Banners

Sure, I thought I understood banners. They are the beautiful woven objects that adorn both sides of the sanctuary with Christian symbols.

But at Aldersgate, I experienced banners utilized actively. Not just any banners, but banners woven with love and prayed over. Banners and flags were used in connection with worship.

As the people worshipped God, long flowing banners would be carried by banner holders and would fly over the worshippers as though lifted by the praises of the participants or as unfurled and rippled by that Mighty Wind spoken of on the Day of Pentecost.

Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah our banner. And as you worshipped God somehow you felt that you were under the banner of God, under His favor and under His protection.

The banners were of all sizes, from the large banners that flew over the congregation to the small banners that somehow made you feel that you were at Mardi Gras and going to get favors, or at a football stadium and your team was winning.

Then there were the large banners often rectangular in shape that spoke of the presence of God and were often adorned with the names and characteristics of God.

These appeared mysteriously almost in the midst of praise and helped the participants to focus upon God and his characteristics. And with them there was a holiness and a sense of adoration, not of the object itself, but what it represented.

I think I understand now the fervor that some of my Spanish friends feel as the images of Mary and the procession of Christian floats wind their ways slowly through the streets of Seville, Spain.

I departed from the experience knowing better the use of banners in worship. I was certain that I was under the banner of Jesus Christ, that I was one of His people, perhaps the least of them, but still one of them. I had been in the procession of Christ and was protected as His banner flew over me.

I will never see those church banners in the same way again.