December 24, 2024
Thoughts after leaving the candlelight communion service tonight at Christ Methodist Church, Montgomery, AL:
Rev. Misty Barrett tonight related a story from the Christmas when her son, now 21 years old, was 6 and in a school Christmas pageant. She said that she didn’t expect the content to be anything explicitly religious, given the culture’s increasing aversion to all things religious, (but only if it is Christian religion, it seems!)
Her son and his class members were to hold up cards with a letter on each card that would spell out “CHRISTMAS LOVE.” One little girl in the middle accidentally got her letter upside down and when the full presentation was complete, instead of “CHRISTMAS LOVE”, the sign on the stage was “CHRIST WAS LOVE.” She said the response was a sudden holy silence from the observing parents sitting in the auditorium….. an unexpected “AHA” moment. A little girl’s mistake had actually proclaimed the true spirit of Christmas love!
This little story is sweet and revealing of God’s ability to work within circumstances and speak to us through them.
As she ended the story, I was reminded of a time in 1997 when I was under a profound “experiencing”, as I have called it, in which the spiritual realm intruded upon the physical realm in a way that I knew was not normally experienced by most people. While it was confusing, I was not afraid, because I knew that God was with me in the midst of it and would guide me through it. A number of things of a supernatural nature occurred. Many of them were worked through out in counseling with a wonderful Christian counselor who helped me after I had been hospitalized for six days due to mental exhaustion from struggling with what was called “religiosity psychosis.”
During that time there were numbers that pressed in on me, as well as certain letters and words that it seemed I was to interpret not just from their normal physical realm context, but also from a spiritual realm context. It seemed to point to the dichotomy of reality….its dual nature, physical and spiritual. I came to understand that God had created the temporal physical realm of space, time, matter and mankind to mirror the infinite, timeless spiritual reality of eternal spiritual existence. Of course, after that mirror image creation, the physical realm became marred by mankind’s disobedience that clouded our understanding of things spiritual and supernatural. God is intending to reintegrate the two in a way that makes each understandable as they are united…..An earth created to reveal the truth of God and Heaven. And that God and Heaven coming to earth through that revelation.
Over the years the meaning of those numbers, letters, and words have emerged through various circumstances, growing biblical knowledge, prayer time with the Lord, and through sudden insights from the Holy Spirit. I have recognized that the way such things as these occur represent moments in which the two realms are closely intertwined and I believe I was shown, then called, charged and challenged with learning how to read both simultaneously to be able to help others who experience the liminal space integration of the spiritual and physical realms. My experiences are just that- mine. Based on my abilities, intellect, knowledge, equipping, and experiences in life, all of which are fully known to God. God can use all of those things unique to me to speak to me in circumstances and show me things that God would have me understand about that moment in which the circumstances arise. It is a moment with multiple aspects of one’s life and experiences converge to reveal a larger picture, not only of the individual’s life, but of the way in which God works among groups of people, as well.
All that to say, when Rev. Barrett told this story of the inverted “M” to “W,” I recalled that “M” and “W” had been two letters that kept pressing in on my consciousness. I had gradually come to understand that the “M” represented “multitude”… a group or groups of mostly diverse people largely ensconced in the culture and acting in response to cultural conditions of the time. Jesus often spoke to and about multitudes. Some among the multitudes would understand what He was saying, some would not. Much of it would only be understood in the context of the later circumstances of His death and resurrection, and then generally only by those who were informed of the Scriptures, had walked with Jesus, had asked Him questions, had a personal relationship with Him, and were able to recall His words and actions with the help of the Holy Spirit given to them to aid in interpreting His words and actions for God’s purposes in their own lives.
During those months as I worked through all the images and messages of that time, I had come to recognize that the “W” was related to persons of authority, as in high status leaders…. Presidents would be one kind “W”. An influential pastor might be a “W.” A parent or widely known thought leaders might also be examples of a “W,” depending on the time, place, and circumstances.
So, as Rev. Barrett ended her story, I suddenly saw the association between “M”, multitudes, culturally influenced persons, and the generic consumerist “peace and goodwill to men” way that many people look at “Christmas love.” It’s recognizable and appealing to the multitudes, offers a sweet and sentimental experience of the holidays and is in the context of people-to-people and their actions toward one another as culture propagates and exploits it. “Christmas love”…..characterized by gifts, pretty holiday scenes, parties, cards, rich foods, vacation time, and more.
In the case of the six-year-olds class pageant, and an ”M” accidentally turned upside down to a “W”…… the true meaning of Christmas and the love of God that defines it and comes with it is made clear. CHRIST WAS LOVE.” The LOVE of Christmas lies in our understanding the relationship of God to man and understanding the love of God that motivated God’s incarnation to guide us back into fellowship with God.
The coming of Jesus Christ is the physical element of the re-mirroring, the re-integration of the physical realm of earth to the spiritual realm that it reveals. Jesus’ birth, God’s Holy Spirit incarnate to the fullest measure in man, becomes the initiation of the righting of the intertwining of the two realms. The “M” multitudes of the world are presented with the ultimate “W” authority of the spiritual realm. Some will recognize, follow, love, and obey. Others will not. The ones that do, will be blessed. The ones that don’t will continue in consumerist distractions and miss the true meaning of Christmas.
CBByrd 12/24/24