Amid the bustle, may peace guide you.
Despite the noise, may silence speak to you.
Under the lights, may the darkness beckon.
When demands are made of you,
may you be sustained by the gift you are given.
When jolly words frame hidden loneliness,
may you know unshakable love.
When you are surrounded by what is trite and cheesy
and hounded by what is expected and irrelevant,
may you be arrested by wonder,
led by delight, and held with tender love.
When you wait for the surprise that never comes,
may the grace that has always been happening
catch up with you.

Not with earthquake or armies,
but tiny and fragile, quiet and easy to miss,
may the Child come to you.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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I thank you, light,
that you turn but do not depart,
that you wane but never fail,
that you go forth, and you return.

Thank you, sun, for your steadfastness
even as we tilt and turn
Thank you, earth,
that you allow us rest and darkness,
and you offer us light and warmth.

Thank you, darkness,
that you hide and shelter us,
that you guard mysteries
and frame the stars,
and that in trust and humility
you defer to the light.

Thank you, light and dark,
night and day, that you work
so beautifully together,
wedding seen and unseen,
human and divine,
sought and given.

Thank you, God,
that it is in darkness that the light shines.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           “ The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
                      and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
            therefore the child to be born will be holy;
                      he will be called Son of God.”
                         —Luke 1.35

With Gabriel’s news the cosmic becomes personal.
Christ is coming—God is embodied— in a new way,
to transform the world,
and whatever that is, it is happening in you.
You are being asked to bear work that will have cosmic ripples.
What is that new act of Creation God is accomplishing in you?
What are signs of God’s new creating in your own heart and life?
Look into your soul. Like gazing into a starry sky,
it will require time for your eyes to adjust,
time for the stars to come out.
Give time and stillness to watch, to wait, to observe.
What holy mystery is the Spirit doing in you?
Wait, and wonder… and say Yes.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           “You will conceive in your womb
           and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.”
                         —Luke 1.31


God of love,
you have conceived your love in me.
Within me grows your grace, your glory,
your compassion for the world;
within me stirs your tender beauty.

Mary, come and help me.
Help me trust this miracle.
Let this be my prayer always:
“May it be for me according to your word.”

Mary, come and be my midwife.
Give me courage.
Through the labor, through the pain,
hold my hand.

God, help me deliver your love
into the world.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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So often it seems we are so in the mood for Christmas,
but then something awful happens
and it changes everything.
But this is backwards.
Difficulties are constant: awful things happen—
and then Christmas comes along and changes everything.

This is the reason for the season.
“Because these days are dark,” the Beloved says,
“I come to be with you.
I see the pain, the loneliness, the despair.
I feel already the splinters of the manger, the nails.
And—therefore— I have come to be with you.”

Don’t be afraid of the dark days, the broken days,
the hard days, the blank days.
This is where Christmas happens.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           One is coming after me;
           I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.
                         —John 1.27

How to imagine one
who considers each of us infinitely worthy
to be even more worthy?

No mere saint or rock star,
more than a person,
the sap of all humanity
boiled down into the syrup of one person,
God poured into a human mold.
A huge bell tolling within us.

How do you welcome such a one into your life?
Groveling will not do.

Silence will.
Pay attention.
Kneel and observe a worm
until astonishment overtakes you.
Watch the human family with love
and amidst our babbling
listen for heaven’s voice.
Stand in the rain of the Beloved
and let it soak you.
Be still, and let the Mystery pour into your mold.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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          Among you stands one
           whom you do not know.
                         —John 1.26

A flock of birds sits in every branch of a tree,
in the exact shape of the tree.
Beloved, we are the shape of you, unknown.

If only we knew
how deeply you are already here,
whispering in our ears,
slipping wisdom into our hearts
behind our backs,
walking through the days
sopping up the suffering
that would be so much worse
if we weren’t accompanied.
Our healing flows in your veins.
You are our continent.
You haunt us with mercy.
Unknown, you sustain us.
Teach us to trust what we cannot feel.

What we await is not your arrival
but our awakening.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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           They shall build up the ancient ruins…
                         —Isaiah 61.4

When you are surrounded by broken things,
when you find yourself in a barren place
of devastation and discouragement, take heart.
Blessed are you, for you have been sent by the Spirit
to do the work of love among ruins.
Blessed are you who mend the shattered,
who build up what’s been torn down.
Blessed are you who accompany the broken,
who stand with light and hope amid the rubble.

We don’t understand the stitching of wounded flesh,
the mystery that knits strands of death into life,
but in the splintered night you can hold the lamp,
you can bear, or at least bear witness to the love
that makes whole, that creates again,
that makes of these disappointed pieces
a new thing of beauty and glory.
The mystery is hidden in your being there.
Build up the ancient ruins, beloved;
the Spirit will guide and strengthen you.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.

           The spirit of the Holy One is upon me,
           because God has anointed me;
           God has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed.
                         —Isaiah 61.1


Beloved,
may your Spirit flow through me today,
that all I do and say may be good news to the poor,
offering power to the oppressed, healing to the broken,
courage to the despairing, freedom to the captive.
May all I do bring light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death.
May I be good news to all those
who hunger for gentleness and respect.
Anoint me with your kindness, that I may offer kindness
even to those who do not ask it,
your love to those who do not understand it.
May I be a faithful vessel,
for it is your Spirit, not my effort, that blesses.
By that Spirit, send me, God, to bear your grace to the world.
Amen.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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            Among you stands one whom you do not know,
            the one who is coming after me.
                         —John 1.3-4

The great paradox of Advent
is that we await the coming
of the One Who Is Among Us,
here already, profoundly present,
yet still coming, not done arriving.
Christ is not coming from a great distance,
inching closer to us from some far-off heaven,
but unfolding among us, within us.
We are pregnant with Christ,
who is here and yet who is coming,
whose presence is full and yet blossoming.

Jesus, silently gestating in us,
tender, innocent, dependent,
unknown, yet who loves us intimately
with infinite grace and wisdom.
Wait,
           and give thanks,
                                      and wait.

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