Eavesdropping In Heaven

Think about this for a second. Imagine God leaning down from Heaven and tapping you on the shoulder. He tells you that he has something He'd like to say to and through you and that it just isn't quite covered by the twenty-six letter alphabet (i.e. English) with which you daily express yourself. At least while you're awake. "But God!" you say, "How would I even go about doing that?"To which God responds [ ].

"Then He said unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man (or woman! "there is neither male nor female...in Christ Jesus" Galatians 3:28b) that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence." (Matthew 13:52-53)

I'm reminded of the illustrated children's book "Weslandia" by Paul Fleischman. A charming little story about a boy named Wesley who, fighting acute boredom one Summer (and upon finding a fantastical fruit in his backyard--the disbelief that would necessarily need to be suspended for this story to be plausible), decides to found his own civilization. One of the things that comes out of his "thought experiment", as it were, is his spontaneous formulation of his own (new) alphabet (using dye from the aforementioned fake fruit). Awesome. Imagine if you had the power to imbue a written symbol with whatever information you chose. Now, your symbols would necessarily--as it would seem you'd be bringing out of your treasure "things new"--need to be cross-checked across the worldwide spectrum of graphic representation (don't wanna confuse anyone: "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace"1 Corinthians 14:33a). But because information is, you could leave that part up to God. Well, here's the deal (and forgive me if I stray into the dream-like) you do have that power. There's all sorts of latitude inherent in thinking this way. But if God is real, and the means of information-transmission-via-graphic-representation are something--far from arising ex nihilo through a process of billions of years of evolutionary neuro-development--are what God uses to get His point across, have at it. But! Before you begin, understand that you are a "scribe...instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven". I find the simpler the symbol, the more power it tends to have. And also more potential ambiguity. Look at the Cross. What does it mean turned upside-down? All of this stuff may be possible through dreams (and forgettable upon waking) and but a small part of the wonders of Heaven--but here and now. This is why we go through our day-to-day life worshipping and praising God in the languages with which He's blessed us and should He choose to do what happened in the top paragraph, that's His choice. Best to be open by the by. If you have anything resembling an "open heaven" in your head, know that the battle will be fierce and confusing and for a time, overwhelming, before you get topside.

"Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from Heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to Him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes." (John 12:28-30)

Jesus begins with honor. He glorifies His Father who in turn honors and glorifies the Son. The heart condition, however, of those standing idly by and eavesdropping heard a full spectrum of noise. Only Jesus both heard correctly and was in turn able to say why. I should add that the above passage is preceded in John's gospel with "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour."

When someone looks to tamper with influence based on the written word (or symbol, whatever), they are playing with fire. As information leads to one source or the other, we'd do well to understand that, as Jesus is "the Living Word" (see John 1:14), we can't really say anything that doesn't point people back to Him. The way? As in, the way we say it? Well, that's between you and your Heavenly Father.

Far From the Madness of Crowds

Bridging the Gap (Do as I Say and as I Do part 2)