Angels, Part I

 There is no Hebrew translation for the word “Angel.”  All those angels in the Hebrew Scriptures, known also as the Old Testament, the angels in the New Testament, or Christian writings, the person who came to Mary and Joseph, the lighted figure sitting on the rock of Jesus’ tomb, the wind of death sweeping across Pharaoh’s kingdom, killing all the first-born, all named “angels.”  This is the name we give to these complex beings from another place.  There is a mystery to these spirits of another place that must be regarded as sacred.  I will define who an angel is today, but please know that the angels  will not answer when called to my definition, for they are beyond our knowledge.  Their mystery becomes part of their strength through time.  I will describe today some aspects of their identity, as much as I know from the documentation we have from the past.  Next week, I continue with a study of angels in modern times.

That said, I feel I must begin with a modern story of angels.  There is a movie out right now called “The Adjustment Bureau.”  In this movie we find Hollywood Icons Matt Damon and Emily Blunt being chased by men in 50’s era fedora hats.  They look so much like CIA agents, based on my extensive movie training in watching conspiracy flicks.  It turns out, spoiler alert, that these men in their three-piece vests and stern government agent voices are…  angels.  I admit, as a theologian I get real excited when spirituality makes it to the big screen.  And it’s not often that my goals and those of Hollywood sync up.  I went to see this film on a lark two days ago, as a break from writing this sermon on angels!  (Maybe I can write off the movie ticket on my taxes.)  It turns out, these angels in their fedora hats make adjustments to our lives from time to time to prevent us from, well, messing up.  And if you came today and don’t believe in angels—one, I applaud you for coming anyway—you might scoff at the idea that we need “adjusting.”  But the movie drives its point home, that when the “chairman” and his/ her men decided to step back at various points in history, from their influence on our lives, we did in fact make a mess of it.  The Dark Ages.  Two World Wars.  By the way, after the Cuban missile Crises, they decided to step back in…  And this is real fun fantasy but it points to the heart of who angels are.  They are messengers created from our fears.  Just as hollywood packages our anxieties and desires and tries to sell it to us, to get us to buy a ticket—and they got me with this movie—angels are messengers who inform us as to the direction we are headed, to intentions latent within us of which we are often unaware. 

Messenger, healer, informant, wisdom-keeper, ministering spirit, these are the terms we read of in biblical scripture.  In Hebrew, Christian, Muslim and some African religious practice, an “angel” as we have come to call them, is a guide to this world and the next.  As such, they seem to be created in each world.  They clearly are directed by a presence from another place, yet they are partly our creation.  When John wrote the book of Revelation—the book of the Bible with the most angels, the book with armies and amazing descriptions of the decisive battle between good and evil, all represented and enacted by angels—he was writing from a place of his own battles.  He was banished to an island by

Rome, writing to his dear churches, which he helped to found and wished to see prosper in the face of the evil roman empire.  He writes of receiving a prophecy: “I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation... was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”^[1:9]  According to Adela Collins, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame, John was perceived as a threat to Roman political power and order, and was banished to an island used for punishing offenders like him.  So, what did John do?  He prophesied (some might say created) a world of Revelation, where armies of angels defeat armies of dark angels and order is restored.  One wonders what part of John’s prophecy came from John himself, from his own inner demons, his projection of Rome as ultimate den of evil and of his churches which he desired to live as the body of Christ as, well, the good guys. 

