ON ANGELS

By Marcia Campbell

December 15, 2002

First let me state that I do not “do” testimonials. So you can leave your tissues tucked away.

So let me ask you all—what is your favorite Christmas movie or TV program? “It’s a Wonderful Life,” where Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey finally understands he is an important part of a greater good. And who can forget Clarence, Clarence who finally earns his wings and becomes an Angel 1^st Class. We all love the concept of angels, don’t we? Holy beings who constantly watch over us, guide us, and protect us from harm, beings who do nothing else all day long but serve God and glorify God’s holiness. Cool.

In recent years, the entertainment industry has inundated us, it seems, with various versions of angels. We have the TV show “Touched by an Angel,” the Meg Ryan/Nicholas Cage movie “City of Angels,” with the Sarah McLaughlin song “In the Arms of the Angels.” There’s Aerosmith’s “Angel,” Melissa Etheridge’s “Angels Would Fall,” and “Teen Angel.” There’s “Angels in the Outfield,” “All Dogs Go to Heaven,” the Chris Rock movie “Down to Earth,” which was a remake of Warren Beatty’s “Heaven Can Wait,” which was a remake of “Here Comes Mr. Jordan.” And angels abound in the holiday Christmas specials for children.

But it seems to me that we adults give up our belief in angels the way we give up our security blankets. I’m certain that as children you were all told that you had your own guardian angel; I was. But imagine talking to your adult friends about your guardian angel. I don’t think so! We adults aren’t encouraged to talk about angels, so I wanted to spend this time giving angels their due.

So first, what are angels? The word “angel” means “messenger,” but they have also been referred to as gods, the sons of God, ministers or ministering spirits, servants, watchers, the holy ones, the court of heaven, spirits, the heavenly army, the hosts, cherubim, seraphim, principalities, dominions, the “morning stars” (my personal favorite), and “the chariots of God.” Angels were around when God brought this world into being. They were there when Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden; in fact, two angels guard the entrance still. Throughout history, prophets, kings, theologians, and folk people have witnessed to the existence of angels. And angels will have many tasks to do even at the end of days. The 18^th century philosopher Swedenborg notes that “angels cannot speak the human language of doubt and ideas, conflict and argument. Angels can utter only what expresses with perfect sincerity the love that lies in them, so that their message is always one of total and unconditional overwhelming love.” Indeed, Billy Graham states “Angels never minister selfishly; they serve so that all glory may be given to God as believers are strengthened.”

So what do angels look like? Wow. Basically, they look however they need to look to be comprehended by the person seeing them. Witnesses are almost always awed by their brilliance and beauty.

Do angels appear only to Christians? Nope. There is evidence of angels in the literature and folklore of most cultures throughout history. Angels are described in Judaic, Islamic, and Christian literature; in fact, we even share the angels Gabriel and Michael. Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, and Confucians all refer to angelic spirits or ancestors who help them through difficult times. Clearly, angels visit all people in all times, wherever they are called to serve.

So what do angels do? Sophy Burnham assigns these roles to angels: they rescue, they give aid, they anoint us with calm and serenity, they deliver messages of warning or hope, they guide and teach, they answer prayers, and they lead us through death. Billy Graham has a similar list.

First, angels are personal ministers. They shore us up spiritually and physically so that we can keep on keeping on. An angel visited Hagar after she ran away from Sarah; this angel encouraged Hagar to return to Sarah, telling Hagar that everything would work out okay. Moses and the Israelites had angel escorts during their exodus and their journey in the desert. The prophet Daniel had been mourning and fasting for three weeks when an angel arrived to impart his revelations. Daniel felt weak and unable to speak, so the angel touched his lips and restored his strength. As soon as Jesus completed the temptations in the wilderness, angels came and waited on him. Predictably, the angels never calm or prophecy to Jesus; I mean, there’s not much you can tell the Son of God that he doesn’t already know, right? And telling Jesus, “Fear not,” seems like a waste of words, huh?

