Angels

This is the Michaelmas Day sermon which I've been meaning to post for over a week. When ever I remembered I usually found myself at home and the sermon was on my work computer. But so, here it finally is.

The theme for this Sunday was God’s messengers and in church history it has been seen to refer to angels Only in the first reading it seems that it is in fact God who speaks, so, no messengers there. In the second reading we come almost to a fairy tale like of a story with angels and a dragon and an ancient serpent and then a loud voice which could be from a messenger of God if it isn’t in fact God’s voice again. And in the Gospel reading there is then Jesus’s answer to the question: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” With the response that it is those who are like children. After which there is a little reference to angels at the very end.

This being the Angels’ Sunday the readings do not give us very much to go from, do they? The interesting thing is that despite the fact that most people will have an idea of what angels are there is fact quite little information about them in the Bible. And what there is does contradict our common ideas on them. For example angels do not have white wings. Shocking isn’t it, but it is true.

On Thursday as I was preparing this sermon I read and article about angels by Olli Seppälä who is an expert in Angelology. He was talking about the difference between biblical angels and other angels because, in fact, other religions talk about angels and especially the New Age movement has been very into angels for years. Especially in the late nineties angel figurines and angels of all sorts seemed to be everywhere.

So, the question is what is a Christian point of view to angels. For all of us who like the idea of individualistic beings with a sense of humor and a love for God and who are there to protect us the facts are a bit depressing. They are not really like that at all. Well, with the exception of the last part, the protection one.

The first thing to remember is that in Christian theology angels do not do anything by themselves. You cannot summon angels, you cannot somehow use them for your own purposes for example to forecast future and such. An angel has no other mission or purpose than to convey God’s will. Angelus in Latin and angelos in Greek means literally a messenger. An angel is created like we are but entirely in God’s service which – if we are honest – we never quite can be.

Angels do not have a will of their own and they cannot choose between right and wrong. The exception are the fallen angels who can, but who have also chosen their side. An angel is not a person, an individual like we humans are. An angel does not heal, God heals.

An angel in a Christian meaning cannot be a metaphor of beauty, spiritual well being or growth or of good life. If we look for metaphors then an angel is a metaphor of God’s presence and protection and that is of course a huge thing to be.

Angles are messengers of God. Their message is important they themselves are not. And this is of course what we find so odd and even perhaps wrong. The messenger should be important too, shouldn’t he? As the pastor I know the message is what is important not me but, honestly, I myself would kind of like to be important, too! We all would, wouldn't we?

The thing is that the fact that we would like to personalize angels is a reflection of how we see ourselves. We find it very hard to think that beings that seem to be in many ways like humans are not. In our value system – and especially our Western value system – we value individualism and the right to choose for oneself. A being without a unique personality and without a will of his own just does not seem right, or does it?

The thing is if we trust God then yes, it probably is right, right? And moreover if a real angel would for some reason be sent to you, you probably would not be inclined to question weather he is happy or not being an angel. The reason being that an angel as a messenger of God also reflects God’s glory and, let’s face it, His power, which is what you can see in the many stories where people are very frightened when they encounter an angel.

Just like Jesus is not a good looking, blond guy with a little lamb on his shoulders angels are not cute pink and light blue creatures with white wings. Both are, by the way, images I like. The point is not to condemn an artist’s point of view, it is to remind us that beyond the images of popular culture and the-not-so-popular-culture there is the true realm of God.

God created angels and it is He who has given them their specific task in the world: to be a messenger of God. At the end of the day it is He who is in charge, right?

We are all at times messengers of God to each other, that is the other side to this. We don’t have wings, we do have free will and we are certainly unique and individual personalities. But that is also why when we do convey God’s message it is also affected by everything else in us, I mean both our emotional baggage and all the other stuff. The message kind of takes the long – and hopefully – scenic route whereas a message from God’s angel certainly would come across straight out.

I don’t know about you but at the end of the day I need God’s angels to be exactly how God meant them to be. I need them to not have a mind of their own but to truly reflect God’s will, God’s purpose. I might not ever encounter a true angel from God but I need to know that if I do, this is the case.

I think we all need from time to time to be reminded of God’s majestic, powerful side. I especially am inclined to emphasize His love, grace and forgiveness and for good reason since all of these truly are important. However, if I or anyone emphasizes them too much, I fear that God starts to become smaller, fluffier and less significant somehow and that’s not good.

God has the power to change the world and what’s even more important to us He has the power to change our personal world entirely. Weather we believe it or not does not change God and what He can do, but what it does affect is weather we actually see the changes that really do happen and that really is of immense importance to all of us.