Wednesday, December 18, 2019 – Advent Four
“But the angel reassured them. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.’” (Luke 2:10, New Living Translation) 

                [I am going on a brief Christmas hiatus and will return January 7^th.] 

                She’s made of carboard, burlap, yarn and a bit of cloth but I have known her for 41 years.

                “She” is the little angel which I put at the very top of our Christmas tree every year. I found her in a Zeller’s store during my first Christmas at my first church, Wainfleet Baptist Church. Susan and I were not yet married. But I bought a real Christmas tree and some lights and decorations. And my angel. For some reason, I prefer angels to stars as Christmas tree toppers. Maybe, it is just because I like angels and the wonderful stories they always seem to generate.

                This little angel is not very fancy as some Christmas angels go. But she looks happy and content resting on the very top of our tree. I am sure that she wasn’t very expensive and there may have been a host of other angels just like her at the store. But she has become our little angel, the last decoration which goes on the tree each and every year. I would miss her if she was not there. It’s funny how attached one gets to angels.

                This little angel of ours reminds us, of course, of the role that angels play in the whole Christmas narrative.  An angel or angels visit Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. They are the critical harbingers of what God is about to do for the sake of the world. They carry positive and important messages with promises of Good News, hope, possibility, renewal, birth and new beginnings.

Their mystical presence signals a sacred hand behind the drama which is about to unfold. Their words come straight form a holy source and therefore their presence and voice augment the deeply spiritual and dynamic power that flows throughout the whole Christmas Story.

If you get an angel or two in your church, your front parlour, your bedroom or your workplace, you just better pay close attention. God is not fooling around. This is really important. Angels are not to be ignored.

I am not sure that in this day and age we would know an angel if one came up to us wearing a T-shirt that read, “Hello; I am an angel; do not be afraid.” We tend to ignore, trivialize, dis-believe, de-mythologize, or sentimentalize these strange messengers whom our spiritual forebears seemed to take more seriously. But even they probably did not really expect to encounter angels any more than we do. But whatever the deep origins of this story historically may be, the story could not be told without mentioning that powerful words out of the ordinary were spoken to, experienced by and shared with mere mortals, making the Christmas Story a divinely driven and inspired drama full of wonderful possibilities.

We, the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve, tend to keep angels busy with our messy and complicated lives. They speak up against the sinfulness of our times and our personal lives. They voice God’s concerns over our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. They draw lines against our hopelessness and despair. They remind us that God is still Creator and Sustainer of our lives and the world in which we live. In this case alone, they offer us the promise of a Saviour, someone uniquely of God’s choosing who will liberate us from the worst that may befall us or that which wants to make us fall and fail in some way.

Our little angel will have another busy Christmas watching us from her perch atop the Christmas tree. She reminds me to be alert to the possibility of God’s Voice ringing suddenly in the world to let me know that something out of the ordinary is about to make such a difference like the world has never seen.

May you all have a very blessed Christmas Day!

Dale