I’ll give an example of an angel who ministered to someone in our church. Many of you know the Burrows family: Bob, Kerry, Alexa, Blake, and Chase. You may not know that when Alexa was 3 years old she was diagnosed with a spinal tumor. She was one sick little girl, and mom and dad were basket cases. Kerry and Bob spent their days going from work to hospital to house chores to infant care (Blake was a newborn), barely hanging on and hoping for a miracle. Well, the night before Alexa’s surgery, while Kerry was sound asleep in the bed next to Alexa, a beautiful woman with brown hair appeared at Alexa’s bedside. This woman told Alexa that she need not worry, that everything would be okay. Well, Alexa smiled and went to sleep. So next morning, Kerry was talking to Alexa before she went off to surgery, and Alexa said, “Don’t worry, mommy. Everything’s gonna be okay. The lady told me.” When Kerry asked Alexa who told her, Alexa said, “The pretty woman with brown hair all dressed in white.” Well, all of Alexa’s nurses were blonds, every last one of them on every shift. Not one brunette among them. Alexa had never seen the lady before that night, and they never saw her again during her hospital stay. Coincidence? Don’t tell the Burrows that. Alexa’s angel was calming and reassuring her, and 8 years later Alexa is beautiful and healthy, with a grace not seen in the average pre-teen.

A second role of angels is to protect and deliver. There’s the king of Aram, or Syria, who had it in for Elisha and sent his army to Dothan to surround Elisha during the night. When Elisha’s aide looked out next morning and saw the huge army, he got a little nervous, but Elisha said, “Don’t worry.” Then he prayed to God, “Open his eyes that he may see.” And Elisha’s aide saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. This angel army struck the Aramean soldiers blind, so that Elisha could escort them to Samaria and turn them over to the king. Then there’s Paul. When Paul was heading for Rome by boat, he and 200 others on board were shipwrecked. But an angel came to Paul, told him not to worry, and protected everybody until they reached shore. And how about Peter? While Peter was in prison, an angel came to him, released him from his chains, and escorted him out of prison.

A recent example of protecting angels took place during World War I, in August of 1914. The French and British soldiers were retreating from Mons toward Paris, overpowered by the German guns. Not quite the slaughter that took place later, it was nonetheless a bloody retreat. As the men returned, stories began to trickle in. The French soldiers reported that they had seen Saint Michael the archangel bareheaded, clad in golden armor and seated on a white horse, brandishing a sword. The British said it was Saint George, springing out of a yellow mist, “a tall man with yellow hair in golden armor, on a white horse, holding his sword up, and his mouth open, crying Victory!” The nurses back at the hospital heard this tale again and again from the wounded men, who all spoke with exaltation or serene joy. One patient said that at a critical period in the retreat he saw “an angel with outstretched wings, like a luminous cloud,” between the advancing Germans and themselves, and at that moment the German onslaught slackened. Another patient gave a nearly identical report, only he saw two smaller being with the central large angel above the German line facing the Allied regiments. A year later, rumors came in from the German side, that at a certain moment the men were “absolutely powerless to proceed . . . and their horses turned sharply round and fled . . . and nothing could stop them.” The German soldiers were severely reprimanded, but they claimed they saw that the Allied lines were held by thousands of troops, when in reality it was a thin line of two regiments, with men stationed 15 yards apart, straggling down the roads in retreat.

Another example of a protecting angel comes from Carolyn Myss. Carolyn Myss is the author of Sacred Contracts, a nonfiction bestseller. She is a medical intuitive, meaning that a doctor gives her a patient’s name—with no other information—and she can tell that doctor the patient’s ailments and prognosis. She grew up in Catholic schools and had every intention of becoming a nun, so for her “angel-speak,” as she calls it, is everyday language. At one point in her life, in the midst of authoring a book, providing workshops, and seeing clients, she wore herself down and developed a really good case of mononucleosis. It lasted for months, and she prayed for healing, but none came. How ironic, she says, for the teacher of intuitive healing to be unable to heal herself. So anyway, a friend of hers recommended a spiritual healer, and, out of desperation, she went. Within the first 15 minutes of their session, though, this man, the healer, announced that he could do nothing for her and that she would have to leave. Carolyn was shocked and really disappointed because she still felt miserable. Another month passed before she improved, and she couldn’t understand why she had been sick for so long. A few months later, she spoke with her friend again, the friend who had recommended the healer, and she asked her friend why this man could not heal her. Her friend told her that when Carolyn sat down with the healer, a large spirit was standing behind her, commanding the man to leave her alone, to do nothing, and to not touch her. Well, they wondered about this for a bit but then let it go. Several months later, however, they learned that this man had been arrested for several counts of assault. Seems he was hypnotizing clients and taking advantage of them while they were under. Apparently, Carolyn Myss has a pretty powerful guardian angel.

