What would Christmas be without angels? We sing the songs of angels. Many of us top our Christmas tree with an angel. Christmas cards often carry their image. And what would Christmas pageants be without angels?
In Luke’s telling of the birth of Christ, angels play a prominent role in the lead up to the incarnation and its heralding. An angel comes to Zechariah who is serving in God’s Temple and announces that his barren wife Elizabeth will bear them a son whose name will be John. Zechariah sings a song of God’s plan of salvation to their son who will prepare the way for the son of God.
An angel comes to a young woman named Mary who is pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph and announces to her that she will bear God’s son. Mary sings a song of praise for God’s faithfulness. Angels come at night to shepherds in the field and announce the birth of God’s son. They sing a song of God’s glory and peace.
In the Christmas story, the angels are speaking of God’s grace to the old and the young, men and women, the pious and those often considered at that time to be on the outside of respectability. While usually outnumbered in our Christmas celebration by greeting cards, bows, bulbs and ornaments, angels play a significantly more important role. They are messengers speaking God’s blessing to all.
As we enter the seasons of Advent and Christmas, I wonder about how we will hear and who will hear their message this year. With all our personal and collective struggles, what does the message of God’s blessing to all people mean at the end of 2024? Of what are we again reminded? Toward what are we called?
Scripture is God-breathed, living, and speaking both reminder and fresh inspiration. The prophet Isaiah tells us that the angels are still singing their song of God’s holiness. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” The angels are always telling us of God’s holiness and grace, of God’s love and blessing upon all people. Do we believe that for ourselves, our family and friends, and even for those we might feel are opposed to us?
When the shepherds heard the message of God’s love incarnate, they went to see the thing they had been told. As the angels told them it would be, they went and found the child wrapped in bands of cloth lying in a manger with his mother and father by his side. They understood. These poor, disreputable, outcast shepherds - folks who lived a hard life and likely had right to bear many grudges - now understanding that unfathomable grace has been shown them, in turn became messengers. I wonder what the respectable folks in their tidy homes thought when these dirty faced shepherds appeared as angels to say “God loves you, too.”
Angels are messengers, and messengers are angels. We are reminded in this season of Advent and Christmas of God’s love for all people, and if we dare to share that good news, we might just be angels too. Sing your Christmas song. Sing with the angels.
Merry Christmas,
Fr. Bill+