But now, we don’t often invoke angelic roles for our good and evil.  This world is very complex and it’s hard to tell what makes good and bad as we have enough problems trying to come to terms with our own upbringing, what we believe and if angels are worth all the trouble of believing in.  We have other systems of making sense of the world.  We have messengers of science, emotion, physical and social history, the list goes on what we can name as modern resources of understanding.  And, after all, if you read biblical stories, you learn that a visit from an angel is not necessarily good news.  Maybe because they are from another place, they do not always provide clarity.  They try to take our form, but they inevitably give themselves away through flames or riddles.  They try to tell us something we need to know, but we cannot hear them clearly.  They are not our friends, not intimate enough to any of us to be nice or empathetic.  They often scare those who find themselves in their presence.  As gateways to another place, they let us know what is beyond our knowing and this can be disturbing.  When Mary was pregnant with Jesus, you may remember how Joseph was informed of the immaculate conception.  I cannot imagine a more awkward message to get.  Here’s the angel, appearing to Joseph: “Be warned, Joseph: your wife is pregnant and it isn’t yours.  But it’s gonna be OK.”  Or how about in 2^nd Kings when King Hezekiah King of Judah cried for help and the messenger, this time a destroying angel, wiped out 185,000 of the competing Assyrian army.  But then, in 1st Chronicles, King David is sent a warning angel from a God angry at David’s decision to make a census of his army and so David is punished with the death of 70,000 Israelites.  There is more to these stories, but I will let you in on a biblical hint that will save you from taking 5 years out for seminary:  there is no clear rhyme or reason for these messages from the beyond except that it is a plan beyond our knowledge.  That is the big theme of the bible: that God is in control and the adjustments God makes are for our own good and we need to roll with them.  It starts with Cain and Able where the reader would think, given that these scriptures grow out of Hebrew tradition, that Cain as first born would get the blessing of his offering, but it doesn’t happen that way.  From there, things get messier and foggier and life gets more complicated and angels appear to provide some kind of guidance.  Old religious texts train people to think about the mysteries and unanswered questions of life.  And within this system, angels appear as little holes through the fabric of the cosmos that only lead to more questioning, like the discovery of a new star might tell us more about what we don’t already know.  But it excites us.  Angels are exciting.  Below I offer a list of angels and their deeds.  Also, a reading that describes angels in their imaginative, vision-like forms…

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Michael (translation: who is like God), performs God's kindness

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Gabriel (translation: the strength of God), performs acts of justice and power

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Raphael (translation: God Heals), God's healing force

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Uriel (translation: God is my light), leads us to destiny

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Seraphim (translation: the burning ones), sing and praise God

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Malach HaMavet (translation: the angel of death)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Satan (translation: the prosecuter or the adversary), brings people's sins before them in the heavenly court

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Chayot HaKodesh (translation: the holy beasts)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Ophanim (translation: arbits) Astrological Influence

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->HaMerkavah (translation: the chariot), transports God's glory

Ezekial 1:4-14 – cherubim

Ezekial’s description of his angelic vision, specifically the cherubim, angels of a lower order who function more for decoration or praise, rather than the kind that send messages, is far more daring and beautiful than the messengers appearing in my life.  I think of that angel that visited Joseph, the one who landed a bomb in his lap and then had the audacity of saying it’s gonna be ok, which reminds me of an annoying aunt trying to give me advice.  I remember friends who tried to help me after my divorce.  They were very supportive, but then one of them gave me a St. Michael pin and that worked.  I felt stronger.  Maybe you saw the movie “Michael,” where John Travolta plays the brute archangel Michael, who’ll fight or drink anyone under the table… and that’s what I needed, a little John Travolta.  We get the term archangel just once I think in scripture, referring to how Michael may be closest to God and this gets interpreted, as does much of angelic lore, by humans reading and following the holy text.  And I sometimes wish we held up the mystery of angels in our traditions.  If elected grand poobah of the UUA, I would declare a ceremony be set up where an elder in the congregation dress up in angelic garb and deliver a prophecy or ritual to all the 10 yr-olds in the congregation, you know a blessing.  We do have coming of age ceremonies in our tradition and we try to lift up the mysteries of the past by understanding them, but many of us do not believe in angels. 

Next week, I discover with you the ways we act on the secret messages of angels, that we all have one on our shoulders that remind us what we’re doing and why, and criticize us and tell us we should be making more money or spending more time exercising.  Our angels reveal our values.  In lessons of biblical times, war was prevalent and the appropriate context in which we read about angels of death and decisions of a God in control of chaos.  In the movie I mentioned, angels try to help or hinder with a Hollywood couple as they try to love each other.  That’s the Hollywood context, a story about love conquering all.  That reveals a value.  (And I lapped it up , because I’m a sucker for a good love story.)  If you were an angel, what news would you deliver?  If you were confronted with an angel, what kind would it be and what would be the message?  Next time, we’ll talk about it.