A third role is that angels act as God’s agents in executing judgment. Billy Graham notes that “God used angels to scatter the people of Israel because of their sins.” An avenging angel killed the firstborn sons of Egypt. An angel smote Herod Agrippa, and he was eaten by worms and died. Angels brought judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. When they came to town, appearing to be simply men, Lot hosted them. But the men in town wanted to rape the new arrivals, despite Lot’s protests. So the angels struck those men blind. Then the angels warned Lot to take his family out of town before the angels began to “rain sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” When King Hezekiah was going to be trampled by the Assyrian army, he prayed to God for deliverance. God promised to protect the city, and then he sent an angel who struck down 185,000(!) Assyrian soldiers—in one night! The Assyrian king went home. Interestingly, there are no reports of avenging angels since Jesus dwelled on earth.

A fourth role is the angel as God’s messenger. An angel came to Zechariah to tell him Elizabeth was going to have a baby and they should name him John. Zechariah was left speechless, literally, until John’s birth. Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she was the chosen mother. Angels found the shepherds and told them to go see the baby in Bethlehem. An angel visited John while he is in exile and imparted the revelations. An angel also visited Daniel and told him all about Israel’s future. While the apostle Philip was going about his day, an angel told Philip to head south to the wilderness, where Philip found a eunuch in a chariot. An angel told the Roman centurion Cornelius to send for Peter, a reluctant Peter, who felt non-Jews had no business becoming Christians—reluctant, that is, until he was beat over the head with a repetitive vision of unclean food being lowered from heaven.

Anne Carroll Decker is an average person living right here in Connecticut who has been visited by angels regularly. She was leading an ordinary life as a married, Catholic stock broker when she was first visited by her angel. (Didn’t I tell you angels weren’t picky about who they visited? A stockbroker? And Catholic to boot?) Her angel repeatedly told her to pray for all people—the rapist, the drug addict, the murderer, the spouse abuser, anybody and everybody—because, the angel says “No one can be saved until all are saved.” Now I know Bruce would say that this message is not supported by any Bible passage, but it is the message Anne gets again and again. I believe, however, that for the angel, “saved” doesn’t mean salvation from sin as much as it means the ushering in of a new era where time and substance are meaningless.

One last role of angels that I’ll mention briefly is that they help humans transition through death. An angel rolled away the stone at Jesus’ tomb. The apostle Stephen, just before his stoning, saw “the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” When Jesus tells the story of Lazarus the beggar, he says “the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.” We hear numerous accounts of people having near-death experiences in which they see a bright light, or an angelic figure awaiting them.

So to summarize, angels protect and deliver, they impart knowledge, they carry out God’s vengeance, they assist us in our dying, and they minister to us and comfort us. Angels come in all shapes and sizes to all people in all times, but they have these three traits in common: 1) They bring calm and serenity, 2) Their message is always, “Fear not,” and 3) The person encountering the angel is forever changed by the experience. We can see this in today’s Gospel passage. When Gabriel visits Mary, he calms her with the opening sentence, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” His first message to her is “Do not be afraid.” He then assumes the role of messenger, communicating to Mary God’s plan for her. And lastly, Mary’s life is definitely forever changed as a result. Not only is she now going to be a mother, she’s going to be the mother of God’s son. Now that has got to be different than anything she did before in her life.

So what does all this mean for us this Advent season? Well, notice how prevalent angels are in the life of Jesus, especially at his birth and resurrection. They told Zechariah all about his future son John preceding the Chosen One; they announced to Mary her pregnancy; they came to Joseph in a dream and told him it was okay to take Mary as his wife; they told the shepherds to go see the baby in Bethlehem, and then they offered praise to God; they told the wise men to take a different route back home; they warned Joseph to take the family and flee to Egypt, and they gave Joseph the all-clear signal several years later; angels cared for Jesus in the desert following his temptations; an angel or two rolled back the stone at Jesus’ tomb, then angels stayed at the empty tomb to tell the women that Jesus was alive; and finally angels escorted Jesus to heaven at his ascension and told the disciples to get on with their lives. Interestingly, all four gospel accounts of the resurrection include angels. The only big event where angels could not be with Jesus was on the cross; he had to do that job alone. If angels were so evident in Jesus’ life, they must surely be real, and we should not be embarrassed to share our angel stories with others.

So this Christmas season, I want you to remember the angels, because we can never outgrow them. They should not displace Jesus in our thoughts, for recall that they serve so that all glory may be given to God. But we should talk to them occasionally, ask them to send us peace, ask them if we are following God’s will for our lives--for they will definitely let us know! God’s angels have been around since before the earth was born, and they are around us every moment of every day, waiting for us to call upon God so they can work God’s will, waiting for us to claim our inheritance. They want to work through us for the glory of God. Let’s allow it.