A Holiday Letter from Reverend Misa

This is a holiday story I seldom tell, but  it seems like the right time for sharing. I was living in Sedona, and staying with friends. It was just a few weeks before Christmas. I’d had a rather average day and went to bed at my usual time—nothing special.

The Visitation

In the middle of the night I was filled with the most intense, profound and unconditional love I have ever experienced. It was Jesus and every cell in my body was shaking in the presence of such immense love.

He was not loving me because I had done something special or right, or owned a certain set of beliefs. I had simply been wondering, over the past few days, what it must have been like for Mary Magdalene to have loved him. There he was, loving me in the most extraordinary way.

In the midst of my trembling, I heard a voice, not his, telling me I would write a song for him for Christmas. When I had held as much love as I possibly could, I told Jesus that was as much as I was ready to hold and his presence left.

I laid there in bed, dripping in sweat, completely exhausted. My first thought was, “I don’t especially like Christmas songs, why would you want me to write one?” The second was the realization that his love had no limits and no conditions.

He didn’t love me because I was Christian or was not Christian, or because I espoused that he was my savior and dedicated my life to him. I believe he came because I wondered what it would be like to love him as deeply as Mary had loved him, and he was giving me an opportunity to find out. What I discovered is that his love was pure and unconditional—as unconditional a love as I have ever experienced.

Reflections

Over the next few days, I reflected on this event, realizing that what I didn’t like about so much of the Christmas music I had heard is that so many of the songs glorified Jesus as a king and savior, seeming to miss this recognition of the tremendous love he carried within his heart and taught us to discover within ourselves. It was his unconditional love was central to his life and his purpose. That’s when I understood why I had been asked to write a song.

I believed Jesus when he called all of us, including himself, children of God and did not raise himself above any other. I believed him when he said we would do greater works than he had done in his lifetime. And I believed that what made him so special was his capacity to love without condition. Those were great gifts he gave to us.

We are all so special. I see that every time I do a Life Path reading for someone. We are each so very magnificent, and the Divine flows through each of us in the most extraordinary ways. When I attach to my ego and start thinking I am more special than those I serve, I remember the readings I have given. I remember the unique and profound gifts that each of us carries to create our miracles here on earth.

I remember that from today’s perspectives, Jesus and Mary were people of color and might be discriminated against for the color of their skin or for their beliefs and practices, regardless of the purity of their hearts or the depth of their relationship to the Divine.

I remind myself we are all special and worthy of the profound love I experienced when Jesus came to me. Then I ask myself, “Misa, how much more love are you capable of holding? Have you fully accepted Jesus’ invitation to love?” Then I stretch my heart beyond its limits.

Recently, a friend called to suggest I was limiting how much love I was holding, and that my heart had the capacity to hold much more than I was allowing. He was right. He was so right. That very day, I sat to meditate and opened up to the love that was right there, waiting to be acknowledged.

Since that incredible visitation, masters from other traditions, both masculine and feminine, have visited me and guided me into my greater capacity to love. Because of them, I know that the blessings of the Divine flow through all spiritual traditions and all of creation. After experiencing such expansive, inclusive, Divine love, who am I to ever limit the capacity of God’s love?

Gifts of the Holiday Season from Various Traditions

As we arrive at the holidays of Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, I celebrate the great joy of living in my fullest capacity.

As I consider the story of the Macabees, celebrated at Chanukah, who among us would not be better people by learning how to protect our souls and our sacred relationships with G-d. Who would not be stronger for resting in the strength, limitless love and blessings of G-d, as we are reminded in the story of the Macabees who lit their menorah, knowing there was only enough sacred oil for one day, but watched it burn for 8 days?

As I consider the seven principles of Kwanzaa, I am proud to be human. Who among us would not grow significantly by reflecting on the concepts of: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith? If we were all to stop to reflect on these principles, I can only imagine that we would create a more loving and peaceful world. That is my dream for the holidays and one that I know many of us share.

As we approach Christmas, who among us does not long to feel the gift of unconditional love that he reminded us to embody? Who in our lives is hungering for that love and how could we be that love for another? How might we grow up to be more loving people, if  we celebrated the life of each child (for each is special) that is born into this world?

This holiday season, I invite you to find a few quiet minutes in which to light a candle or a fire. Surrounded in the comforting blanket of darkness and the warm glow of the fire, join me in reflecting upon your own capacity for love. Open your heart further than it has ever opened before, linger in that love, and then invite yourself to live in that expanded loving space each and every day.

In my heart and songs,
Reverend Misa

By the way, I did write the song. It is called “Son of Morning Star” and can be found on my Awaken the Dream CD.