Christmas

Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.


It’s a special time, with the pretty lights and sumptuous meals, the gathering of loved ones and the giving of gifts, the beauty and the memories. But don’t think that the beauty and the luminous mystery belong to this day alone. The proclamation of Christmas is that God is With Us. This is not about one magical night long, long ago, but about God is with and among and within us always.

Ask Mary. When you were on that hard road to Bethlehem, when you were homeless in a strange place, where was God? Inside you. When you were shivering in that shed, left out of the circle of acceptance and privilege, where was God? Beside you. When you fled to Egypt, sought by powers and dominions whose soldiers were sent for your harm, where was God? Cradled in your arms, in your beating heart, in the depth of your breath. Each day, in your ordinary times, in your struggles, in the times of belonging and times of abandonment, where was God? Right here. Always, right here.

On this special night, God says to us with all the beauty it deserves, “I love you and I want to be with you. You are my delight, and I will give up all of heaven simply to be with you. Even if you do not understand, even if you hurt me and reject me, my desire is to be with you—to be in your arms, in your heart, in year breath. See! I am here. I am with you. Peace to you, and to all living things, in whom is my delight.”


Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve


_______________________________
Copyright © 2009
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight@hotmail.com

Blessed is she who believes

.
Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.


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

Blessed is she who believes
that God can use her ordinary life,
who has done the work of peasants
and been in others’ shadows
and still is extraordinary,
who has nothing remarkable to offer,
who is not brilliant or powerful—
and who trusts that the miracle
is of God’s choosing, not her deserving.

Blessed is she who believes that
in plain living, in deep friendships
and love of children and quiet respect,
God speaks;
that in endurance and honesty,
in making soups and potholders,
in trust in grace rather than power,
and a tender heart for those who are abused
and the occasional letter to the editor,
God’s prophetic Word is proclaimed;
that in faithfulness to the weak
God’s promises are fulfilled.

Blessed is she who is not afraid to do great things,
to bear great love, to wield the power of her wisdom,
to know God in her body and her mind.

Blessed is she who believes
that God is in her
for the healing of the world.


Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve


_______________________________
Copyright © 2009
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com

The Mighty One

.

Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
who has looked with favor on the lowliness of her servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is her name.
Her mercy is for those who wonder at her
from generation to generation.
She has shown strength with her arm;
she has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
She has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly,
filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
She has helped her servant Israel,
in remembrance of her mercy,
according to the promise she made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants forever."
—Luke 1.46-55

What could this simple, uneducated peasant girl have been thinking, launching into a political analysis of power and history? What indeed. The world will never understand that God’s power is nothing, nothing like what the world thinks of as power. Only those who stand outside the obscuring walls of power can see.

The world thinks of power as power over, the power to force things to happen, the power to coerce, threaten and destroy. But God’s power is power under and within, the power to create and bless and set free, the power to bring forth. God’s power is not in places of influence and violence, not in the arrogant and rich, in those who are happy and respected and successful. It is not in the tyrants and tycoons. It is in powerlessness and brokenness. It is in poor peasants, in those who have been excluded, in ordinary people with broken lives. God’s power appears to this world as powerlessness; God’s order appears as disorder: backwards, upside down, inside out. The last are first, the poor blessed, the dead raised. God comes to upend the world.

The good news of this season is that the Mighty One is present among us, in the poor and the powerless, in times of hopelessness and suffering. In weak people, in bleak times, Christ comes. Do you see? Let Mary lead you to the light in the darkness, the hope in bleak midwinter, the babe in the manger.

Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve


_______________________________
Copyright © 2009
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com

What Mary said yes to

.

That God was up to something
That nothing is impossible with God
That what stirs in us is of cosmic importance
That the Source of the Universe favors you
That your ordinary life deeply matters
That you have no way of measuring the value of your life
That God has desires for you that you cannot grasp

Being part of an energy you do not fully understand
Accepting your gifts as holy
Not having control
The beyond within
Love that gives by demanding from us
Being changed
Risk
Giving yourself to something
without knowing how it will turn out
Being misunderstood, judged, powerless and rejected
The power and wisdom of those who are
misunderstood, judged, powerless and rejected
Glory in all things
Loving God by loving a person
Saying yes

Blessing
Mystery
The long haul



Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve


_______________________________
Copyright © 2009
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com