Gabriel appears to Mary to inform her that her entire life is about to be disrupted.  The word angelos means "messenger."  It is as if the direct personal presence of God would be too overwhelming, blinding us, annihilating us - and so God sent intermediaries who could be transparent (or perhaps just translucent) to God.  Angels show up with messages from God, and never are those messages warm and fuzzy.  Elie Wiesel was right:  "If an angel says 'Be not afraid,' you'd better watch out - a big assignment is on the way."

   The Bible occasionally speaks of "protective" angels (Matthew 18:10), but they do not exist to make my life smooth and comfy.  Rather, we live in the thick of spiritual warfare.  Combat between good and evil rages around us all the time, and your soul is at stake.  Angels remind us there is another realm, a hidden plot line running through life as we experience it on the surface.

   Angels do not exist for me or you; they exist for God.  The angels are God's entourage, not interesting in and of themselves; their vocation is an "eloquently quiet pointing to God, which is always pointing away from themselves" (Karl Barth - who went on to say the Devil hopes we will find angels dreadfully interesting and hence our attention will be diverted from God!).

   Angels are not divine beings, little gods flying about.  They are creatures, made by God to bear witness to God, to sing praise to God.  Angels are not human beings - and contrary to popular thinking, we do not become angels when we die.  In eternity we will do much of what the angels do now, carrying out God's will, glorifying God - but we are not angels ourselves.

   G.K. Chesterton once said angels can fly because they take themselves so lightly.  Perhaps those who are obsessed with angels should take angels a bit more lightly, and those who cannot fathom anything beyond the tangible world we can measure should take themselves a bit more lightly - and listen for some word from beyond, like the words Abraham (Genesis 16), Moses (Exodus 3), the shepherds (Luke 2), and the disciples who found the tomb empty on Easter (Matthew 28) heard - and be prepared for those big assignments that interrupt, shock, challenge, and catapult us out in service to God.

James
james@mpumc.org

Coming up:
eBibleQuestions29 - Did Jesus' miracles really happen?
eBibleQuestions30 - Was Jesus God? or a man?
eBibleQuestions31 - Were there women disciples?
eBibleQuestions32 - How are we saved? By faith? Deeds? Grace?
eBibleQuestions33 - Are the Jews saved?
eBibleQuestions34 - When will Jesus return?

And some of you have been so kind as to ask for the words to the song my daughter Sarah composed and sang in Church in the Round this past Sunday -

Prodigal
                 by Sarah Howell

You are wherever I may go
You love me more than I could know
You carry me when I grow weak
You bless my mouth so I can speak your word
Let it be heard

I cannot run, I cannot hide
Believe me now, you know I've tried
These helpless, grasping hands can't hold
All that you have forever told me to
I'll be what you want me to

I've lived in doubt and cursed my faith
This wine and bread don't always taste
Like your fragile body broken so for me
That in your knowing eyes spotless and forgiven I might be

I can't say how, I can't say why
But one thing that I can't deny
Is you are always at my feet
To wash them and to make me meet your eyes
My Jesus Christ

I try to close my eyes to pray
But words can never really say
That I'm sorry that I always turn and run
From you, my Lord, the rising sun, the chosen one

So let me look and see your face
Bestow on me that endless grace
That finds its way into the psalms
Let my heart overflow with calm and peace, and peace
My prince of peace