Entertaining Angels

I was speaking with a woman recently who was in a pretty bad car accident. Somehow she walked away from the accident with almost no injuries although her car was totaled. She said to me, “An angel must have really been looking out for me that day!”

Do you believe in angels? If so, why? If not, why not?

Both of the readings for the day – from Daniel 7 and John 1 – speak of angels, and, in the church calendar, today celebrates the feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Michael appears throughout the bible, Gabriel is in the Christian scriptures and Raphael appears in the book of Tobit. But all 3 of these figures and many other unnamed angels make appearances throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and intervene in various ways in human affairs. They influence decisions, rescue people, provide counsel and even fight on behalf of humanity.

I am not sure where I land when it comes to angels. I grew up watching the 1990’s TV series “Touched by an Angel,” and was probably influenced by that show to think that this is how they appear. These “angels” get dispatched to various situations – looking just like regular folk – with a special mission or purpose to bring about healing, understanding or forgiveness. In fact, this would be pretty consistent with how the Hebrew scriptures describe angels and would match up with the paintings of angels on the early Christian catacombs.

I love that idea of these beings (that look like everyday people) interacting with us and influencing us, guiding and protecting us. And at the same time, I struggle with the idea of why angels may not have been “dispatched” to other situations where there is harm, violence and injury.

For now, I just try to hold this tension.

So many spiritual traditions – including our own – speak of angels or at the very least other spiritual beings that move in and out of human lives that it would be hard for me to dismiss the idea entirely. And St. Paul so aptly reminds us to make sure we always show hospitality to strangers for we may be “entertaining angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13).”

I think about this because as I reflect on our world today – and particularly what is happening in our country – I feel a deep dis-ease within me. I can feel my body tense up in some fear. I can move towards a freeze response.

Thinking about angels, however, encourages me. It reminds me that there may be forces working for good that I cannot see. I think back to the words that JRR Tolkein put into the mouth of the great wizard, Gandalf, in the Lord of the Rings series. During a particularly discouraging moment, Gandalf tells Frodo, “there are many forces at work in the world besides the will of evil.” Angels may just be some of those forces at work.

And I have been thinking lately about the “communion of saints” and what happens after we die. For the longest time, I think I thought of the afterlife like retirement. You work hard during your life and then you kick back during your golden years. But judging from the “retirees” I know, the afterlife is where the real work begins!  Finally relieved of all of their worldly burdens and bodies, the deceased can now really focus their energies and passions on giving back, encouraging the living and bringing about the kin-dom of God. What if these are some of the angels who are out there working right now!

Andrea Gibson in their beautiful “Love Letter from the Afterlife” says it this way, “My love, I was so wrong. Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined.”

These are the angels I hope for.

As we join the church in celebrating the feast of these archangels angels today, may we take heart in the belief that, no matter what the world may look like right now, there are forces beyond the will of evil that are supporting us, urging us, moving us, redirecting us and maybe even leading us. Some we might recognize and some will look so ordinary that we might miss them. Yet so many voices throughout history have testified that they are here and they are for us.