Well…angels…We've got angels. Holy Smokes – based on the number of speckly bumper stickers that state “I see angels”, only heaven itself has more angels than the gold coast. There are angels of the month, birthstone angels, dashboard charms that say, "Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly." Bobble head angels, gardening angels, Mother's Day angels, well…you get the picture.
Its those little fat blonde babies with wings frolicking on every possible item that get me...chubby cherubs, swathed in white silk robes that appear on wallpaper, tv shows and movies…heavens, Tammy and I even saw an ad on TV for a guardian angel here on the conference "find out how to meet your guardian angel..."
But…if we relied on the mass sources to identify what angels were; well let’s just say John Travolta probably was not the most accurate artistic representation of what the angel Michael would have gotten up to…
The Hebrew Scriptures (that is, the Old Testament) use the terms מלאך אלהים (mal'akh Elohim; messenger of God), מלאך יהוה (mal'akh Adonai; messenger of the Lord), בני אלהים (b'nai Elohim; sons of God) and הקודשים (ha-qodeshim; the holy ones) to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels. Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name – specifically, Michael. The Hebrew for Michael is “who is like God” – but in the Talmudic tradition, you can understand that to be a question, not a statement – “who is like God?” (The Talmud being the central text of mainstream Judaism), – the implication being that no one is like God. From the very start, we can understand that while the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures consider these beings to be otherly or holy, they were not God-like; and it would be foolish of us to think otherwise. Here at the start, it is really important to state that there is no evidence of the Hebrews ever ‘worshipping’ angels, merely identifying them as messengers or warriors of God. [This is important, because the postmodern view is that Angels could be beings which exist outside of the paradigm of a deity, which is entirely unhistorical and really the stuff of science fiction...]
Because Messengers and Warriors is how they were most often depicted. Etymologically, our English word “Angel” is based on the Greek “Angelos” or “messenger”, although in art and writing, angels; including Michael, are most often depicted as warriors. In Daniel’s vision, the archangel Michael is identified as the protector of Israel, now while this has inspired a great deal of warrior-like imagery, it was messengers and protectors in a different sense that seem to be described in gospels, surrounding Christ: They announced Christ’s incarnation in the world to the Mary and Joseph, and his birth to the shepherds; they are present and aid Christ in his 40 days in the wilderness, they strengthened him in his time of agony and are depicted as being present at his resurrection.
Historically, the view on Angels changed quite a bit in the first few centuries of Christianity, but if you are interested in the history of their perceived nature or the early and middle centuries, I direct you to Wikipedia or the online catholic encyclopedia – newadvent.org; both sites have good and accurate references to information about the biblical history of angels, and the study of them. What I think most pertinent for us to consider on this All-Angels Day is what role they played and how we should see their presence as a reminder to us of our role and place in the world – because they certainly had theirs…
Now truthfully, the Hebrews had a different understanding of the world to us; and so did the Greeks and Romans, so naturally, the way they understood Angels and the way angels are depicted is probably different to how we should depict them in this day and age; so I’m not particularly partial to some of the militant imagery that is conjured; in fact, this is probably really unhelpful. Michael and the angels definitely are understood to have thrown Satan from the heavens – but perhaps this isn’t an actual recollection of events – remember, Revelations came about because of god-inspired dreams. Now I don’t know about you, but my dreams can be a bit whacky; an out of the ordinary way for my sub-conscience to reveal something to me…
Now Revelations has a bit of a bad rap – it has been misused time and time again to describe the end of time, to justify violence, murder and war – sadly it doesn’t often appear in our cycle of Sunday readings, because in my view it is the one book of the bible that demands more attention than any other in sermons or commentaries because of the intriguing nature of the revelation. Powerful imagery, such as Michael and the dragon is (I think) used to emphasise the potency of the sacrifice Christ made on the cross – His death did what a heavenly war could not – that is, set in motion the restoration of the cosmos.
But aside from the importance of the sacrifice of Christ, and subsequently the importance of our meeting together in worship and communion (9:00: and the importance of baptism); what other important messages could we draw from the actual or literary focus of angels?
Well, I guess if Satan chose to leave heaven, he must have had a will to do so. So too do we have that choice – to be in or out of God’s presence. We, like the multitude of angels can sing in chorus and harmony of the sacrifice of Christ and our desire to know God better through scripture, prayer, worship, good works and neigbourly love. I hope you continue to join us here in this aspect of it, because its special, its powerful.
I think it important that we take the lesson from the letter to the Hebrews of hospitality to be a reminder that there might be some valuable spiritual role in even the smallest thing we do. St Paul wrote: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares". With our shallower understanding we tend to think that hospitality (feeding someone in our home) is to meet a physical need for a meal, as well as a social need for companionship, as well as a psychological need, simply to talk with others. But if the universe is pervasively and profoundly spiritual then hospitality is bursting with spiritual significance. Our hospitality, if we treat it as such, is then an act which unfolds God before us. Therefore our hospitality has sacramental significance – it could be an act of communion – a significant rite in our lives.
Lastly, we should embrace the idea that there is more to life than that which we see in front of us. I have never seen an angel but I suspect that they are present in some way which the material will never reveal. There are a far many more dimensions to this world than just that which we touch, taste or see – why, who here has ever been moved to tears by a piece of music? What of, for example, the prose or poetry of T.S. Elliot? The soul destroying and heart up-lifting bugle call of the Last Post? What about one Claude Monet’s impressions of sunset? We should be inspired by the idea of angels to search ourselves and our world for the ethereal, and allow it to be a guide towards knowing God.
In doing these things, maybe we, like Nathaniel, from our Gospel reading today, may be privileged enough to know and see even greater things than these in our lifetime – perhaps even angels ascending and descending to serve upon the son of God, our Lord and saviour. Amen.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_%28archangel%29#cite_note-bibleverse.7C.7CDaniel.7C10:13.7CKJV-0 accessed Saturday September 25, 2010
http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Sermons/angels.htm accessed Thursday September 23, 2010
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