly,
to find my strength not in my powers
but in your love
that brings us all into one circle,
all your Beloved.
Mary, may your vision be my hope
and my courage.

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

She sits by the candle
in the otherwise dark,
hands too weak to hold
anything but light,
too old for Mary,
maybe even for Elizabeth,
too old for a lover or a child,
but not too old to dream,
dream of the dark birthing light,
dream of light
piercing the darkness,
making it bleed sweetness,
dream of light seeping into the world,
so the world can finally see itself.
Too old to carry a torch above her head
but not too old to be light, growing,
until she becomes dawn, becomes fire
and offers herself to the world,
trusting strength not visible,
light not hers,
love not merely human,
in ways you can’t yet see
setting the world aflame
by her being
sitting by the candle
in the otherwise dark.

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

          The angel said to her… “He will be great,
          and will be called the Son of the Most High,
          and the Lord God will give to him
          the throne of his ancestor David.
          He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever,
          and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
                           —Luke 1.30-33

While the White guys stand up and sing
“Mary did you know?” I think of the women
of color, mothers unseen, hidden from us,
who dream for their sons a kingdom
of justice and dignity, a realm where they’re safe,
not needing a throne, but a place.
Those Marys know. They know.
They know who their sons are, and their daughters,
their gifts, their calling, their anointing,
and what will be withheld from them.
They know what they dream, and how far off it is.
They know how the White guys will keep on singing,
imaging a far-off Mary, while the real ones right here
keep on knowing, and keep on dreaming,
and keep on singing their own song.
When will the White guys sit down and be silent,
and hear the other song, drawing near,
sounding like lament, sounding like an uprising,
sounding like angels?

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

Oh Holy One, you come to us
in our need, in our mess.
To this low, rough manger, you come.
In the cesspool of pandemic and political distress
and racism and climate crisis, you come.
To people who are weary and depressed you come.
To those who are broken, to those who have lost,
to storms and to bullets, you come.
To people who are tired of fighting, weary of insisting,
exhausted from trying, you come.
To those who don’t have the strength
to lift up their heads for the dawn,
but gaze at the floor to gather the strength
to survive these times—you come.

We are amazed and grateful.
For this gift—not that the vision is fulfilled,
but that you come—we give thanks.
That you come to share this struggle,
our sorrow and even sometimes our despair,
to hurt and to hope with us—we rejoice.
Come, Beloved, come! 

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

           Bear fruit worthy of repentance.
                           —Luke 3.8

You have been acting selfish and greedy,
taking for yourself what you could have shared,
defending yourself and the balanced pillars of your ego
from those who would think ill of you,
as if it mattered.

You acted fearfully as if you are all alone,
protecting and providing for yourself.
You have been acting as if
you are not the divine one’s beloved,
as if you are not held in strong, wise, tender arms.
Such fear is the root of all evil.

This, then is your repentance:
stop pushing away love.
Stop declining the grace that is yours.

Allowing the light of that sun to come in,
the fruits of that love will grow in you.
Trust that.
Start here: stop pushing away the love.

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

           The Beloved is near.
           Do not worry about anything,
                      but in everything by prayer and supplication
                      with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
           And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
                      will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
                           —Philippians 4.5-7

Skip your Christmas wish list,
that gorgeous sweater, the latest device.
Go on. What do you most want?
What do you want more than that?
If you got it, would you be satisfied—
or is there something even deeper?

Now dwell on that.
Stay with it.
This is your true Christmas wish,
your deepest longing.
Let it be earnest prayer.
Carry it around with you.

Imagine your deepest desire
is wrapped up in God’s
and let that give you deep, deep peace.
Don’t try to understand it: it’s beyond that.
Just let it be.

God is holding this.
Peace.

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