"AN ANGEL SENT BY GOD"

A minister went to visit a newly-married couple who had just moved into town to invite them to come to his church. When he knocked on the front door, a woman's voice from inside called out, "Is that you, angel?" The minister replied, "No, but I'm from the same department."

In today's gospel passage, we heard those familiar words about the angel Gabriel who "was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph...The virgin's name was Mary." But who are these beings called "angels" which have become so popular again that there is even a television show that deals with them? The word "angel" comes from the Greek word "angelos" which means "a bearer of good news"or "messenger". In essence, an angel is one who is sent by another person for a certain purpose. But God's messengers don't have to be of the heavenly variety.

In last week's gospel passage, we heard these words: "There was a man named John who was sent by God, who came as a witness to testify to the light". In last week's first reading from Isaiah we heard this: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly." Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God constantly sent prophets to speak his message to the Israelites. Even in today's first reading, God speaks to Nathan the prophet and sends him to relay his message to David.

So it is that humans, as well as angels, can "be sent by God" for a certain purpose. But what about these angels? What do we know about them? Well, as we already have seen in today's gospel, they convey messages. But angels do much more than that. John Calvin had this to say about angels:

Angels are the dispensers and administrators of the divine good will towards us; they regard our safety, undertake our defense, direct our ways, and exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befall us. So it is that we come to believe in what are called "guardian angels". But there is more. Sometimes angels can appear remarkably like ourselves. One author puts it this way:

"The stories in the Bible that speak of angels relate the experiences of men and women to whom God drew so very near in moments of great personal crisis or danger that they sensed in the words of a human being the work of a messenger of God, and in the help of a human hand they felt the helping hand of God."

And such experiences don't have to be limited to persons in the Bible. Sometimes even us modern day persons have experiences like this. Perhaps like the woman in this story did.

Gretchen and her husband, Fred, had had a long and happy marriage, but Fred had recently died. And although Gretchen had a son and four grandchildren who loved her very much, one does not easily recover from such a momentous loss. During the first few months, she had been numb with grief and unable to cry. But she had progressed beyond the initial shock stage, and now, it seemed, crying was all she did. "I was beginning to dread meeting anyone," she recalls, "because I was so afraid that I would burst into tears in the middle of an ordinary conversation." People had been very kind, but she didn't want anyone pitying her and she didn't want her sorrow to make others uncomfortable. On this particular Sunday, Gretchen went to church by herself and selected an empty pew. She was relieved when she saw no familiar faces around her. At least if her anguish threatened to overwhelm her, she could slip out quietly. As she sat in the pew, she thought again of Fred, and desolation and grief swept in waves over her spirit. It was all she could do to keep from crying out. Would the mourning ever end, she wondered? In another moment, she would break down once again .... But then suddenly, a small boy entered her pew and sat down next to her. She looked at him through her tears. He had light-brown hair, was neatly dressed in a little brown suit and appeared to be about six years old.

And he was looking up at her in the most familiar way, smiling as if he knew her. It was peculiar. Children rarely attended church alone in this particular congregation, especially at such an early hour. Where could his family be? Even stranger was the fact that, although the youngster had picked up the church prayer book to read, he kept edging toward her. "He moved nearer and nearer," she said, "very casually. He would read, then look up, catch my eye and beam. His whole attitude made it clear that he had come to keep me company." What a darling child!

As the little boy snuggled close to her, something else began to happen. She felt her heart lighten. Somehow, although she hadn't believed such a thing would ever happen again she began to feel, yes, happy. It was only a fleeting emotion, like a brief little kiss, but she felt it. And she would be happy again. She knew it now without question. "A time to mourn and a time to dance...", she remembered. She was still very much in mourning but the love and sweetness in the little boy's face had given her a glimpse of a better time yet to come.

But who was this child? She looked down at him, and again he smiled at her in that intimate and penetrating manner. She must know him. Why else would he be behaving this way? Of course. He was probably the son of a younger neighbor or friend who, aware of her loss and seeing her sitting alone, had sent her little boy up to share the pew. She would have to thank his parents for their thoughtfulness. She would watch where the child went after the service.

As the service ended, Gretchen and the boy left the pew and headed for the front door. There were people around, but not a huge crowd, and the child was right next to her. "What is your name?" she asked him. "Do I know your mother?" But instead of answering, he looked up at her for one last smile. And then, as Gretchen's eyes scanned the crowd to find someone searching for him, the child vanished. He was there and then simply wasn't. She didn't see him go, but when she glanced down, the spot next to her was vacant.

"I kept looking for him among the people until everyone had left," she said, "but I never saw him again, nor did I meet anyone who knew him or had sent him." But after that Sunday, Gretchen never felt quite so alone again. Gradually the truth seemed to come upon her--that an ordinary child, no matter how charming, would not have been able to lift her spirits in that mysterious and welcome way. Instead, the child must have been sent by someone who understood her suffering and was reaching out to comfort and heal her. Perhaps the boy was even sent by Fred.

Based on all this, we can see that the line between angel and human can sometimes be very blurred indeed. Humans can act like angels and angels can look like humans. In the movie It's A Wonderful Life, an angel named Clarence saves George Bailey from committing suicide. When they are drying off in the bridge house, George asks Clarence who he is. Clarence responds that he is an angel who has been sent to save him. So it is, whether in the movies or on television shows like Touched By an Angel or in the experiences of people like Gretchen, angels do not necessarily have to look like they do in paintings with wings and bright, flowing clothes. They could look just like one of us.

Earlier, I had mentioned some of those whom God had sent in the past, including the prophets like Isaiah, John the Baptist and the Angel Gabriel. But of course, the most important of the ones whom God has sent was his own Son, Jesus Christ, who became one like us and took our flesh upon himself so that he could show us how to live. And if we live according to the principles that he has taught us, then we become his messengers to the world. Then we become his "angels".

Later on in It's a Wonderful Life, when Clarence explains to George that he is an angel, George asks him where his wings are. Clarence responds that he has to earn them, which is why he came back to earth to save George. And even later in the movie while they are at a bar, Clarence reminds George that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. As we prepare to celebrate the day when Christ become one like us, we ought to refocus our lives so that we become better "messengers of the word of God". And we become true angels of the word of God by following the example which Christ himself has provided us, namely, through the love and forgiveness that we show to family members, relatives, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Are you an angel sent by God into the lives of these men and women who interact with you on a daily basis or do you need more work on your wings? And if you do need more work on them, what better time to work on them than the present. Who knows, maybe someday someone might address you by asking "Is that you, angel??"And then one day further in the future, you might discover that the one for whom the bell rings is you!






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