From the Vicar: All the Angels

From the Vicar: All the Angels

From the Vicar: All the Angels

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From the Vicar: All the Angels

Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

Do you think much about angels? I don't, honestly, except for this time of year when the feast of St. Michael and All Angels rolls around. The precise date is September 29th, and this is the one saint day that isn't for a human saint, but for angels. Michaelmas, as it is called, is a day when we get to think about the messengers of God and wonder at all in the heavens that we don't really know about. 

In our scriptures angels are messengers - they speak with God's voice and represent God's will to human beings who receive them. Angels like Michael and Gabriel are surrounded by legend and myth as well as showing up as agents of God's prophetic action in the world. However, their feast day is a wonderful opportunity for us to meditate on all of the ways God still speaks in our world. In scripture angels often visit people who do not immediately recognize that they are hosting messengers of the Almighty, and the ways in which these messengers are received reveals much about the person who receives them. Abram and Sarai receive three messengers from God with hospitality and grace, and are told of the arrival of their son. Lot receives them, and we learn about the true nature of the city in which he lives, where people do not know how to show hospitality to strangers and instead greet them with violent intent. 

All this has me thinking - how do we receive the stranger here, and now? I believe that God still speaks, and we never know who may come into our lives with a message for us. Our scriptures show us that God's messengers don't always arrive bathed in light, or fighting dragons. Sometimes they come in less glorious packaging, but bearing God's word just the same. 

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. - Hebrews 13:2

with care and gratitude,

Alissa

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